The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia
4 Quality Education

4 Quality Education (35)

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

NOAA’s Teek and Tom bring fun and free science to classrooms and homes

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It’s all about the ocean-weather-climate connection!

Join intrepid student explorer Teek from planet Queloz and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientist Tom Di Liberto as they explore planet Earth’s weather and climate. This five-part science series covers a range of scientific topics, including how the ocean influences weather and climate on Earth, and the technologies scientists use to gather information about our planet and its changing climate.

Each episode is supplemented by two lesson plans designed for students in the fourth through sixth grades — all of which are compiled in a single Educator’s Guide. Each lesson allows students to explore and investigate NOAA data, visualizations and content, allowing them to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts.

An understanding of how the Earth works as a system and how humans interact with the Earth is important for all inhabitants of our planet. Teek and Tom are a fun and engaging way to grow that understanding!

Teek and Tom: Educator’s Guide

The Teek and Tom Educator’s Guide includes 10 lesson plans — two supplementing each episode. The lessons allow students to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts. Through the exploration and investigation of NOAA data, visualizations, and content, the lessons support the videos in telling a cohesive story of key Earth systems, and how those systems impact each other.

Each lesson is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), national standards for mathnational standards for English and language arts, and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. These standards reinforce the interdisciplinary nature of ocean, weather and climate studies, and support the teaching of these topics. The lessons engage students in content that is locally relevant; and use the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) to provide a structure for students to connect science ideas with their own experiences, and apply their learning to new contexts.

To access this high-caliber, free science lesson, download the educator’s guide.

Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:21

CANCELED Rural Resources 2024 Incredible Farm Dinner Downtown

Rural Resources The Incredible Farm Dinner DowntownThe annual Incredible Farm Dinner Downtown is a Greeneville tradition celebrating local farms and community. Hosted by Rural Resources Farm & Food Education Center, many local sponsors, business, farms, churches and the Town of Greeneville make this grand event possible. This dinner sells out every year — a testament to its success and the value of the Rural Resources programming it supports.  Rural Resources

 

With the devastation across Greene County, we have decided to cancel this evening’s Incredible Farm Dinner Downtown.

Thanks to your support, we will donate the meals to those displaced, as well as first responders. 

Please join us in praying for Greene County as we all help each other get through this difficult time.

Our Sincerest thanks for your continued support of the Rural Resources Farm Education Center.

Warmest Regards,

The Rural Resources Staff & Board of Directors

GREENEVILLE — This year the superlative annual fundraiser for the Farm & Food Education Center of Rural Resources will benefit Rural Resources’ Teen Training Program. The event will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday Sept. 28 at 615 West Main St. and feature Chef Elise Clair. She is creating a colorful seasonal menu sourced by our Greene County and East Tennessee neighbors.

Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, and a graduate of East Tennessee State University, Clair has a solid 25 years of experience in the culinary industry and scratch kitchens. Now with 15 years as vice president of JDD Enterprises, Clair maintains operations for The Main Street Pizza Company locations in Johnson City and Kingsport, River Creek Farm based in Limestone, River Creek Catering, and County Line Pie in Chuckey.

Claire focuses her menus and garden on seasonal Appalachian standards, highlighting local products from other Central Appalachian region growers and producers. On the farm, Clair and her partner maintain a non-certified organic practice fruit and veggie garden across multiple acres.

We invite you to desire, smell, taste and experience the quality of the freshly harvested meal prepared for you at The Rural Resources Incredible Farm Dinner. Hurry to secure your seats at the table!

Last modified on Wednesday, 23 October 2024 14:09
Tuesday, 17 September 2024 19:23

Nov. 2: Talk about the weather with NOAA scientists

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This event was rescheduled from a previous date.

MORRISTOWN — The regional office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hosting a free open house featuring tours, scientific discussions and chats with area forecasters intimate with the intricacies of Southern Appalachian weather.

Stop by the regional office, 5974 Commerce Blvd. in Morristown, any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2 to learn about the National Weather Service as a whole, tour operations and learn what a typical work day looks like at the weather-service office.

Highlights include chances to meet meteorologists and weather-service partner agencies; explanations of when and how severe weather alerts are issued; an introduction to weather radar and radio; hydrology discussions; and hands-on science activities for children.

Last modified on Friday, 08 November 2024 00:47
Thursday, 29 August 2024 11:43

Flutter over for educational fun at the annual UT Arboretum Butterfly Festival

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OAK RIDGE — More than 2,500 people are expected to attend the ninth annual Butterfly Festival hosted by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society and the UT Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center. Gates will open at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at the UT Arboretum, 

The festivities will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT. Plenty of activities will provide educational opportunities for the public to learn how we can all protect butterflies and other pollinators.

Kevin Hoyt, director of the UT Forest Resources Center and Arboretum, invites everyone to come for a fun day of educational activities. “This family-oriented event will feature butterfly tents and the UT Insect Zoo as well as children’s crafts, artisans and other vendors and food trucks.” Hoyt said butterfly releases are no longer part of the event and that guests are asked to leave pets and butterfly nets at home. 

Last modified on Sunday, 29 September 2024 21:32

Wanda DeWard with butterly netWanda DeWaard has spent 30 years studying and tagging monarch butterflies. Here she leads a volunteer group of citizen scientists tagging monarchs in Cades Cove.  Photos courtesy of Wanda DeWaard

Successful Smokies monarch tagging project is a product of the people

Every winter, way up in the oyumel firs in Mexico’s high elevation forests, millions of North American monarch butterflies that have traveled from as far north as Canada cluster in colonies to overwinter before flying north again to lay eggs in spring. Tens of thousands of monarchs might adorn a single tree like a papery gown, sometimes weighing it down enough to break off branches.

To get to the oyumel forests several miles above sea level, which provide a perfect microclimate for the weary travelers, they migrate south using different aerial paths, or flyways, that merge together over Central Texas. This migrating generation can live up to nine months and might travel anywhere from 1,000-3,000 miles to the forests they seek, yet have never been to. Mysteriously, they find their way and sometimes even make it to the exact tree where their ancestors four or five generations back once clustered. 

Monarchs are the only butterfly that makes a long two-way migration. Despite much research on the species, science still hasn’t fully unraveled the secrets of their incredibly accurate homing system. This makes them one of the true marvels of the natural world.

Elanmonarch3A tagged monarch feeds on nectar in the Great Smokies before joining the migration to Mexico for the winter.

Last modified on Thursday, 21 November 2024 13:37
Tuesday, 06 August 2024 16:33

Compare notes on environmental education at annual conference

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NATCHEZ TRACE — The 2024 Tennessee Environmental Education Association annual conference is set for Sept. 19-21 at Natchez Trace State Park.

The conference is open to any adult interested in education with the natural world as the foundation. Earn up to 31 PD/CE credits and network with an amazing and diverse group of educators from across Tennessee. The conference welcomes K-12 formal educators, informal educators, and more.

Sessions are diverse, and strands include historic practices and the environment, equity and inclusion and community engagement. A preconference workshop with Project Learning Tree and the Tennessee Forestry Association is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 19.
 
Enjoy Friday and Saturday sessions from organizations such as Cumberland River Compact, WaterWays and Tennessee State Parks.
 
Last modified on Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:05

garden header1A birds-eye view of Warren Wilson College in the Swannanoa River Valley near Asheville.  Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College considers selling or leasing parts of its Swannanoa Valley campus as it addresses budget deficit; conservation easements also in play

This story was orginally published by Jason Sandford at Ashevegas.

Eds. note: The headline has been adjusted to reflect that Warren Wilson College is considering the sales, but has not yet put property on the market.

SWANNANOA  Warren Wilson College officials are considering selling or leasing chunks of the bucolic 1,100-acre campus as the college continues to seek ways to offset a $5.5 million budget deficit.

School officials are simultaneously considering adopting conservation easements that would protect, in perpetuity, some 600 acres for educational, research and recreational purposes.

Last modified on Thursday, 29 February 2024 18:21

You’re invited to the annual Big South Fork and Obed science meeting

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ONEIDA — On March 13, 2024 the National Park Service will host its annual public science meeting at Historic Rugby Visitor Center at 1331 Rugby Parkway, Rugby, Tennessee.

The public is invited to spend the day with scientists who have been conducting research at Obed Wild and Scenic River, Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, and other areas on the Cumberland Plateau.

A wide range of topics specific to the Upper Cumberland Plateau will be covered during the day, including talks on wild hogs, restoration efforts at cultural landscapes, impacts from hemlock wooly adelgid on native hemlock trees, and other topics.

Sequoyah Hills Arboretum sign identifying the Eastern Red Cedar to which it is attached.Many such new identifying tags highlight trees such as this red cedar in the newly designated Sequoyah Hills Arboretum near Bearden in Knoxville.  Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press

The arboretum designation will  allow for more extensive tree walks, scout projects, school outings, and other educational programs on the value and beauty of native trees

KNOXVILLE — A small crowd of volunteers with tags and tools descended on Sequoyah Park on a February afternoon, preparing to affix identifying labels to the bark of old trees in one of the city’s most storied neighborhoods.

Sequoyah Park sits along the Tennessee River at 1400 Cherokee Boulevard, tucked behind the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood but open to all who want to run, walk, cycle, or enjoy its open fields and other features. It’s Tennessee Valley Authority land, maintained by the city. The many species of native trees that tower over the park’s long field got recognition this year. The park and other Sequoyah Hills neighborhood areas are now part of the Sequoyah Hills Arboretum, an accredited level one ArbNet arboretum.

Last modified on Saturday, 23 March 2024 21:17
Tuesday, 06 February 2024 15:09

Celebrate Black Appalachian roots at spring fish fry

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WHITESBURG — Join Black in Appalachia supporters and friends for a fish fry, live music and fellowship at its field office in Whitesburg, Tenn. 

The homecoming is set for 1-8 p.m. April 20 at 8004 Andrew Johnson Highway.

The first Black in Appalachia Homecoming is meant to celebrate friends, families and coworkers near and far on the commemoration of setting roots in East Tennessee.

Black in Appalachia is a nonprofit that works with media, residents, universities, libraries, archives and community organizations to highlight the history and contributions of African-Americans to the development of the Mountain South and its culture.

Last modified on Saturday, 20 April 2024 00:57
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