Teachers, Sea Grant Great Lakes Literacy Specialist to present Lake Ontario Shipboard Science lessons at State Conference

Syracuse, New York; October 25, 2023. New York Sea Grant has announced that Great Lakes Literacy Specialist Nate Drag and three teachers who participated in the Shipboard Science Workshop aboard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Research Vessel (R/V) Lake Guardian on Lake Ontario in 2023 will speak at the November 3-6, 2023 Science Teachers Association of New York State Conference in Syracuse, New York.

Drag worked with 15 teachers selected for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for teachers from across the Great Lakes states to join with federal and academic researchers for one week aboard an EPA R/V on one of the five Great Lakes. The 2023 workshop includes port stops in Oswego, Rochester, and Youngstown.

While aboard ship and in-post-trip meetings, Drag worked with the following teachers to transfer their shipboard experiences into classroom curriculum, lesson plans, and activities that they will demonstrate at the November science teachers conference:
. Melissa Elliott, who teaches biology in an Integrated Co-Teaching classroom and through a program for at-risk high school students in the North Tonawanda School District
. Joseph Perry of the Palmyra-Macedon School District and the 2023 Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for New York State designated by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers; and
. Christy Pratt, who teaches a full range of science from astronomy, earth and general science to historical geology, forensic science, and North American wildlife to students in grades 9 through 12 in the Horseheads Central School District.

The Shipboard Science Workshop rotates to each Great Lake on a five-year schedule. Fifteen teachers are selected for the workshop each year through a juried application process. Teachers from New York are eligible to apply in any year. Learn more at https://www.cgll.org/education/professional-learning/r-v-lake-guardian/.

New York Sea Grant (www.nyseagrant.org), a cooperative program of Cornell University, the State University of New York, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program, leads the Lake Ontario Shipboard Science Workshop in cooperation with the Center for Great Lakes Literacy (www.cgll.org).

The Science Teachers Association of New York State is New York state’s oldest and most respected professional organization of science educators with members teaching from pre-K to university and informal science programs. Learn more at stanys.org.
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