Artist Boat’s Coastal Waters Institute for teachers

This is a sponsored 40 hour professional development funded by NOAA B-WET, Texas Education Agency, and Environmental Protection Agency The CWI is designed to show Galveston, Brazoria, Chambers, Houston, and Liberty County, 7th and 8th grade teachers how to utilize the experiential learning cycle to promote science, math, and art.  The content of the professional development will be based on the Galveston Bay Estuary Program’s 17 priorities outlined in the “The State of the Bay: A Characterization of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem” and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration standards for Ocean Literacy.  During this professional development teachers will earn 40 CPE hours while learning about the significance of Galveston Bay (our estuary), non-point source pollution, natural resources, restoration, and native flora and fauna through the hands-on lessons of Artist Boat’s Environmental Curricula and by participating in kayaking, vessel tours, and habitat restoration, and using NOAA data  tools.  Teachers will develop a lesson with math and science TEKS alignment that is based on the  experiential learning cycle, relates to the coastal zone, and relates to the current global economy.  That  developed lesson will earn an extra 8 CPE hours.  This opportunity allows teachers to see how different  disciplines can be integrated and how utilizing the experiential learning cycle will create a powerful learning curve.

The Coastal Waters Institute will be held over the course of five days for the following weeks of July 6 and July 27, 2009.  There is limited space; 20 teachers will be accepted for each week, totaling to 40 teachers.  To receive more details and an application contact Rani Henderson via phone 409-770-0722 or email, rhenderson@artistboat.org.  Applying schools with a team of 2-6 teachers will be given highest priority.