Nature Net - Workshops for Educators

Build your skill set, learn a new subject, and have fun – all at the same time! Check out these upcoming workshops for educators and others!

Youth Grow Local: Environmental Education in the Garden
January 19, 2012, 9-11:30am - UW-Arboretum
Gardens provide young people with a dynamic outdoor learning environment to explore nature and connect to healthful food. Will share a variety of effective methods for facilitating hands-on, garden-based education for a diverse population of students. For more information...

WAEE Winter Workshop
January 27-29, 2012 - Treehaven Field Station, Tomahawk, WI
This three-day workshop focuses on winter environmental education through concurrent sessions focused on "Awareness," "Action," or "Enjoyment," and offers opportunities for experiential learning, professional development, and recreation. Bring a friend or your family! For more information...

Environmental Education in Urban Communities
Online - Cornell University's Civic Ecology Lab
This 12-week, non-credit professional development course will cover novel practices and conceptual frameworks of urban environmental education. Limited to 20 participants. Apply by Jan 22. For more information...

Webinar: Using Nature Journals to Teach Students How to Think, Communicate and Act like Scientists
January 25, 2012 - Green Teacher
Successful science teaching and learning depends on knowing how to make accurate observations, ask the kind of questions that lead to productive scientific inquiry, and plainly communicate what has been learned. One of the best methods for cultivating these skills is to keep a nature journal. In this webinar we will introduce the necessary tools and a basic set of exercises to make nature journaling a part of how you teach science, and discuss practical applications in the classroom and in the field.

Presenter: Mark Baldwin serves as Director of Education at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York where for the past 20 years he has worked with teachers to infuse their curriculum with the outdoors and the natural world. Mark has a special interest in keeping nature journals to observe and record natural events and in teaching the discipline to others. Mark also has a longtime interest in place-based education, especially creating maps and using them as tools for evoking a sense of place in both children and adults.

Suitability: All formal and non-formal youth educators.
find out more...

Teacher Workshops on Groundwater
January - February 2012 - various locations
Educators from schools and nature centers are invited to apply for a free groundwater sand tank model and workshop. If you provide environmental educational programs for kids in grades 6–12 and want a hands-on tool that shows how groundwater moves, this model may be for you. Twenty four models will be given away at three workshops located around the state. The workshops will be taught by staff from the Central Wisconsin Groundwater Center, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and Wisconsin DNR. To be eligible to receive a model, two teachers from a school or nature center must complete the application form (available at: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/gw/education/2012application.pdf) describing how they will use the model. Money is available for substitute teachers. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2011.

The workshops will be held January 18^th at the Myrick Hixon Eco Park in La Crosse; January 25^th at the WGNHS Core Lab in Mount Horeb; and February 1^st at the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station in Amherst Junction. For more information please see the announcement at: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/gw/education/2012announcement.pdf

Spring Environmental Education (EE) Courses
Online - UWSP
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 2012 online courses include:

Courses include:
Environmental Education Theory & Practice
Applied EE Program Evaluation
Natural Resources Policy & Legislative Process
Advanced Oral Interpretation Methods
find out more...

Green & Healthy Schools Workshop
Online
Earth Gauge and the COMET Program are providing a series of free online courses and training materials that address the connections between weather and environment. These courses count for continuing education credit thrugh the American Metorological Society's certified broadcast meteorologist program. These one- and two-hour classes are free, but registration is required.

Courses include:
Climate Change: Fitting the Pieces Together
Weather and Health
Weather and the Built Environment
Watersheds: Connecting Weather to the Environment
find out more and register...

KEEP Courses
Winter 2011-12 - WI K-12 Energy Education Program - various locations
Each of the following courses is one graduate credit from UW-Stevens Point. Scholarships are available (contact jmollica[at]uwsp.edu eligibility and availability) and visit "Professional Development" at www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/ for more information. Only a few spots left!

NRES 730: Energy Education in the Classroom
Nov 29, Dec 1 & 3 in Plover, WI (available for Plover teachers only).
Feb 24, 23 & 25 in Menomonie
April 13, 14 & 15 in Dodgeville
April 19, 21 & 26 in Fish Creek

NRES 734: School Building Energy Efficiency Education
March 7, 14, 21 & 28 in Milwaukee
March 21, 28, April 4 & 11 in River Falls

Creative Writing About the Natural World
Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, 2012 - UW-Milwaukee Field Station

Explore focused topics in natural history under the guidance of noted authorities. Workshop presents college-level instruction designed to accommodate participants with a broad range of experience. Enrollment is limited to 20, providing an informal atmosphere and individualized instruction. Available for one college credit.
find out more...

MREA Courses
Ongoing - Midwest Renewable Energy Association
MREA is a national leader in providing high quality education and training programs for consumers, businesses, and renewable energy system installers. MREA offers workshops that cover a variety of topics in renewable energy including:

Nature Net is a proud member of the No Child Left Inside coalition
to connect kids with outdoor nature experiences