Contact:

Nordica Holochuck, NYSG's Hudson Estuary Specialist E: nch8@cornell.edu

Kingston, NY, April 3, 2013 - Teachers and educators in the metro-New York area will have another opportunity to share classroom curricula ideas later this month. On Sunday, April 28, the New York State Marine Education Association (NYSMEA) and New York Sea Grant (NYSG) will hold a hands-on Marine Science Activity Workshop at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY.

"It's a good opportunity to network with colleagues and for NYSMEA members new and old to find out how to use some unique and innovative education techniques to teach marine science related subjects and programs," says NYSG Hudson Estuary Specialist Nordica Holochuck, who is also chair for the NYSMEA's Education Committee.

Activities for this half-day workshop (9 am- 12 pm), which is FREE to all NYSMEA members and costs $10 for non-members, will include: Techniques and resources for learning and teaching about tectonic plates, estuaries and watersheds, scuba diving, and teaching about the ocean with geospatial resources.

To register, click here. A Professional Development Certificate is available for those who attend - just contact Holochuck for more information.  

Once signed up for the event, attendees will be sent a confirmation as well as directions to the workshop. After the morning session, attendees are welcome to stay and participate in NYSMEA's monthly meeting. Also, attendees can offer to be a presenter at the workshop, for which they will receive a discounted rate to NYSMEA's 2013 Annual Conference in September. For more information on NYSMEA's call for presenters, click here.

Holochuck looks at this workshop as a building block to the inauguaral teacher-sharing event held at Columbia University's Teachers College in March 2012. "The hope was that the event at Columbia would help NYSMEA and Sea Grant inspire similar resource sharing events throughout New York’s marine coast region." And, while that appears to be what has evolved, Holochuck adds that she'd like the momentum to continue. "We’d love to have NYSMEA volunteers hold similar events throughout the New York Harbor Estuary watershed and along Long Island Sound."

For more on last year's Share-A-Thon at Columbia, see the pre-event press release (click here) as well as the post-event article that appeared in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of New York Coastlines (click here), NYSG's flagship publication.

More Info:

NYSMEA promotes marine awareness and encourages the growth and exchange of instructional resources within the scientific, commercial, and educational communities. Members include educators from all levels: museum, aquarium, and environmental center staff, research scientists, laboratory technicians and those with interests in SCUBA, fishing, boating, maritime history, folklore, archeology and the arts.

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York, is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program (NSGCP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NSGCP engages this network of the nation’s top universities in conducting scientific research, education, training and extension projects designed to foster science-based decisions about the use and conservation of our aquatic resources. Through its statewide network of integrated services, NYSG has been promoting coastal vitality, environmental sustainability, and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources since 1971.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG also offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/coastlines for NY Coastlines, its flagship publication, and Currents, its e-newsletter supplement, each distributed 3-4 times a year.