So, this last Saturday we were blessed with a special event: A teacher symposium. Science teachers from all over the area (Phoenix, Sahuarita, Tucson, pretty much every city in Southern Arizona). The symposium was for teachers to learn better techniques or interesting ways to get their students interested in science. We also had volunteers from the Bio5 institute assisting and holding some of their own classes as well. Some of the Bio5 volunteers greeted the teachers as they came in...
Some of the Bio5 volunteers taught some basic genetics to the teachers.
The first hour of the day went to some tables and displays set up for the teachers as they arrived through the visitor center. Myself and the other undergrads were advertising our recently acquired GEMS kits.
Once the majority of the teachers had arrived, the undergrads (including myself) and some of the Bio5 volunteers guided them to their classes. There was a variety of classes with very different focuses. Alas I left the paper stating what all the class names were back in the car we took up, but the ones that stood out I remember.
Partially because the Biosphere lot is so gigantic, I simply didn't have the energy to rush around to all the classes (they were all over the area), but I managed to get some pretty good shots.
One of my personal favorite classes going on was the insect one, where a lady with a bunch of different insects showed some very cool ways you could intrigue students into studying entomology.
(for example, here she had teachers observe which food the crickets preferred)
She also introduced the teachers to some giant roaches to get them more comfortable with insects. (Oh and Kristin, apparently I DID get a photo of you holding one. :p)
The following classroom was about modeling climate change. The program used was a bit too complex for junior high/high school students, but illustrated a lot of principles of climate change so the teachers could translate for their students.
One of the other fun ones I saw, was kinetically illustrating a pie graph to students. The teacher had the other teachers hold a piece of string to make a physical pie graph.
Some of the other classes had teachers actually going into the Biosphere to collect data. Whitney got to give an impromptu tour of the inside. :p
And while we were inside the rainforest, I finally got a really good photo of the area:
Slideshow of the photos:
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