One particular thing I’ll always root for is education. I loved school growing up, I loved college and enjoyed earning my teaching credential to educate the next generation. Although I only taught in the classroom for a short time, I have always supported my children’s education and helped teachers and worked in classrooms for the past two decades! Living and going to school on the central coast of California has had it’s benefits for our kids (and the students in area schools) as they’ve have had many opportunities to learn about marine wildlife on field trips to the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium. We’ve been there a handful of times and we know the Aquarium’s positive relationship with schools is inspiring to many and has a great impact on their future careers. Now as a blogger, I’m an Ambassador with Dawn Saves Wildlife and they are passionate about bringing education and wildlife together in the classroom and their recent partnership with Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is so exciting!
Earlier this month, Dawn and Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium launched a new national in-classroom and web accessible STEM curriculum called NextGen Animal Responders. If you’re not familiar, STEM curriculum is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math and the NextGen Animal Responders will allow teachers to offer fifth through eighth grade student’s five Next Generation Science Standards lesson plans to increase students’ environmental and science literacy through Shedd animal rescue and rehabilitation stories and resources. Unlike many of our local schools, being in an urban area, many of the kids in these grade levels may not get a hands on opportunity to experience nature and the environment in any other way.
Watch the video below to learn more:
“Shedd has been committed to working with response and rescue organizations globally for over 50 years and the urgency to protect animals and their environments is greater than ever,” said Bridget Coughlin, Shedd Aquarium president and CEO. “Dawn and Shedd both share a similar passion for wildlife conservation as well as a shared mission of educating and inspiring the world about the wellbeing of animals, habitat conservation, and the health of our oceans. This is the first time we are working together to build care and compassion for animals that will extract curiosity and interest, which we hope will ultimately lead to interest in a new career path for some of these students.”
Teachers everywhere can download the STEM curriculum and share it with their students. The partnership between Dawn and Shedd aquarium will take a show on the road in Chicago to deliver hands-on science experiments focusing on rescue efforts and protecting the environment. 25 Chicago based schools have the chance to win an extraordinary prize by entering between now and April 7, 2017 at http://www.sheddaquarium.org/nextgen/. The prize is a field trip of a lifetime: a 1-day trip to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL for the winner and his/her winning class and 5 adult chaperones, also includes a behind the scenes tour of the Aquarium where the NextGen Animal Responders will see animal care and recovery in action! I’ve done a few behind the scenes tours at Monterey’s aquarium and it’s such a fascinating learning experience and I know that the kids will really think about how they can make an impact in their future careers and interests!
Information provided by my partnership with the Dawn Wildlife Ambassadorship. All opinions my own.
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