November 16, 2004

LIFE-ANERR @ St. George Island State Park

The LIFE-ANERR Program recently completed the second field experience for seventh-grade students in Franklin County Schools at St. George Island State Park. Special thanks to Kimberly Hudgins, Park Ranger, for her work co-facilitating field labs. Students completed three field labs and addressed properties of waves, the movement of sand dunes, and the distribution of habitats from the gulf to the bay. In one lab, students measured the position of the dune under the boardwalk (see photo at left). Their data will be compared to future groups of students and presented in a poster to be displayed at the park. Look for a short video (based on interviews conducted on Tuesday November 9th) by the Florida Channel on Friday (Nov 19th) at 5:30 PM.

LIFE: Student Assessment

The importance of describing the nature and extent of student learning has never been more essential. The LIFE Program in Apalachicola uses three assessment tools: 1) pre- and post- tests; 2) field lab discussion questions; and 3) student portfolios. The pre and post test results from the first field experience (September 29, 30, and October 1) indicate improvements in the three main concepts addressed by the field labs. Pre test scores averaged 0.83 and 0.86 (out of a total of three) for Apalachicola High School (AHS) and Carrabelle High School (CHS) respectively. Post test scores doubled to 1.77 and 1.72 for AHS and CHS respectively. For a spreadsheet with all the scores, please contact Greg Ira. Student portfolios will include not only the completed field lab data sheets, but also related work done prior to, or after, the field labs in all subject areas. Student portfolios will be reviewed twice a year by science teachers at each school.

LIFE Partners: DEP Teams up with the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC) for Teacher Professional Development

Through a partnership with PAEC the Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Environmental Education will promote Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) workshops directly to teachers through the Florida Learns Academy (https://www.paec.org/fldata/). This partnership allows the Office of Environmental Education to promote courses, register participants, distribute information, and provide in-service points to teachers attending Project WET Workshops through the existing online interface available to all teachers in the PAEC service area.

LIFE Events

• 19 November 2004 (2:30 – 5:00 PM): Planning Meeting for LIFE – GTMNERR Program (Location: St. Johns County)
• 17 December 2004: CANCELLED . . . LIFE-ANERR Program Curriculum Planning Meeting . . . CANCELLED
• 3 January 2005: LIFE-ANERR Program Portfolio Rubric Finalization and Portfolio Review (Location: Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve)
• 19, 20, 21 January 2005: LIFE-ANERR Program Field Experience #3 (Location: St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve)
• 25, 26, 27 January 2005: All LIFE Programs Workshop for Site Coordinators/Leaders (Location: To be confirmed)