I have never done a blog before. Since this is a new experience, I’m not sure exactly what to say. I’ve sporadically kept a hand-written journal since I was in college, and I’m going to treat this in a similar way, but with less personal detail.
Shae and Tom explore the Choptank River on Tom's boat during a fun sailing excursion.
This has been an interesting experience for me. I watched as Shae, Clair, and Lindsay turned some of my ideas and research into lesson plans for our target 7th grade audience. I would give them an idea or concept, they simplified it to an appropriate level, and out came a nice N cycle or a watershed activity. I was very impressed with their abilities, and it was interesting to see research concepts turned into materials that teachers will use to help train the next generation of scientists, engineers, policy-makers, nurses, etc.
I have been relatively sheltered here at Horn Point Lab. I only teach graduate students, and they are in my classes because they want to be there. They are interested, intelligent, and hard-working. Teaching them is very easy and fun. I have never had to teach students who have a marginal interest or even antipathy for the topic. For those teachers who face classes of indifferent students, I hope that these lesson plans help you enrich some minds and stimulate a few to go on to college, grad school, and careers in science.
