The Center for Great Lakes Literacy Promoting informed

The Center for Great Lakes Literacy Promoting informed community engagement in Great Lakes issues UCOWR 2015 Marti Martz Senior Coastal Outreach Specialist Pennsylvania Sea Grant

CGLL is… ←The Center for Great Lakes Literacy ←An ongoing partnership between the 7 Great Lakes Sea Grant programs and the US EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office since 2006 ←A conduit of information from the lab to the classroom and the community ←An opportunity to inform and engage students and residents from around the Great Lakes basin in water-related issues ←Coordinating Great Lakes educational efforts among 5 Great Lakes, 7 Sea Grant programs, and 8 states bordering 10, 000 miles of shoreline that is home to more than 25% of the U. S. population

Develop a community of Great Lakes literate educators, students, scientists, environmental professionals, and citizen volunteers, dedicated to improved Great Lakes stewardship. To get involved people have to care.

Target Audiences • Formal educators, including pre- Wimasternaturalist. org service and in-service teachers • Informal educators (nature centers, zoos, aquariums, NGOs, agencies) • Great Lakes scientists (universities/agencies) • Citizen scientists (contributing to knowledge base) Oswego. edu • Continuing education students: life-long learners (e. g. , Master Naturalists) • Kindergarten-undergraduate students PA Sea Grant

CGLL SIGNATURE OFFERINGS Shipboard Science Workshops • Aboard EPA’s R/V Lake Guardian • Immersive, intensive week of educators DOING science and then learning how to bring it to their students • 2015: Lake Michigan 2016: Lake Superior 2017: Lake Huron 5

CGLL SIGNATURE OFFERINGS Shoreline Science Workshops • Land-based around each lake • ½ to 2 -day events on specific topics • Hands-on interactions between scientists and educators • Train teachers how to best incorporate curricular resources and web based data tools into classroom instruction 6

Training the teacher is important but providing them with the resources to engage their students in hands-on science is what makes this program so effective. It allows students to better understand their connection with the Great Lakes and its water quality and why they should care.

Best practice: place based education Making sure you’re awake: participatory activity (if you can’t answer these questions grab another cup of coffee!!) How many know what watershed you live in? Work in? How many of you have kids? Do they know what watershed they go to school in? What watershed are we in right now? And why is this important? Kidsgeo. com Las Vegas Valley

This is important because. Knowing the name of your watershed builds a sense of place, a knowledge of your surroundings and an appreciation of them. This equates to ownership. If I know it and it matters to me I’ll protect it. Thegeographyofhome. blogspot Urbanland. uli. org Wetplanetwater. com

How do we build that sense of place? Hands-on learning and stewardship! Here is where I live. These are the cool things in my neighborhood. This is what I can do to conserve resources; increase diversity; maintain water quality. Easi. org Willowschool. org Washington. edu

CGLL supports educators in building Great Lakes Literacy and that ‘sense of place’: Science based hands-on experiences, professional development, educational resources, and networking opportunities for educators as well as opportunities to build relationships between researchers and educators. These experiences lead to similar experiences for their students. Lake Guardian Shipboard Science Workshop Running Mill Creek water samples Weed Warrior training

CGLL supports student learning and service project creation/implementation through MWEEs and stewardship project funds and facilitation: Fostering a connection to the Great Lakes and an understanding of the importance of water quality in young people who will become future leaders in science, business, government, education and other fields.

Best practice: Student MWEEs inform service projects Promoting Great Lakes literacy and civic engagement

Which are shared with peers, families and community

GLADs An opportunity for the public to learn about the importance of fresh water in the Great Lakes through hands-on activities, educational resources, and student service projects.

Best practice: Watershed map games Or, how to build a sense of place with students in grades 5 -12: • Research done to create these watershed map games built connections to business owners and neighbors. • It provided 42 opportunities to highlight good practices in the community. • It provides a teaching tool for other teachers, students and the general public to learn about the watershed and issues it may face.

Results in Year One • 1, 678 new stewards • 17 community service projects • 1 pilot project for service-based Great Lakes education • 6 watershed map games for local tributaries = 6 great teaching tools • 1 Great Lakes Watershed Awareness Day • 1 Outstanding Program award for staff • 1 PA Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence

In NOAA’s 2013 Education Partnership Portfolio Review CGLL was recognized as a ‘high return partnership’ in which “benefits to NOAA outweighed the investment and involvement for all parties involved”. “The partnership is strongly supported by connections between people in both organizations committed to sustaining the collaborative efforts”. We care.