Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - At the University of Wisconsin-Platteville this summer, teachers became the students and ecology was the subject.

Forty-nine teachers K-12 from all over southwest Wisconsin came to UWP in June to participate in a workshop designed to help primary educators utilize ecological resources and introduce environmental topics into the curricula at their schools.

"As soon as you step outside the door, you're in the environment," UWP professor Mark Sethne said. "The big goal is, 'How can you use these resources to teach your kids?'"

Over a two-week period a group of UWP professors led the program titled "Using mathematics, science, and engineering to study Wisconsin's environment and related issues." Classes dealt with a broad range of environmental topics and tools, from topography to the use of global positioning systems.

One of the goals of the program was to help teachers develop and use outside resources at their schools, and at some school districts such programs are already being initiated.

"We're planning on a school project making a school prairie," Lancaster High School science teacher Kristine Corell said.

"River Ridge is looking at the possibility of wind power. We're doing some research into feasibility, and we've resurrected a forest project," special education instructor Kerry McCabe said. "I think the students I work with don't work well within the confines of four walls. We want to get them outside."

The UWP workshop was made possible by a $68,000 grant awarded in January from the state through Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds. In addition to extensive course materials, each participant was given $100 to spend on environmental resources for his or her own school.

"It's unbelievable the materials we get," Corell said.

The teachers could also receive eight credits worth of master's level coursework for participation. Enrollment fees were covered by the grant, making it an attractive offer for McCabe, who is pursuing a master's degree in education with an emphasis in environmental education.

This is the second year for the workshop. Last year's program focused on rivers while this year targeted prairies. Instructors hope to host another workshop for regional teachers next year, if funding is available.

Organizing the program was truly a team effort, pulling together professors from a broad range of fields of instruction at UWP. Dave Braun y Harycki, Bill McBeth and Karen Thomas teach in the School of Education, Lisa Riedle and Tammy Salmon-Stephens come from the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science and Sethne is a professor of geosciences.

"That was the fun part," Riedle said. "We kind of complement each other because of the different disciplines."

Two primary educators were also included in the instruction team to help give an elementary and middle school perspective. Tim Donovan teaches sixth grade at Iowa Grant and Gayle Gronski teaches fourth grade at Pecatonica.

One goal of the workshop was to build partnerships between professors at the University and primary educators in the region.

"We now know a bunch of teachers in southwest Wisconsin and they now know us, so we can be resources for each other," Riedle said.

And with its abundance of green spaces, tall trees and friendly squirrels, UWP may be the perfect place to continue to help teachers meld classroom instruction with environmental awareness.

"The facility is just wonderful. I look at where it was and where it's come-it's a beautiful thing," McCabe said. "This is a great campus."