While in Thailand, Connie and I interviewed all of the researchers and the other volunteers. One of the questions we asked was, "What advice would you give to our 7th grade students who want to do something really cool like this?" Overwhelmingly and independently everyone said, "Don't hesitate to call up or e-mail the experts. Chances are, they love their work so much, they would love to talk to anyone who will listen."
Fast forward to the start of the school year, and thus, the start of our yearlong projects on endangered species. As a department we meet at least once a week, if not more, to plan, analyze data, and look for cross curricular and real world connections. It was at one of those meetings we wondered "what if we were able to find experts on the species that our students have chosen to focus on and set up interviews through Skype with our students?"
Naturally, this led to another amazing opportunity. I followed the advice we received on our expedition, I called the experts in connecting with ambitious scientist: Earthwatch! After chatting with folks there I was invited to attend Earthwatch's annual summit held at Harvard University's Science Center. This was a big deal. As teachers, getting to go to a science summit is a rare treat. We are fortunate in our profession and especially in our district to have lots of professional development. Most processional development however is centered around the art of teaching and not as often on the content that we teach. As a science enthusiast I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to be immersed with conservation scientist from around the world.
My primary goal for the conference was to line up around fifteen scientist who study, work with and/or research the species that my students have chosen to adopt and advocate for throughout the year, to do a 30 minute Skype interview this spring. I am happy to say that after lots of networking, e-mailing, and collaborating I now have some folks that are excited about the work we are doing, and thrilled to help out with our project.
More to come soon.
