Advancing Great Lakes Stewardship: A Year-long Teacher Professional Development with Inland Seas

Grant: # 2022

Grant Amount: $77,042.00

Board Decision Year: 2023

Inland Seas Education Association (Suttons Bay)

Sitkins, Fred ([email protected]) 231.271.3077

2023 Great Lakes Stewardship - Great Lakes Stewardship

Project Details

This project, anchored by the immersive four-day Great Lakes Watershed Field Course (GLWFC), provides k-12 teachers from across the Great Lakes region the tools and support to facilitate year-long inspirational and empowering stewardship projects for youth through their teaching. The local nature of the watershed issues identified by students and the stewardship component integrated into successful projects inspires young people to be active members of their communities now, and promote actions that support stewardship of the Great Lakes long into the future. Bringing teachers together in Suttons Bay, MI from across the Great Lakes region for a four-day field course, allows for an immersive learning experience where they can learn a framework of best practices for implementing stewardship action projects with their students, deepen their knowledge of watershed science, and connect with one another over shared successes and challenges. Teachers train in the nationally-recognized Earth Force process to address curriculum standards while engaging their students in local watershed issues. Through the process, students develop the civic skills necessary to make environmental change. Following the four-day field course, staff from Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) support teachers as they engage students in the place-based stewardship action project and relate their learning to Great Lakes water quality by bringing their students to participate in ISEA’s programming. Teachers are provided with ongoing resources and support through virtual meet-ups, one-on-one check-ins, and mini-grants. At the end of the school year, teachers are invited back to ISEA’s campus for a culminating event where they present on their projects, celebrate successes, and reflect on challenges of the year. Overall, this project was completed as originally intended. ISEA recruited teachers from across the Great Lakes region to attend a four-day immersive field course in Suttons Bay, MI. The teachers were supported throughout the following school year, participating in virtual meet-ups throughout the year and using mini-grants to implement stewardship action projects with their students. A group of teachers returned to ISEA’s campus in June to celebrate and reflect upon their work

 

The final report for this project is available at this link.