Earth Partnership for Schools
RESTORE Institute Participants identify plants in the Wisconsin Native Plants Garden overlooking Curtis Prairie, the world's oldest restored prairie.
Wisconsin Institutes
Discover how restoring native ecosystems can help:
* invigorate your school and community through
interdisciplinary learning experiences and research for all ages.
* enhance community awareness of how to meet the challenges and opportunities of restoring health to the Great Lakes and all Wisconsin waterways
We invite you to participate in a Water Stewardship: Earth Partnership Institute for graduate credit in which you will learn how to use the process of ecological restoration as a broad environmental context for teaching and learning about the Great Lakes and/or your local watershed. The process of habitat restoration is an exciting, real-life project that spirals through the curriculum from kindergarten through twelfth grade and includes many disciplines such as science, math, social studies, language arts, and related arts.
Water Stewardship: Earth Partnership from the Great Lakes to the Rivers, funded by WI ESEA Improving Teacher Quality Program, U.S. EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment and Morgridge Center for Public Service will employ ecological restoration of native plant communities on schoolyards, in rain gardens and nearby shoreline, wetland, riparian and estuarine habitats as a basis for interdisciplinary K-16 curriculum activities, teacher professional development & citizen science. Teams of teachers, students, resource personnel and citizens will engage in research, restoration and outreach to extend the schoolyard to the shores of the Great Lakes, rivers and their watersheds. Earth Partnership will combine with other education programs to create a comprehensive, inquiry and restoration-based approach, integrated with sustainability, biodiversity, pollution prevention and service learning.
The Earth Partnership for Schools Program (EPS) began in 1991, as an outgrowth of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum’s focus on ecological restoration as a way to establish a positive relationship between people and the land. EPS is a model K-12 teacher professional development program that enhances teaching and student learning through the process of restoring native ecosystems on school grounds. EPS is a national program with 36 Centers in 22 states and Puerto Rico.
OVERVIEW
University professors, resource professionals, regional collaborators, students, teachers and EPS staff will envision and implement regional projects serving Great Lakes and the St. Croix River and lower Wisconsin River basins communities in an effort to engage students in community outreach and action for identifying storm water impacts and instigating water quality solutions.
Teams of teachers will enhance studnet learning experiences by using curricula focused on restoring native habitats and promoting community stewardship. Earth Partnership Water Stewardship Institutes are offered in Summer 2013 at the following locations:
- Milwaukee River Basin to Lake Michigan: June 17-21, Urban Ecology Center, Washington Park, Milwaukee
- Fox River Basin: July 22-26, UW-Green Bay, Lambeau Cottage
- Lake Superior Basin: July 29 – August 2, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, Ashland
- St. Croix River Basin : July 15-10 – Hudson School District & St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Headquarters, Hudson and St. Croix Falls
- Lower Wisconsin River Basins: August 12–16 – Belmont Community Schools, Belmont
Teachers receive three graduate credits with the tuition waived from UW-Madison Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Each participant will receive EPS curriculum Guides, a resource binder, Phenology Wheels and $25 for activity and field supplies.
Content for the Water Stewardship Earth Partnership Institutes will include:
- How to use the EPS 10-Step Restoration Education Process with students and community: Discovering Species, Habitats and Cycles, Exploring and Mapping Watersheds, Inquiring, Investigating and Monitoring; Sharing Student Data and Learning; Engaging in Community Action and Service Learning; and Restoring Native Ecosystems.
- The new Water Stewardship teaching/learning tools include:
- Participatory Photo Mapping utilizing GPS, digital photography and Google Earth to document, track and map projects andto assess human activities on the watershed, record real-time events, construct site and watershed-scale explanations and share data with other students in Great Lakes and watershed communities.
- Citizen Science monitoring tools to monitor storm water run-off, assess causes and potential risks, and contribute to shared data-bases.
- Phenology Wheels developed by elementary teacher Georgia Gomez-Ibáñez, Cambridge Elementary School, WI with Anne Forbes, Partners in Place provide a graphic organizer for people of all ages (pre-K to adult) to record their observations of seasonal rhythms, cycles, arrivals and departures that can provide an introduction to climate science. Activities based on the Leopold Family observations at the “Leopold Shack” further develop the themes of climate change on the schoolyard and backyard.
- Native American perspectives of land and water stewardship through related Indigenous Arts and Sciences Earth Partnership initiative and participate in a discussion to develop an indigenous approach to schoolyard restoration built on respect, responsibility and relationships.
- Administrators will be invited to experience the institutes to build support for teachers’ efforts to involve students in relevant learning through place-based projects.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
2013
Spring
Form teams comprised of 3 – 6 teachers, administrators, support staff, and or parent volunteers. When selecting your team members, think about strategic integration of Great Lakes to Rivers EPS into your school and sustainability. You may consider a representative for each grade level or full grade participation or a representative for each subject area. Submit application forms to the Earth Partnership Office by June 1.
Summer
Recieve course registration instructions and apply to UW-Madison for credit. Process must be completed by July 30 to obtain credit.
Attend one of five Water Stewardship EPS institutes
- Milwaukee River Basin to Lake Michigan: June 17-21, Urban Ecology Center, Washington Park, Milwaukee
- Fox River Basin: July 22-26, UW-Green Bay, Lambeau Cottage
- Lake Superior Basin: July 29 – August 2, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, Ashland
- St. Croix River Basin : July 15-10 – Hudson School District & St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Headquarters, Hudson and St. Croix Falls
- Lower Wisconsin River Basins: August 12–16 – Belmont Community Schools, Belmont
2013 – 2014 School Year
Attend a winter meeting (dates to be determined during the Institute)
Implement activities with your students and share your experience at the winter meeting.
Form an ongoing team to pilot Great Lakes EPS learning experiences
Participate in an optional Action Research Course offer during Spring Semester for two additional graduate credits
2014 and Beyond
Additional One-Week Institutes -- summer 2014
On-going educational opportunities
Continue cycle of ecological restoration-based water stewardship education.
Maintain student and school and community involvement.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHERS
1. Participate in the 5-day Earth Partnership for Schools Institute at one of the following locations: Milwaukee, Green Bay, Ashland, St. Croix Falls and Hudson (St. Croix River Basin), or Belmont (Lower Wisconsin River).
2. Attend a one-day winter meeting (date to be determined during each institute).
3. Develop a school-based plan at the Institute to implement Earth Partnership restoration projects, field work, data collection and outreach with students.
4. Identify an activity to implement and assess with your students during the 2012-2013 school year. Share your experience at a follow-up meeting.
5. Meet regularly as a team throughout the school year. Invite/involve additional colleagues, parents and students.
6. Consider participating as an individual or team in an action research project during the school year. Participants receive 2 graduate credits with tuition waived through UW-Madison Department of Curriculum and Instruction. UW-Madison staff will implement the course through distance learning.
7. Our funders request evaluation of Earth Partnership program activities. At times you will be asked to participate in program evaluations and/or provide classroom and student-based assessments you have used.
CREDIT
The 2013 institute is offered through University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Curriculum and Instruction for three credits. These credits are classified as “special student” credits. The credits generally (always, in our experience) can be transferred to graduate credits by the graduate department with whom you are enrolled. The course is a UW-Madison graduate level course with a graduate level course number, and tuition is waived. Tuition is worth $1300.32. Participants are responsible for the UW segregated fees of $141.15. Limited scholarships are available if segregated fees present a hardship.
Contacts for the Earth Partnership for Schools Program
Earth Partnership for Schools Program Office
Cheryl Bauer-Armstrong, UW-Madison Arboretum, (608) 262-5264, cherylbauer@wisc.edu
Rick Hall, UW-Madison Arboretum, (608) 262-5367, rdhall@uwarb.wisc.edu
Janet Moore, UW-Madison Arboretum, (608) 262-9925, jcmoore3@wisc.edu
Green Bay Fox River Basin
Libby Dorn, Brown County UW-Extension, (920) 391-4655, elizabeth.dorn@ces.uwex.edu
Milwaukee River Basin
Kathy Palmer, Urban Ecology Center, (414) 964-8505, kpalmer@urbanecologycenter.org
Lake Superior Basin
Susan Nelson, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, (715) 685-9983, sbnelson@fs.fed.us
St. Croix River Basin
Rick Hall, UW-Madison Arboretum, (608) 262-5367, rdhall@uwarb.wisc.edu
Lower Wisconsin River Basins
Francesco Accomando, faccomando@gmail.com
Funding for the Water Stewardship: Earth Partnership from the Great Lakes to the Rivers is from WI ESEA Improving Teacher Quality Program and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Funding for the Earth Partnership for Schools Program has come from the WI Sea Grant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and Morgridge Center for Public Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Office of Children’s Health and Environmental Education, Sea Grant, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Science Foundation, ESEA Title II Higher Education Professional Development Program, USDA Forest Service “More Kids in the Woods”, Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, and other public and private contributions.
APPLICATION SUBMITTAL
Please submit all completed application materials either by FAX (608) 262-5209, email to Janet Moore, jcmoore3@wisc.edu, or mail to the Earth Partnership Office at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, 1207 Seminole Hwy., Madison, WI 53711 on or before June 1, 2013.
APPLICATION CHECK LIST
Please keep copies for your records
In conformance with applicable federal and state law and with University policy, UW-Madison does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation, arrest or conviction record, marital status, handicap, political affiliation, or veteran's status with regard to treatment of employees and students in the educational programs or activities which it operates. Inquiries concerning this policy may be directed to appropriate campus admitting or employing units or to the Office of Affirmative Action and Compliance, 175 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1380; 608/263-2378.