FALLS CHURCH, Va., April 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Northrop
Grumman and Conservation International (CI) today announced the 16
teachers who have been selected to participate in the third ECO
Classroom, a unique and innovative professional development program
for public middle and high school science teachers. The Northrop
Grumman Foundation, in collaboration with CI, created the program
which has sent groups of teachers to Costa Rica the last two summers. The program
offers teachers supplemental tools and real-world experiences that
inspire students to pursue science and technical careers.
It is widely acknowledged among educators and policymakers that
insufficient numbers of students are entering into science,
technology, engineering and mathematics fields. One way to address
this issue and emphasize environmental stewardship is to motivate
educators to engage students in the sciences and to bring unique
learning opportunities into their classrooms with real-world
curricula and hands-on experiences such as ECO Classroom.
The ECO Classroom program brings groups of public school
teachers from across the United
States to CI's Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring
(TEAM) Network's (www.teamnetwork.org) Volcan Barva site in La
Selva Biological Station and Braulio Carrillo National Park,
Costa Rica. They participate in
field data collection on plant and animal biodiversity, climate and
land use using TEAM scientific protocols.
The teachers and schools attending this summer are:
Team
Name
|
Name
|
Location
|
School
Name
|
Sound Jose
|
Ngoc Hoang –
team lead
|
San Jose,
CA
|
Yerba Buena High
School
|
Thanh-Lam
Nguyen
|
San Jose,
CA
|
Independence High
School
|
Sara
Bourbour
|
San Jose,
CA
|
Santa Teresa High
School
|
Chris
Smith
|
San Jose,
CA
|
Piedmont Hills High
School
|
Colorado Carbon
Crusaders
|
Erin Zarko – team
lead
|
Durango,
CO
|
Durango High
School
|
|
Danielle
Belmont
|
Durango,
CO
|
Miller Middle
School
|
|
Mark
Walser
|
Durango,
CO
|
Mountain Middle
School
|
|
Jennifer
Lavelle
|
Durango,
CO
|
Escalante Middle
School
|
Charm City
Chicas
|
Susan
Gottschalk-Yoder – team lead
|
Baltimore,
MD
|
Stemmers Run Middle
School
|
|
Sara
Mullin
|
Baltimore,
MD
|
Dundalk Middle
School
|
|
Jennifer
Greenawalt
|
Baltimore,
MD
|
Holabird Middle
School
|
|
Anuradha
Bajpai
|
Windsor Mill,
MD
|
Windsor Mill Middle
School
|
Los Ecologistas
Locos
|
Jennifer Garcell –
team lead
|
Portsmouth,
VA
|
I.C. Norcom High
School
|
|
Cami Field
|
Portsmouth,
VA
|
Churchland High
School
|
|
Paul
Sarandria
|
Portsmouth,
VA
|
Woodrow Wilson High
School
|
|
Leslie
Bulger
|
Portsmouth,
VA
|
Churchland Middle
School
|
During last year's two-week expedition, 16 ECO Classroom
teachers from across the United
States conducted group projects in the field and created
lessons based on their projects dealing with land use, forest
carbon sequestration, and biodiversity using scientific protocols.
They returned to their schools with an in-depth understanding of
the interrelationship between biodiversity, climate change and
human activities and were better equipped with new techniques and
resources to enhance their classroom teaching.
"We are in our third year of working with Conservation
International on ECO Classroom and we are very pleased with the
program's expanding impact on science instruction," said
Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the
Northrop Grumman Foundation and vice president of Northrop Grumman
Global Corporate Responsibility. "So far we have reached an
estimated 8,500 science, technology, engineering and mathematics
students through the participation of teachers from 32 U.S. middle
and high schools, and that number will grow as the program
continues this summer."
"We're excited to see this group of talented teachers travel to
the TEAM site in Costa Rica. In
the last two years, our collaboration with Northrop Grumman has
helped teachers bring ecology, environmental science and biology
lessons to life for their students," said Sandy Andelman, senior vice president and chief
scientist of Conservation International. "With the 2014 cohort of
teachers, thousands more students will be exposed to innovative
methods to study the effects of land use and climate change on
biodiversity."
About Conservation International
Building upon a strong foundation of science, partnership and
field demonstration, CI empowers societies to responsibly and
sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the long
term well-being of people. Founded in 1987, CI is headquartered in
the Washington, D.C., area and
employs more than 800 staff in over 30 countries on four continents
and works with more than 1,000 partners around the world. For
more information, please see www.conservation.org, or visit us on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
About the Northrop Grumman Foundation
The Northrop Grumman Foundation supports diverse and sustainable
programs for students and teachers. These programs create
innovative education experiences in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics. For more information please visit
www.northropgrumman.com/foundation.
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SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation