Welcome to Detroit and the Belle Isle Aquarium, where students come to see fish, turtles, and frogs and leave with learning and excitement about what they, too, could be doing in the world of science.  This project starts with teacher professional development to enhance their knowledge of biology and ecology and to help them prepare their classes to benefit the most from their field trip visit.  Aquarium educators (and our education researchers) follow up with classroom visits, and teachers get the opportunity to reinforce lessons with small grants to enhance learning opportunities.  Want to know more?  Then after viewing our showcase video, join us on a "virtual field trip" (https://www.biaquariumstem.org/virtual-field-trip.html), created in response to COVID-19.  Before COVID-19, every fifth grade student in the Detroit public school system could visit the Aquarium.  Now, this trip is open to the world.  Your students are welcome to join us wherever they are.

Points of discussion: 

(a) The challenge of working with a large school system in which administrators, teachers, and curriculum are in a constant state of flux (even before COVID-19).  How does that compare with your project?

(b)  The pleasure of being a truly place-based site of informal education.  Visits to Belle Isle and the Aquarium are family traditions in Detroit, and always a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city.  In what other ways should we use this opportunity to educate our kids?

Thanks for sharing this interesting work; and congratulations on adapting to COVID-19 with the virtual field trip. I'm very intrigued by the mini-grants for teachers, and curious what you're learning from the choices that they make about how to spend their grant money. What do they feel will enhance their learning experiences, and how do their ideas evolve over the course of their PD? Are you adapting your work with teachers based on the way the mini-grants are working?

Drum roll, please!  I'd like to introduce our team and co-presenters.  We all work closely together on all aspects of the project (especially organizing and leading our annual Summer Teacher Institute professional development); however, primary responsiblities are:

Jeffrey Ram:  PI of the NSF ITEST project.  Molecular aquatic ecologist and Director of the Belle Isle Aquarium Field Research Laboratory.  Budget, Institutional Review Board papework, communications facilitation and web site manager.

Amy Emmert:  Education Director for the Belle Isle Conservancy (managers of the Belle Isle Aquarium).  Besides overall direction of education programs at the Aquarium, Amy is the "go to person" for our small grants program.

June Teisan:  Organizes field trips for students, training facilitators, and following up with pre- and post-field trip interactions with teachers.  June is a former Michigan Science Teacher of the Year.

Mario McGhee: a recent graduate of Wayne State University, you will see him as one of the leaders of field trips in our virtual field trip video.  Mario is a model of success for our students, with much field experience and many scientific skills.  He will begin grad school at WSU's Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics in the Fall.

Joan Chadde:  A leader in the organization of our teacher professional development summer workshops, Joan is an expert at "educating our educators."  As Director of Michigan Tech's Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, Joan was recently (2020) named Informal Science Educator of the Year by the Michigan Science Teachers Assocation.

Sandra Yarema:  co-PI of the project for Wayne State and an assistant professor in the College of Education where she isProgram Coordinator for Science Teacher Education.  Sandra heads the research branch of our project, observing education activities and outcomes and supervising our research assistant, Marion Tate

Marion Tate:  experienced teacher and graduate student in the College of Education, Marion collects, records, and analyzes data from focus groups, classroom observations, teacher and student survey, etc. 

Many others make this project work, especially our participating teachers and our evaluators, Higher Ed Insight LLC.

Thank you for sharing your project. You mention that "Visits to Belle Isle and the Aquarium are family traditions in Detroit, and always a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city." I am wondering if this is true for the under-served audiences you are targeting in this grant? If not, how are you helping these families also enjoy that family tradition? How might you do this if you are not already?

Excellent!

Jacqueline, Detroit has a poverty rate that's nearly three times the national average so your questions are spot-on. With restricted income can families avail themselves of the Belle Isle park or our Belle Isle Aquarium (BIA)? One way we work to ensure access is by making the aquarium free to the public. The non-profit Belle Isle Conservancy works tirelessly to bring resources forward to operate the aquarium and afford access to all free of charge. 

Jeff & colleagues - thank you very much for sharing your project video. First off - I loved the use of animation at the start! Very well done! We are an urban campus as well and our project also focuses on themes of aquatic biodiversity and water quality - using bivalves as our champions to connect headwater (T&E Freshwater mussels) with the bay (oysters). I am excited to think about the potential for connecting students and teachers in very different parts of the country focused on similar themes. I saw you commented on https://videohall.com/p/1677 - It would be cool to explore connecting across our projects in some modest way, getting students in Detroit, NYC, and Richmond, VA to share and compare their projects, findings, insights.

Great professional development!!! When you attend a training for educators and by educators, you GET something!!!! The level of engagement and activity line up was phenomenal! I still telling teachers about the great work that was done last summer—this was the PERFECT combination of excellence! Just wish there was room for ME!

What a lovely video, and the transition from the animated bit was beautiful. I'm wondering, even just anecdotally, if any of the project leaders have noticed a shift in the scientific or conservation attitudes of the participants in this project-- perhaps among teachers that have been bringing students to the aquarium for a long time or students that have become more deeply engaged in the aquarium?

This is a really great project.  I think that the focus on educating teachers makes a really big difference as you can reach a lot of students through just empowering a single teacher.

Great project! I love the idea of the mini-grants for supporting inservice teachers. The fifth grade is such a critical age to reach kids to study STEM-kudos! I think the approach is excellent and should prove to be so effective when focusing on the teachers!

Great video and project! I really like the drone shot you took inside the aquarium. We do a similar drone PD workshop for educators in our NSF project. I wonder if you can share your best practices for recruiting teachers, and strategies for keeping them engaged after the workshop.Thanks!     

This is a great project. It just seems so tangible and the combination of learning about one's own place and wrapping that into their identity, as well as, building confidence and capacity with their potential interests.

Other than physically bringing the visitors into the aquarium space, can you describe a couple outreach and engagement strategies that you like to deploy remotely?

Our work at the Inner Space Center often ties, in an interactive way, informal education centers and institutions like yours to researchers and explorers aboard research vessels. It would be cool to see if there are any potential synergies in the future between our groups as we are always looking for ways to illuminate the deepest parts of the ocean for everyone. I find that some of the challenges lie in developing emotional connections when discussing  observations at sea. After the "wow" factor wears off, the audience is looking to tie the information into their personal world to retain and attach that information in more meaningful ways.

Your work really seems to be succeeding and addressing the underlying concept of this challenge and would enjoy listening to more of your stories!

Thank you so much for sharing your project. It seems like a perfect intersection of informal and formal learning spaces--one that really raises the opportunities for children to learn. You highlight the enthusiasm of some of the teachers--it sure did make me smile. As you think about sustaining the teachers' engagement from year-to-year I wonder, have you ever thought about the possibility of adding a citizen science component in which the classrooms play an active role in collecting data or in producing infomercials about issues related to the river and perhaps those pesky mullusks?

I would love to connect as there are so many overlaps between our projects -- the combination of informal and formal learning, focus on 5th grade (for all the reasons you suggest), and the recent shift to virtual. Also, as Alison above suggests in her comment, we've just begun to add a citizen science component to the program that isn't represented in our video. I'm already scheming a post-COVID trip to see what you're doing in person!

We've just found out that we are going to have to do our Summer Institute professional development this summer by a virtual method.  We will be brainstorming the tools and techniques we will use next week.  Many ideas at this video showcase may come in handy.  Ideas for virtual interaction and learning about food webs, adaptations, observation, etc. will be discussed.  Perhaps will ship "do it at home" supplies to participants, because we can't sacrifice "hands on" to "no hand shakes".  Suggestions welcome.

Jeffrey, What an exciting project and video. I especially like the teacher comment, "Reignited my passion for science." The video captured the excitement and learning and the reason why 5th grade is an impactful time for future STEM interest. The video ignited my interest in learning more about the project! 

 Michelle:  Indianapolis is not so far away!  Come up and visit.  We've just received word from our school system that if we do the Summer Institute this summer it will have to be "virtual."  Now that should be interesting.  Lot's of brainstorming will be going on next week as we grapple with how to make our PD as engaging as the on-site workshops.  We've talked for years about how teachers and students can take the field trip activities into "their own backyards."  We may actually put this to the test.  It might be virtual with us, but "actual" to them.  Ideas about virtual PD in an eco- and aqua- related project are welcome!

Bravo! I think it is so important for teachers to extend their own learning and science experiences. It feeds their intellectual soul that leads to their creativity in designing classroom activities and experiences that meet the needs of their students. In my own work leading professional development for educators, I've found that teachers who participate in these types of PD are more likely to replicate open inquiry in their classroom; they develop a comfort level with long-term investigation and uncertain outcomes.

Great phrase DeeDee "It feeds their intellectual soul"!! As a career K-12 educator before joining the aquarium education team I wholeheartedly agree that enriching PD fuels creativity. And I'd add that it fosters risk-taking in pedagogy by offering a supportive environment for teachers to try new methods. Thanks for your comments!

Michelle:  Indianapolis is not so far from Detroit.  Please come and visit.  Right now we are planning a transition to a virtual PD with our teachers and how to transition our research questions in this new experiential environment.  We've encouraged teachers to take the field trip lessons in our past Summer Institutes at the Aquarium back to their classrooms and their backyards, and come up with creative place-based lessons where they are.  It will be interesting to see if we can come up with a model that will facilitate their own "backyard ecology" and at the same time share with other teachers in how that will help them teach about food webs, adaptations, and other aspects of life science at the fifth grade level.  Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.  (sorry for this duplicate response; for some reason this comment had temporarily disappeared.).

Thank you for sharing your great project. 

Jeff:  I look forward to bringing my Grandkids to the Belle Isle Aquarium when it reopens. It looks like a great place to visit, and I thought the virtual field trip that you also provided the link to was awesome.

I love the way that this project creates an experience that is so much more than a single field trip. From the teacher institute to the mini grants, this is a creative way to extend the students’ experience of the aquarium into their classroom experience as well.

I absolutely love that pond ripple analogy: "pouring into the lives of these teachers maximized that impact." Oh how I wish countless administrators would take those words to heart and implement them consistently. Keep up the great work!

 We've just received word that if we are going to do our 4-day Summer Teacher Institute this summer (as we planned) it will have to be "virtual".  This is a challenge that we think we are up to; however, this Showcase also seems like the perfect forum to get suggestions as to what professional development activities work best on-line and asynchronously for a project that is focused on ecological science, adaptations, aquariums, and water quality (and professional careers associated with those) for fifth grade teachers.  Your comments are welcome!

I have recently moved from K-12 educator to informal educator. I have had the opportunity to interact with many facets of the Education Program and have been amazed at the program the Ed. Team puts on both for teachers in the summer and students throughout the year. The students walk out the door after a field trip still asking questions! Jeff, Amy, June and their staff and volunteers make the Belle Isle Aquarium a great experience for our students.

This video is very inspirational and powerful! Keeping the main thing, the main thing is truly the focus! Students first! Students are motivated and exposed to the endless STEM possibilities at one of Detroit's gems, the Belle Isle Aquarium. Urban students taking a field trip to the oldest aquarium in the world to explore the Great Lakes and the ecosystem first- hand, will stimulate, the scientists within, hands down. Ultimately, teachers participate in a 4- day hands-on PD; followed by an interactive student field trip which promotes STEM, while increasing urban students' interests in science, engineering, math and technology careers.

How to maximize the 4-day Summer Teacher Institute(virtual PD?)

Being a past participate, I immediately thought of the following: 

Acronym-"STEM"                                                     

As far as planning for the virtual PD, each day could focus on a letter in the word "STEM." This would help each planner/presenter maximize their day by covering what they seek to cover.           

S- tudy, Samples, Surveys, Science(Day 1)

T- eacher collaboration thru Technology(Day 2)

E- cology systems, Environment, Ecosystems investigations, Experiments(Day 3)

M-any careers(stem) and Michigan programs(Day 4)

Dajuana:  What a great outline.  I'm sure we'll discuss it as we plan this summer's virtual PD.  Your outline is especially on topic for our ITEST project which is not just about the science and technology, but also about the many careers that students can set their minds and passions towards.  For others who may be following this thread:  Dajuana is a fifth grade teacher and the "publisher" for her class of the Travier Times, a weekly newsletter of science and other subjects for her students.  She also wrote a reflection on her Summer Institute experience for the MAEOEgram, the on-line newsletter of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (see p. 21).

Amazing project Dr. Ram! I hope to visit you at Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit the next time when the pandemic Covid 19 leave us to go back  to USA. It will great visit the education project  working in place.

Here in Universidad de Valparaíso we have many experiences related to attract the interest of child and young students  for Science. I am attaching a web page from our Facultad de Ciencias where you can see some brief descriptions of some initiatives, I am sorry they are in Spanish my native language in spite of my English name. 

https://ciencias.uv.cl/?page_id=4380

Muchas gracias, Donald, por compartir información sobre tu programa en Valparaíso. El programa que tiene para estudiantes de tercer y cuarto grado puede tener ideas que podemos usar en nuestras propias actividades. Gracias por compartir tu sitio web.

EL video es excelente. Llama la atencion lo acertado del comentario sobre la edad, es una clave para introducir a los jovenes en ciencias.  Nacido en Costa Rica, rodeado de bosques y volcanes, fue hasta que cumpli los 12 an~os y que me llevaron a ver un museo de insectos que encontre las maravillas de la naturaleza. Microscopios, fotos, diferentes familias de toda clase de organismos con extraordinarios colores abrio la puerta de ese universo.  Hoy en dia, gracias a ese viaje, me he dedicado a la entomologia y acarologia (ACARI, mites), y todos los dias hay algo nuevo que aprender... Mucha suerte con el programa, ciencia es la carretera al progreso, les deseo lo mejor.

EL video es excelente. Llama la atencion lo acertado del comentario sobre la edad, es una clave para introducir a los jovenes en ciencias.  Nacido en Costa Rica, rodeado de bosques y volcanes, fue hasta que cumpli los 12 an~os y que me llevaron a ver un museo de insectos que encontre las maravillas de la naturaleza. Microscopios, fotos, diferentes familias de toda clase de organismos con extraordinarios colores abrio la puerta de ese universo.  Hoy en dia, gracias a ese viaje, me he dedicado a la entomologia y acarologia (ACARI, mites), y todos los dias hay algo nuevo que aprender... Mucha suerte con el programa, ciencia es la carretera al progreso, les deseo lo mejor.

Thank you for all you presented, I loved when you said"to no fault of their own." Because I really think it is so true, so children have no options.

Faiza: And especially these days, due to COVID-19, we all have "to no fault of our own" many new challenges in providing education and opportunities to the next generation. Not just the children, but also their parents and their teachers.  That does not relieve each of us from taking individual responsibility, as well, for our own education in whatever circumstances, while at the same time striving together for everyone to be a life-long learner.  Thank you for your comment

Local ecological conservation in community organization through education! And, with follow-up support to teachers to reinforce curricular connections.  A people network of caring.  Thanks for sharing. 

DaJuana - Thanks so much for your comment on the importance of focusing on students. As June suggested near the end of the video---teachers are the essential link to reaching students. Teachers' enthusiasm, knowledge and encouragement of their students is critical to building students' confidence and sparking their interest in science and science careers. Thank you so much for your contributions to the teacher institute, writing your newsletter Travier Times for your students and their parents/guardians, and for writing an article about your teaching strategies for the newsletter of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental & Outdoor Education. Your work is much appreciated!

DaJuana - Thanks so much for your comment on the importance of focusing on students. As June suggested near the end of the video---teachers are the essential link to reaching students. Teachers' enthusiasm, knowledge and encouragement of their students is critical to building students' confidence and sparking their interest in science and science careers. Thank you so much for your contributions to the teacher institute, writing your newsletter Travier Times for your students and their parents/guardians, and for writing an article about your teaching strategies for the newsletter of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental & Outdoor Education. Your work is much appreciated!

It's very encouraging to see all of the necessary layers of involvement that this project nurtures so that Detroit kids are exposed to STEM possibilities for themselves.

Creating Stem Pathways in Urban Settings was an exciting view.  Projects that stimulate teachers to expand their knowledge of science and educational strategies to excite their students is essential. This project will help elementary, middle school and high school students to understand acience and possibly choose an aspect of science as a career.    As a retired university educator, I was particularly pleased that the project directly utilizes community based local Detroit science resources. This is one of the best ways to stimulate the teachers to also utilize  community based instruction as an instructional tool to develop student interest in not just science but also the local community.  

Thank you, Marshall, for your input.  We very much view every education project at the Belle Isle Aquarium as "place-based education."  For 115 years, the Aquarium has been part of the Detroit community, through thick and thin, bankruptcy of the city, and beyond--and still free to come and go for everybody. Many of our volunteers are, in fact, retired teachers from the area.

Such important work! What challenges did you find in the virtual field trips (if any?).