Imagine a classroom where there are no walls, the sky’s the ceiling and the deep blue waters of Greece’s west coast are at your feet.
No doubt the students in this classroom would get way more than readin’, ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmatic. Their days are more likely spent explorin’, snorkelin’ and kayakin.’That’s the journey teachers worldwide embark upon each summer when they join an Earthwatch expedition, becoming willing pupils in some of the world’s most amazing outdoor classrooms.
Lyondell has sponsored educator awards for the Earthwatch program for 12 years to enable dozens of teachers from schools near our facilities to participate in the international program’s expeditions and conduct field research projects with its volunteer scientists, such as:
- unearthing fossils to piece together clues of life millions of years ago in the scenic mountains and valleys of central Mexico
- exploring how Nova Scotia’s ecosystem, forestry, hunting and tourism are affected by climate changes
- studying marine mammals off Greece’s west coast
- and conducting the first large-scale study of bogs in Belarus to further their conservation.
From the coast to the classroom
Last year, Brigitte Silvagnoli, a fourth grade English teacher in Aix-en-Provence, France, and high school English teacher Annie Lebleu, from Martigues, France, received Earthwatch fellowship awards through Lyondell’s program, and they joined 20 teachers from 11 schools around the world on an expedition where they helped identify, photograph and classify bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean, off the west coast of Greece.
"We also had afternoon classes on global environment and weather issues," Silvagnoli said. "I now understand how extensive fishing can affect marine resources and ultimately endanger a great number of species."
I recently had a student write to me, ‘Before your class, I wanted to be a rock star – now I want to be an environmentalist.’ -Mary Harris, third grade teacher and Lyondell Earthwatch fellow, Milford, Ohio
Through Earthwatch, teachers gain memorable learning experiences and can use their knowledge to better teach and motivate their students. Lebleu coordinated a marine life exhibition at a local community center "to share the experience with a larger audience," she said.
Silvanoli coordinated several events and class activities following her return, including: having students create posters about sea protection; hosting local volunteers to speak to her class on protecting marine life; and coordinating a beach clean-up. Silvanoli even found a way to inject social studies with an environmental twist.
"This year, the French people will elect a new president, and my pupils are writing letters to our new president concerning the urgent situation of marine protection," she said.
Hands-on science
Mary Pat Harris, a teacher in Milford, Ohio, returned from a 2005 expedition in Trinidad and constantly finds ways to bring her Earthwatch experience into her third-grade classroom. Harris, who’s filled her classroom with animals, such as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, snakes, guinea pigs, rats and crickets, studied toque macaque monkeys in Sri Lanka and conducted inquiry-driven investigations.
"During the expedition we recorded information in activity budgets – we watched the animals, what they ate, what they were doing, what level of the forest they lived in – and we recorded that activity," Harris said. "I had my third graders do a similar activity with the orangutans and bonobos in the Cincinnati Zoo. We gathered data, we handmade graphs, and we came up with a little slice of what life is like for these animals.
"Earthwatch was my first experience with really being involved in research and seeing how it’s done – it’s nothing like reading it or attending a lecture. Through the experiences of the expedition, the environment becomes more a part of your fabric, and as a teacher, you learn how you can tie it into your every day."
Experience of a lifetime
Because Earthwatch selects fellows from around the world, they not only participate in a memorable adventure – fellows also enjoy the mingling of rich, diverse cultures.
"The three educators and the research staff were such an eclectic mix," said Kelly Weitzel, a Lyondell Earthwatch fellow from Jacksonville, Fla., who participated in an expedition monitoring the dolphins and whales of Abaco Island in the Bahamas. "Three of us were from the United States, and the others were from the Bahamas, London, Spain, Scotland and Pakistan. I can’t imagine any other way I’d have met these unique people – and actually gotten to know them."
Each year, Lyondell awards 14 fellowships to educators in its plant communities – 10 in the United States, two in France and two in The Netherlands – to participate in Earthwatch expeditions. For their time, energy and enthusiasm assisting scientists with data collection, educators in turn receive what many of them describe as an experience of a lifetime.
Earthwatch Institute is an international non-profit organization that brings science to life for people concerned about the Earth's future. The organization recruits nearly 4,000 volunteers every year to collect field data in the areas of rainforest ecology, wildlife conservation, marine science, archaeology, and more.