Anne Schoeffler, a teacher at Seton Catholic School in Hudson, Ohio, helps her seventh and eighth grade science students understand ecology and environmental factors that affect fresh water with the help of educator training provided by the Great Lakes Literacy education exploration program.
This year she participated in the Great Lakes Literacy education exploration, or GLLee, program, a free introductory collection of resources and partners assembled in three easy steps to help teachers and youth explore Great Lakes literacy through place-based education and stewardship opportunities.
Educators from the Center for Great Lakes Literacy collaborate to produce and offer programming from a basin-wide perspective that guides teachers in exploring a science topic, supports their teaching and learning with additional resources, and engages youth in place-based education or stewardship.
In the Great Lakes Literacy education exploration marine debris program, teachers learn about conducting trash audits similar to those held in Sea Grant-led workshops.
The program also receives leadership and support from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and NOAA.
After Schoeffler participated in the program’s marine debris module, developed by Ohio Sea Grant educators, she had local Great Lakes context to relate to what she already knew about ocean marine debris. Now she’s creating opportunities for her students to see how marine debris affects their local community.
“The seventh graders will be doing Water Ecology Day in the spring; we will do a stream assessment field work session including water quality testing. We visited the site last fall and documented water inflow and outflow in the small lake associated with the stream we will test. This was done in the context of a watershed lesson,” she said, adding that she also intends to have her students design a watershed sign own for their school property to explain what a watershed is and how people affect it.
Her eighth graders did a walking investigation of precipitation runoff from their school building and property and then did a photo essay about runoff with respect to their own homes.
In these GLLee programs, teachers throughout the Great Lakes basin use quick, self-paced online lessons to explore a topic, access curated resources and learning materials and develop stewardship opportunities to help students engage with the topic in a meaningful way in their own areas. This spring, more than 90 educators were enrolled in the program, in which teachers earn a certificate for three educator contact hours.
The modules are intended for formal and informal educators hoping to get their feet wet in a new subject area. Topics available to teachers and the grade levels for which the information is best suited:
“The ultimate goal is stewardship. We can take a teacher through ways to help students explore a problem and become a part of finding solutions or contributing to the data.”
Angela Greene, Ohio Sea Grant education specialist
- Aquatic Invasive Species (grades 4-12)
- Coastal Erosion (grades 6-12)
- Marine Debris (grades 4-12)
- Urban Water Cycle (grades 4-12)
- Vernal Pools (grades 6-12)
The marine debris program, for example, was developed by Ohio Sea Grant educators to answer the driving question of how marine debris impacts Great Lakes and animals (including humans) and plants that depend on this freshwater resource.
An example of marine debris in the Great Lakes. (Photo: Todd Marsee, Michigan Sea Grant)
“We want to get kids outside working on these programs,” said Angela Greene, Ohio Sea Grant education specialist. Student might create educational campaigns, conduct audits or develop mitigation efforts as a result of their studies. She said aquaculture and maritime heritage modules are in development for future offerings.
The resources are grouped by grade level, and teachers can join communities of practice to interact with peers who have participated in the program and to share ideas about resources and related projects.
“If you don’t know where to start with issues that impact the Great Lakes, check a GLLee out,” Greene said. “The ultimate goal is stewardship. We can take a teacher through ways to help students explore a problem and become a part of finding solutions or contributing to the data. For example, they could look at a vernal pool that is part of a school’s land lab. It’s getting your kids out there and looking at what’s happening in these ecosystems. It’s just that introductory knowledge, and it’s easy.”