How to apply:
Apply by 5 p.m. CT on Sunday, September 18, 2022. You will be notified if you are accepted by Wednesday, September 21, 2022.
Description:
Who: 4th-12th grade teachers and educators who are interested in learning basic limnology and water quality science aboard a research ship. Priority will be given to educators who have not participated in a shipboard science workshop before.
What: This workshop is for teachers and educators who want to know about the invisible microbes that live in our gut, that drive our food webs, that cycle nutrients like phosphorus or nitrogen in the environment, and that live in zooplankton and help them process food. Spend a day aboard the Research Vessel (R/V) Blue Heron working with University of Minnesota Duluth Associate Professor and microbiologist Cody Sheik and a day in his laboratory analyzing the water samples you collected. Participants will learn how to collect samples of microorganisms from lake water and lake sediment and how to cultivate microbes from water samples. Participants will also learn how to quantify nitrogen fixation, a process that maintains the inventory of biologically available nitrogen in the lake, which fuels plant growth.
Where: Duluth, Minnesota.
Why:
- Increase your biological understanding of Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes.
- Take home a great experience to share with your learners.
- Learn new activities to use with your learners.
- Develop an action plan document to guide how you will implement what you learned in the workshop into your classrooms and other teaching environments.
- Participants are eligible to apply for Minnesota Sea Grant minigrant funding.
- Receive ongoing support (i.e., participate in Sea Grant staff check-in's, access to the LimnoLoan program, and sign up for Students Ask Scientists) from Sea Grant staff during the 2022-2023 school year.
- Participation in the Lake Superior Shipboard Science for Educators - Fall 2022 event may qualify you to be a mentor with the Center for Great Lakes Literacy Mentorship Program.
Cost:
- Cost may vary depending on an individual's travel expenses.
- Travel stipends of up to $150 will be available to all applicants to offset travel expenses.
- Two nights of lodging (single occupancy) will be provided to all applicants at no cost.
- Two days of substitute teaching time will also be available to all applicants at no cost.
Presenters:
Cody Sheik, associate professor, Department of Biology, University of Minnesota Duluth.
Sarah Clauss, graduate student, Water Resources Program, University of Minnesota Duluth.
Contact:
Minnesota Sea Grant Environmental Literacy Extension Educator Marte Kitson.
Image credit: Marte Kitson