GCE Schoolyard Program
Overview
Schoolyard 2018 Group Photo
The GCE Schoolyard program provides critical in-service training for K-12 educators in field ecology, immersing science and math teachers in hands-on research activities in the field to enable them to bring lessons and actual research data back to the classroom. Teachers split their time between doing research alongside GCE scientists and graduate students and discussing ways to implement the information in their classrooms.
A hallmark of the program is its emphasis on continued participation of teachers. Long-term teacher participation allows mentoring on multiple levels and provides teachers with a sense of continuity within the research process and a depth of understanding about those processes that can never be replicated in textbooks. Our program, built around long-term contact between teachers and researchers, is obtaining lasting results.
One teacher wrote:
“I need this every summer to show myself and my kids that I am a scientist. Only now do I feel like I can call myself a science teacher. It used to be so much work to teach – especially using inquiry. But now, after this, it makes so much sense. Now, I have an easy job and am a better teacher. My kids believe me because they see the pictures of me really doing what it is I’m teaching them. It’s even now a rare thing to have to write any kid up for bad behavior. They don’t want to miss class! I guess what I’m saying is that I have been empowered personally and professionally because I now know what science really looks like. I’ve done it. I think about it all very differently. I am a scientist!”
Upcoming Programs
The 2019 summer workshop will run from Sunday, July 14 - Saturday, July 20. A select group of past participants will spend a week on Sapelo this summer to make decisions about the next phase of the Schoolyard Program. Though there will be some field work, the emphasis of this week will be to evaluate the entire GCE educational program. The focus will be on how this program will best serve all educators, students, and the public at large. These invited participants have been chosen from past participants. To be notified of future Schoolyard Program dates complete the Interest Notification Form and send to gceschyd@uga.edu
Past Schoolyard Programs
Schoolyard 2018
The 2018 educator workshop took place July 7-14, at the UGA Marine Institute. There were 14 participants as well as a long wait list of others who wanted to take part in this very successful field experience program. The group was made up equally of past participants and newbies. All worked hard gathering data in a multitude of habitats ranging from uplands, the lower Altamaha River floodplain swamp forests, lower and upper marshes, dunes and beaches. The valuable teacher/scientists interactions have been very positive experiences. "As I gain more knowledge with each visit, I am able to demonstrate & explain to my students that science takes time. Curiosity and asking questions is the first step in understanding". "This is a one of a kind immersion experience. I truly value working with the scientists". "I have learned so much in the span of just one week from teachers, other researchers, and myself that I never would have thought about. I have opened up more socially and learned the value of teamwork in science."
Schoolyard 2017
The 2017 summer workshop took place July 8-15 at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. Eleven teachers from around Georgia and two teachers from Tennessee were deeply immersed in the field work for the projects supporting the mission and goals of the GCE-LTER. Participants had opportunities to participate in various process stages of research involving water quality, plant monitoring, sea turtle patrol, spider population studies, and more. "There was nothing I didn't like! I came away with a new understanding and appreciation of research-specifically data collection." "Now after 3 years in attendance, I fully understand the importance of long term investigations and collecting multiple data points."
Schoolyard 2016
Schoolyard 2016 The 2016 summer workshop took place July 9-16 at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapleo Island. There were 7 new and 6 returning participants. Some of the work experiences included plant monitoring, vegetation surveys, artificial creek measurements, collecting data from flux towers, and collecting and sorting biomass. Evaluations by participants continue to reflect positive outcomes with comments such as, "It has really changed the way I view and teach the scientific process to my students. It has also increased my confidence in myself and my abilities in the science aspect of my job." "The opportunity to actually participate in the data collection and actual research process sets it apart from other programs."
Schoolyard 2015
The 2015 summer workshop too place July 11-18 and included 9 new and 4 returning participants at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. The teachers worked on projects ranging from elevation surveys to plant monitoring to harvesting a greenhouse experiment. Participants reported an increase in their knowledge of both coastal systems and the scientific process. One of the participants wrote in their evaluation, "I have decided after my time here that I can easily base my zoology/botany class on labs instead of the textbook" and another "Most of the time when we go to a workshop, we listen to others talk and we don't participate in a meaningful way. This 'workshop' requires us to 'work' as we learn."
Schoolyard 2014
The 2014 summer workshop took place during the week of July 12-18 at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. We had 10 new teachers and 4 returning participants who worked on several different projects, including plant community monitoring, measuring trace gases, amphibian surveys, crab collection and studies, sea turtle patrols, and benthic micro-algae collection and processing. Participants kept journals, shared experiences, ideas and resources.
Schoolyard 2013
The 2013 summer workshop took place during the week of July 13-19 at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. Once again science and math teachers were immersed in hands-on research activities alongside GCE scientists and graduate students. Teachers worked in the field and in the labs with on-going discussions of how to transfer the experiences to the classroom. Field work included installing groundwater wells, taking greenhouse gas flux measurements, salt marsh surveys, amphibian surveys, locating sea turtles nests, monitoring crab feeding activity and mussel filtration. Lab work included logging data from field monitoring, viewing satellite imagery, snail processing and more.
Schoolyard 2012
The 2012 summer workshop ran from July 8-13, 2012. This year's workshop was based at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. The program immersed science and math teachers in hands-on research activities alongside GCE scientists and graduate students. Teachers split their time between doing research and discussing ways to implement the information into their classrooms. PLU credit was facilitated for in-service teachers and graduate credit may be able to be earned as well. Expenses for the actual program (room and board) were covered by a grant to the GCE LTER from the National Science Foundation.
Schoolyard 2010
The Science Education and Applied Research in Coastal Habitats (SEARCH) research experience for teachers workshop and graduate course was conducted on July 8-16, 2010. To learn more about this summer's research projects, please visit the SchoolYard 2010 Research Projects.