A recent hands-on workshop led by Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory offered an opportunity for educators to experience Lake Erie watersheds up close and bring important knowledge back to the classroom.
In July, 11 formal and non-formal educators from around Ohio participated in the program’s Wandering through the Watershed Educator Workshop. Participants learned the basics of forest ecology through engaging, research-based activities while gaining practical tools to use with students.
“The goal of this workshop was to show how land use impacts water quality,” said Jill Bartolotta, Ohio Sea Grant Education Specialist, who led the workshop. “We started at the ‘top’ or highest point of the watershed and travelled down to the entry point into Lake Erie. This journey showed the connection of land to water.”
The workshop provided guided training and ready-to-use resources from Project Learning Tree, Project WET, and Aquatic WILD, aligned with Great Lakes Environmental Literacy principles. While hazardous wildfire smoke impacted some of the event’s outdoor plans, participants still got to make valuable connections, bringing streams and Lake Erie into the classroom.
Additionally, the workshop highlighted the many environmental literacy resources available for educators in the state. Participating educators went home resources that can be used in their classrooms or learning centers, Bartolotta explained. They also got to interact with several organizations and experts offering place-based learning, experiential environmental education programming, and the use of science in the classroom.
“I hope the educators walked away with a new appreciation for our land and waterways as places that provide so much for the communities that live within and around them. We are incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful natural areas in Ohio, including some of the locations in Northeast Ohio that the workshop highlighted,” Bartolotta said. “Through this new appreciation, I hope they gain a sense of pride and respect for these places that leads them to want to protect them and foster their students to want to protect them as well.”
The event was funded by the Center for Great Lakes Literacy, with additional funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Program partners include Holden Forests and Gardens, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District, and Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse.
For Eric Wernet, a teacher at Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools in Lake County, the experience helped connect human activity with water flowing down rivers, streams, and creeks.
“This was an incredibly impactful workshop that I would recommend to anyone with a stake in the world around them,” Wernet said.
The experience also offered fun, interactive activities for environmental educators, said Grace Telesz, a senior studying environmental science at the University of Pittsburgh who worked as an Ohio Sea Grant intern this summer.
“I really enjoyed the educational games we learned to put together, play, and teach,” Telesz said. “The games were interactive and could have elements removed or added to match the appropriate education level. I think this is a great opportunity for educators to better their teaching skills by becoming the student.”
A workshop evaluation showed that all participants learned information valuable to their educational programming. Many plan to take the workshop’s activities home to their classrooms to inform the creation of lesson plans and to share with colleagues.
“Events such as this workshop allow the educator to experience the programming, data collection, or field experience that they are hoping to take back to their learning center,” Bartolotta said. “The more knowledge scientific experts can share with educators the better.”
“Workshops bring all of us together to support the common goal of fostering the next generation of Great Lakes literate environmental stewards,” she continued. “We teach one another and learn from one another, bettering the content, delivery, and evaluation of our education programs so that the best possible tool is being shared with our students or participants.”
Ohio Sea Grant is supported by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, and NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 34 Sea Grant programs nation-wide dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. Stone Laboratory is Ohio State’s island campus on Lake Erie and is the research, education, and outreach facility of Ohio Sea Grant and part of CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources.