PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure
With the Spring Season upon us now is a good time for teachers and students to become reacquainted with mother nature. PollinatorLIVE has several opportunities, in the form of web seminars, for students and teachers to learn more about such things as gardening, pollination, and the role insect-plant interaction plays in our lives. PollinatorLIVE is geared toward students in grades 4 – 8, but there are lesson plans and activities of interest to teachers and students in all grades. Those who are interested in participating in these web seminars also need to register with NSTA at http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/webseminars.aspx.
On March 24 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ET, the web seminar will feature Schoolyard Gardening Basics. Learn how to fund, plan, design, maintain, and use a schoolyard garden. Eliza Russell with the National Wildlife Federation’s schoolyard habitat program will explain the “how-tos,” while Cindy Wrenn, an elementary school principal, will talk about how the garden at her school is used as an outdoor classroom and science lab. To register and for information, go to http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/PollinatorLive/webseminar1.aspx.
On April 13 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ET, there will be another web seminar on how bees can teach science! Dr. John Pickering and Nancy Lowe from Discover Life will explain how classrooms and students can participate in a number of real science projects to understand plant-insect interactions. Also, learn about the Nature’s Partners curriculum developed by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. The curriculum offers activities designed to engage young people in active, investigative science. To register and for information, go to http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/PollinatorLive/webseminar2.aspx.
On May 12, 2010, PollinatorLIVE will feature a live, interactive webcast for students about the “The Insect Zoo in Your Schoolyard.” Join us at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET for a series of five, 30-minute programs. Join PollinatorLIVE for all or a few of the segments about pollination, interesting pollinator-flower partners, citizen science projects, the latest about monarch butterflies, and how to attract pollinators to your schoolyard. Students can have their questions answered by logging on to the web site at http://pollinatorlive.pwnet.org.
For more information and to register, go to http://pollinatorlive.pwnet.org. The web site also features resources that meet National Science Education Standards for the classroom.
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