[Eenc-board] 2008 Conference Strands and Keynotes

[Lois Nixon]

Dear Dee,

I like the Strands.  I'm not the one to suggest "clever" titles, but some alternate titles might be:  

*EE Fundamentals--or "Foundations of EE"--the NC EE Certification Committee (on which I serve as the EENC rep.) is using "Foundations" rather than "Fundamentals", so it might be helpful to use the same terminology.

*Emerging Science--How about "What's Up with EE?" or just "What's Up?"

*EE is not just for Science--instead of the negative "not", how about "Integrating EE" or "Weaving EE into the Curriculum", or "EE in the Web" or....

Keynote speaker suggestion:  

Paul Dayton, a biological oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.  (but he loves to visit NC!)  A news release about an award he received describes, "...a career of research milestones that have helped set the course for subsequent research within the entire field of ecology.  Dayton has focused his research on coastal, estuarine and Antarctic habitats over the course of a 35-year career at Scripps. .... The results of his studies have become bedrock principles of ecology."

Here's an interesting couple of paragraphs excerpted from one of his speeches titled, "What Color is Your Salamander?"  



"Now, my normal job is to teach about biology in the ocean.  But lets set the stage with some more fantasy.  Imagine a big balloon full of seawater.  The balloon is completely porous and the water experiences exactly what the outside water experiences, but because it is in a bag, you can let your mind imagine what has happened to the water over the last hour?  How far does it move in an hour? Over the last day, week, month, year?  Where was that water 10 years ago?  100 years ago?  1000? What is responsible for its moving about and changing?  But how about 100,000 years?  Even a million?  How about 100 million years ago?  Chances are good that at 100 million years ago it was anaerobic.  How about a billion years ago?  There were biotic organisms even then.  What were they like?  How did they affect the bag of water?  What are the consequences of the production and loss of oxygen?  How do these things happen?  It is much harder to imagine the ocean but in the really big picture but much more important."



"Think back to my salamander.  At many universities there are very few opportunities for students to learn about nature.  The chances are that the closest you will come to your own salamander would be a chunk of her DNA.  So before you are even introduced to her, somebody would have stuffed her into a blender and extracted chemically interesting pieces for you to meet instead of the animal.  If you are interested in biology, ask yourself what color your salamander is, what did it eat?  Does it crawl over mountains to find mates? Does she take care of her kids?"

 

"Because of the award system in academe, most of our professors are specialists who deride natural history. ....Don't give up on nature!  She is badly battered, but still beautiful and fascinating.  Don't allow the specialists to grind up all your salamanders! "



Lois Nixon



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dee Thonnard Rudolph" <Dee.Rudolph at ncmail.net>
To: <Peggy.Sloan at ncmail.net>; "Jennifer Braswell" <jennifer.braswell at ncmail.net>; "Patrick Curley" <pat.curley at onslow.k12.nc.us>; "Rosanne Fortner" <fortner.2 at osu.edu>; "Abbie Emory" <amemoryNP at nc.rr.com>; "Amy Garascia" <amysworkshopinfo at aol.com>; "Shelby Gull Laird" <Shelby.Gull at ncmail.net>; "Chris Shirring" <CShirring at ci.fay.nc.us>; "Kelly Hoke" <kelly.hoke at ncmail.net>; "Jackie Trickel" <Jackie.Trickel at co.wake.nc.us>; "Andrea Talley" <Andrea.Talley at wilmingtonnc.gov>; "Lindsay Thornton" <lindsay.thornton at ncmail.net>; "Diane Silver" <eenc-business at diane-silver.com>; "EENC Board" <eenc-board at rtpnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 10:29 AM
Subject: [Eenc-board] EENC Conference items


> Good Morning!
> I have a couple of conference related questions for you guys.
> 
> 1.  I still need a couple of Conference Committee positions filled...
>     Auction Chair & Registration Chair
>     Transportation Volunteer & Volunteer Coordinator
>     We also need many Funraising and Publicity Volunteers for 
> throughout the state.
> 
> 2.  Please forward any ideas you may have about possible keynote 
> speakers for the Eco-reception at the aquarium on Saturday night.  Peggy 
> Sloan, our Eco-reception Chair will be working on this in the next few 
> weeks.  (So speak up now)
> 
> 3.  I am considering the following conference strands please forward any 
> clever titles or new ideas...
>         Beyond the Basics:  from learning to identify various frogs in 
> North Carolina to using new technology I want this strand to help our 
> members learn new skills that will help them become better environmental 
> educators.
>          EE Fundamentals:  Many environmental educators fell lovingly 
> into their profession.  I hope this strand will help many of our members 
> gain the basic knowledge and abilities outlined in NAAEE's           
> Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of 
> Environmental Educators.                    Sessions could include 
> topics on Environmental Literacy, the history of EE, Education not 
> Advocacy, etc.
>          Emerging Science:  As environmental educators, it is important 
> to stay current.  I hope this strand will help each of us stay current 
> in our field.
>          EE is not just for Science:  This strand will help formal and 
> nonformal educators learn new techniques and lessons for squeezing EE 
> into subject areas other than science.
> 
> Thanks guys!
> Dee
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