The Science Teachers Association of New York State Conference in Syracuse will include a session on Great Lakes lessons learned and curriculum developed aboard the federal Research Vessel Lake Guardian on Lake Ontario in 2023 with New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Literacy Specialist Nate Drag. Credit: NYSG


Great Lakes Literacy Specialist; North Tonawanda, Palmyra-Macedon, Horseheads Teachers Will Share Shipboard Science Workshop Lessons at Conference in Syracuse November 3-6

Contacts:

Nate Drag, NYSG Great Lakes Literacy Specialist, P: 716-260-2408, E: nwd4@cornell.edu

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG Great Lakes Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net

Buffalo, NY, October 24, 2023 - New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has announced that Great Lakes Literacy Specialist Nate Drag and teachers from the North Tonawanda, Palmyra-Macedon, and Horseheads school districts who participated in the Shipboard Science Workshop aboard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Research Vessel (R/V) Lake Guardian on Lake Ontario in 2023 will speak at the November 3-6, 2023 Science Teachers Association of New York State Conference in Syracuse, New York.

The Shipboard Science Workshop is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for fifteen teachers from across the Great Lakes states to join with federal and academic researchers for one week aboard an EPA R/V on one of the five Great Lakes.

While aboard ship and in-post-trip meetings, Drag worked with the following teachers to transfer their shipboard experiences into classroom curriculum, lesson plans, and activities that they will demonstrate at the November science teachers conference:

• Melissa Elliott, who teaches biology in an Integrated Co-Teaching classroom and through a program for at-risk high school students in the North Tonawanda School District

• Joseph Perry, of the Palmyra-Macedon School District and the 2023 Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for New York State designated by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers 

• Christy Pratt, who teaches a full range of science from astronomy, earth and general science to historical geology, forensic science, and North American wildlife to students in grades 9 through 12 in the Horseheads Central School District.


New York teachers (l-r) Melissa Elliott (North Tonawanda, NY); Joseph Perry (Wayne County, NY); Christy Pratt (Horseheads, NY).

"The 2023 Shipboard Science Workshop teachers' cohort for Lake Ontario was an exceptionally motivated group, readily and easily joining in all the hands-on on-deck and laboratory learning activities. This Science Teachers Association of New York State conference is a welcome opportunity for three of the teachers participating in the 2023 workshop to share their experiences to spark interest in their colleagues to apply for a future Shipboard workshop," said NYSG's Drag.

The Shipboard Science Workshop rotates to each Great Lake on a five-year schedule. Fifteen teachers are selected for the workshop each year through a juried application process. Teachers from New York are eligible to apply in any year.

New York Sea Grant, a cooperative program of Cornell University, the State University of New York, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program, leads the Lake Ontario Shipboard Science Workshop in cooperation with the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, through an interagency agreement by the U.S. EPA, NOAA, and the National Sea Grant Office, provided funding for the 2023 Shipboard Science Workshop.

The Science Teachers Association of New York State is New York state's oldest and most respected professional organization of science educators with members teaching from pre-K to university and informal science programs. Learn more at stanys.org.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.