A federal grant of $91,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), plus matching support of $30,000 from Baylor University, will bring together Baylor scientists, science educators and local teachers in an effort to teach the next generation about water quality and reuse.
Dr. Bryan Brooks & Dr. Suzanne Nesmith
From July 30 through Aug. 3, 20 Waco-area science teachers from grades 4-12 will participate in a field-based professional-development experience based at the Lake Waco Wetlands (LWW). The program – “Immersed in the Wetlands: An Environmental Academy for Educators” – will engage the educators in inquiry- and field-based environmental education methods, so they then can share those methods with their own students in local classrooms.
“I’m a strong proponent of inquiry-based science, where students are actually doing science and looking for an answer to a question,” said Suzanne Nesmith, Ph.D., associate dean and associate professor in the Baylor School of Education, who is principal investigator of the EPA grant. “Very few educators have these field-based experiences in their own preparation, so they might not be comfortable with doing science in the field and are typically not providing these opportunities to their own students. You cannot help children build an understanding of the environment and have skills and abilities to take action if you simply talk to them in a classroom.”