Volume 3, Issue 2
April 2023
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Welcome to spring! And to the latest issue of Learning Earth, our educator newsletter! Five times a year, Learning Earth brings you news about resources and programs from The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI). Utilizing its unique collections, staff, physical facilities and digital presence, we pursue and integrate education and research. We interpret the history and systems of the Earth and its life to increase knowledge, educate society, and encourage wise stewardship of the Earth.
PRI is a national leader in Earth systems science education programming. We offer a diversity of programs and resources on Earth and environmental sciences, including climate change and energy, paleontology and Earth science, evolution and biodiversity, and conservation of natural environments.
Check out all the great events and resources we have going on below and in our future newsletters, which will go out each school marking period, as well as one edition during the summer.
Each issue includes news about new and continuing exhibits and events at The Museum of the Earth and Cayuga Nature Center, and associated educator resources, upcoming workshops, the schedule of upcoming talks in Science in the Virtual & Actual Pub, and special features.
In this issue of Learning Earth:
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Discover the Earth like never before with our newest additions to Earth@Home! Since our launch in 2020, we've added over 300 pages of information about Earth science of the United States.
Explore our new Climate section and learn about the impact of climate change on our planet. We've also included helpful resources for educators to teach climate science to their students.
Get to know the diverse plants and animals of Central New York State with our Biodiversity section. Identify different species and learn about their characteristics and behaviors. Our resources are perfect for nature enthusiasts and students alike.
All of our resources are completely free to use and explore!
New sections of PRI's extensive and interactive website, Earth@Home, officially go live on Earth Day! Take a sneak peek now (and let us know if you find bad links or typos!)
Check out hands-on climate science activities and demonstrations in our video series "In the Greenhouse: Exploring Climate Change." https://climate.earthathome.org/videos/
Find quick answers to Frequently Asked Questions about climate change: https://earthathome.org/quick-faqs/
Explore updated, enhanced, online versions of chapters of The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change. This guide for teachers (and others) includes both basics of climate science and perspectives on teaching a subject that has become socially and politically polarized: https://climate.earthathome.org/teacher-friendly-guide/
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Climate Change Videos
And Related Resources
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PRI's Alex Moore is Biking Through Women's History Month
The videos on PRI's ever-growing YouTube Channel cover a variety of climate change and energy topics. Some include hands-on activities and demos that are part of teaching toolkits. The latest climate video is "Biking through Women's History Month," an intersectional look at climate solutions and women's history.
This video is the 20th installment in the In the Greenhouse series, that includes hand-on activities, demonstrations, and virtual labs covering climate science, mitigation, adaptation and communication.
Other video series' include Climate Solutions in No Particular Order, short videos on a variety of climate topics.
Classroom, Field and Lab Activities: are found on the Teach Climate Change page. These activities serve as the lab manual for The Teacher-Friendly Guideᵀᴹ to Climate Change. Activities, many of which have accompanying videos, are searchable by topic and grade level, and include an overview, NGSS standards, materials lists and instructions, handouts, and background information.
There are also FAQs, on-line climate exhibits, and links to additional resources. Check it out!
https://climate.earthathome.org
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If You Can’t Beat Them, Eat Them!
With Marianne Krasny, Author of
In This Together
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Reduced Food Waste and Plant-rich Diets are the top two most effective Climate Solutions in Project Drawdown’s prioritized list. So instead of trying to influence behaviors by talking about climate science, how about focusing on food?
In this 90-minute workshop, Cornell Professor Marianne Krasny introduces the science behind food systems emissions. She then shares community solutions to repurpose food waste, as well as some of the coolest new innovations to reduce food emissions, whether by getting cows to stop their incessant burping or creating lobster from tissue culture.
The workshop transitions to an interactive discussion of eating as a social activity. Eating with family and friends is one of humans’ most satisfying social activities, but also an opportunity to influence what those close to us eat. How can we apply the research on social influence—from behavioral contagion in networks to dynamic norms, from labeling menu items to choice architecture—to promote healthy and climate-friendly eating? And how can we do this without becoming a nagging “moral rebel?” Krasny will guide you in developing your own strategies and helping students to create theirs, and possibly even influencing the school cafeteria to take a hard look at what they are serving students.
This workshop is intended for educators who are torn between our commitment to rigorous science education and our feelings that we, and our students, need to play a larger role in reducing climate emissions.
Ideas for this workshop come from Krasny’s recent book In This Together: Connecting with Your Community to Combat the Climate Crisis, illustrated by former New Yorker cartoonist Emily Hopkins. Participants will receive a 30% discount code for the book.
REGISTER HERE.
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What Should Everyone Know About Climate Change?
Listening Session for Updating the Climate Literacy Guide
May 17th at 5:30 pm Eastern, via Zoom
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The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) would like to hear from you! "Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science” has informed educators, policymakers, and scientists around the world for over a decade, and this great resource is getting an update! The U.S. Global Change Research Program would like to hear your feedback on what a new guide should include, focus on, and look like.
PRI is partnering with USGCRP for a listening session to gather your input. The session is Wednesday, May 17 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm Eastern. This is the day after the author event described above.
The listening session will begin with a short overview of the Climate Literacy Guide and the update process. Then, participants will have the opportunity to discuss key questions around climate literacy related to the listening session theme with authors. The information gathered in this listening session will help authors decide what the updated guide should look like and what topics should be included.
You can register for the session here.
Submit your comments at contribute.globalchange.gov and keep an eye out for more listening sessions and workshops at www.globalchange.gov/notices.
More information about the Climate Literacy Guide update process can be found here.
Specific dates and locations for all public engagement events will be provided on www.globalchange.gov/notices.
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Missed a Workshop?
Recordings & Resources From Prior Learning Earth Workshops
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Each issue of Learning Earth is followed by a free online workshop. Recordings are archived on PRI's YouTube channel and most have agendas with links to resources shared in the session.
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Each issue of Learning Earth announces one or more free online workshops that follows the publication of the newsletter by a few weeks. For this issue there are two workshops: Marianne Krasny's session on May 16th at 7:00 pm Eastern; and the Listening Session for Updating the Climate Literacy Guide on May 17th at 5:30 pm Eastern. Both are described above.
The sessions are livestreamed on YouTube, making their recordings instantly available. You can find all of them on PRI's YouTube Channel at: https://www.priweb.org/youtube. You can find workshop videos as well as Science in the Virtual Pub under the Live Tab.
Here's a selection of workshop recordings. Where there was a resource page shared, a link is provided for that too.They are listed in reverse chronological order.
- On 2x4s, gasoline and graphite: What I'd teach on climate change if I only had an hour (and why!) with PRI's Director of Teacher Programming, Don Haas. (March 2023)
- How to Confront Climate Denial: An evening with author James Damico: For educators across the disciplines (December 2022)
- Summer 2022 Critical Zone Workshop Series - Four Workshops on Earth System Science:
- Big Ideas: Earth’s Spheres Interact in the Critical Zone
- Carbon in the Critical Zone
- Water in the Critical Zone
- Climate Change in the Critical Zone
- Climate Emotions Matter presented in partnership with the Climate Mental Health Network (May 2022)
- Inoculating Against Misinformation with PRI's Alexandra Moore & Don Haas and Ithaca College's Chris Sperry (February 2022)
- Miseducation: An evening with author Katie Worth on climate change education in America (December 2021)
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Join the Global City Nature Challenge, April 28 – May 1, 2023!
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Join us to count as many species as we can around the East Finger Lakes region! The Cayuga Nature Center is continuing our series of seasonal events to document the biodiversity of our region, starting on Friday, April 28, 2023 and going through Monday, May 1, 2023. This event is part of the international City Nature Challenge, so when you and your students participate you will be collecting data together with people all over the world.
Join us from wherever you are and contribute to our understanding of seasonal change in the biosphere of our region. We are calling all nature observers to photograph plants and animals in your neighborhood using the iNaturalist app (available for your smartphone—visit your favorite app store).
iNaturalist is a crowd-sourced online application, so if you don’t know what your species is, no worries, someone else will! If you make observations in our region using iNaturalist during the 4-day period of the event, your observations will automatically be added to this BioBlitz. All ages, all experience, all locations are welcome – please join us!
iNaturalist project page: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023-ithaca-ny
New to iNaturalist? Here are some tutorials: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials
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National Association of Geoscience Teachers Eastern Section Meeting at PRI
May 4th - 6th, 2023
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PRI's Rob Ross, leading a field trip at Taughannock Falls.
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PRI and the Museum of the Earth will host the Eastern Section Meeting of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). Learn more about NAGT on their webpage, and join us!
After a pandemic-created break, the annual meeting returns this year at a bargain price! The $50 registration fee includes all field trips, workshops, presentations, museum and park admission and tours, refreshments, lunches, and Saturday evening awards dinner as described in the schedule.
The registration form can be found in the Eastern Section Newsletter (p. 8).
Tentative Meeting Schedule:
Thursday, May 4.
4pm-9pm.
Early-bird check in and registration at The Museum Of The Earth, (1259 Trumansburg Rd. Ithaca, NY 14850) begins at 4pm. Informal social gathering, opening welcome remarks, presentation on local geology. Light refreshments and adult beverages will be served. Tour the museum on your own and enjoy the interactive exhibits.
Friday, May 5.
9:00 am -12:00 noon
Short presentations session meeting rooms at The Museum of The Earth. Coffee and doughnuts will be served. Prepare your posters, PowerPoint presentations, demonstrations, short lesson, etc., to fit a 30-minute allotment. Meeting room has a large screen and projector for group presentations. Museum will be open for you to tour.
See presentation form included in the Eastern Section Newsletter (p. 9).
Lunch provided in the meeting room at 12 noon.
1:00 pm - 4 pm.
Group field trip to the glacial esker located at O.D. von Engeln Preserve in Malloryville. The esker at the preserve is one of the best examples of this glacial feature in the northeast. “Commonly known as Malloryville Bog, The Nature Conservancy’s O.D. von Engeln Preserve has more than a mile of eskers – ancient river channels that once ran through glacial ice – winding through a pocket of forest adjacent to Fall Creek. Many distinct plant communities thrive on the preserve’s bogs, swamps, marshes, and fens. Look for songbirds and unique plants like the carnivorous pitcher plant, which traps insects to obtain nitrogen.”
Return to Museum of The Earth at approximately 4 pm. Dinner on your own.
7:00 pm - ????
Eastern Section Geo-auction in the classroom of the Museum of The Earth with light refreshments, snacks, soft and adult beverages. Bring your items to donate for the auction! (Geo-auction proceeds are used
towards funding the meeting.)
Saturday, May 6.
9:00am - 4:00 pm
Full day field trip to explore the geology of Taughannock Falls State Park and Robert H. Treman State Park. Taughannock Falls carves a 400-foot gorge through layers of sandstone, shale and limestone that were once the bed of an ancient sea. With a 215- foot plunge, this waterfall stands three stories taller than Niagara Falls. Robert H. Treman State Park is an area of wild beauty, with the rugged gorge called Enfield Glen as its scenic highlight. Winding trails follow the gorge past 12 waterfalls, including the 115- foot Lucifer Falls. Other stops may be included as time permits. Field trip departs from Museum of The Earth.
6:30pm
Eastern Section awards and recognition dinner at the Museum of the Earth.
The Eastern Section State Outstanding Earth Science Teacher winners will be recognized along with other eastern section awardees. Enjoy th buffet dinner with several selections including a vegetarian entree.
PRI's Don Haas will present, "On 2x4s, Graphite & Gasoline: What I'd Teach About Climate Change if I Only Had an Hour." He will describe not only what he would teach in that hour, but the rationale behind why this particular content was selected. Related resources will be shared.
The registration form can be found in the Eastern Section Newsletter (p. 8). |
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New York Earth Science Teachers Association Annual Field Conference at PRI
August 7th to 9th, 2023
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The New York Earth Science Teachers Association (NYESTA) will have their annual field conference at PRI and the Museum of the Earth this August. Look for more information in the next issue of Learning Earth and on the NYESTA webpage.
Both the NAGT and NYESTA meetings will feature ample time in the field, visits to Ithaca's famous gorges and waterfalls, and special attention to Cornell's Deep Geothermal Heat Research program. The programs for the two meetings will be complementary and not redundant.
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March’s Science in the Virtual Pub programs, Ravens and Writing Desks: With Reflections on Science and Science Literacy, with Bryce Hand on March 9 and “Yes, We Can Really See That from Space!” with Nicholas LaVigne on March 23 were the sixty-fifth and sixth-sixth sessions in the series as it reached the three year milestone.
Science in the Virtual Pub began as Buffalo Science in the Pub in January 2020. It was developed by Ken Zidell as a class project for the graduate seminar in informal science education that PRI's Don Haas taught at the University of Buffalo in Fall 2019. Monthly sessions were held at Buffalo’s Resurgence Brewing Company in January and February of 2020. Then along came March of 2020 when the world shifted and Buffalo Science in the Pub became Science in the Virtual Pub.
The program now runs on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 7:00 pm Eastern from September through May, excepting holidays. April’s first session was Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Dragonite: Paleontology and Storytelling with Gabriel-Philip Santos, MSc, Director of Visitor Engagement and Education, Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology. on April 13. April 27 will feature Cornell climatologist Toby Ault and Frank Telles from Northern Arizona University with Drought, Paleoclimate, and Dust (Working Title). May will feature documentary filmmaker, Deborah Hoard talking about making science films on May 11th, and a group of experts will join us on May 25th to close out the year with The Electric Grid & the Energy Transition Panel Discussion.
Descriptions of all past sessions and recordings of most sessions are found at: https://www.priweb.org/event/science-in-the-virtual-pub. The linked titles above link to the YouTube Live recordings of the sessions.
Register for any Science in the Virtual Pub event here.
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New York Rocks! exhibit now open
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NY Rocks!: Ancient Life of the Empire State opened March 13, 2023, and it will be on display through December 2023 at the Museum of the Earth.
The exhibit introduces you to the ancient world and life of the Devonian Period, and show you how the Earth history of 380 million years ago continues to impact our world today. You’ll learn more about how Devonian rocks have been used for building stone, how Devonian bedrock affects wine production in the Finger Lakes, and how regional tourism relates to Earth history events. You will also meet some of the people who have studied the Devonian of New York and how large “behind the scenes” museum collections are used to make sense of the Earth’s history.
All exhibits at the Museum of the Earth opened since 2020 also include a companion online exhibit. See the virtual exhibit here.
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Shop to Support Science Education
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Shop the PRI gift shop online or in-store at Museum of the Earth to support science education at PRI! Shopping our store funds our educational programs throughout the year. Find a unique, science-themed gift for your loved ones, and help a great cause!
And, yes, trilobite slippers are back in stock! And you need a pair!
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There's More! Check the PRI Events Calendar!
There's always a lot going on at the Museum of the Earth, the Cayuga Nature Center and with our online programs! Check our events calendar for a full listing! And please come visit in person!
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We gratefully acknowledge funding from:
Their support and your membership dollars makes climate change education from PRI possible.
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