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Schoolyard Teacher Presents at National Conferences
Ashburnham public school teacher Katherine Bennett, long-time participant in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program, presented her Harvard Forest science and education work at two national conferences this fall: the LTER All Scientists' tri-annual meeting in Colorado, and the American Geophysical Union's annual conference in California. Bennett blogged with her fifth-grade students from both conferences, keeping them up to date on the science she learned, as well as the culture and wildlife of both states.
In addition to Bennett's participation in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program, she has also completed four summers of research at the Forest with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and has even co-authored a scientific paper. Her 2011-2012 research mentor Andrew Richardson and the Long-Term Ecological Research Program supported her participation in the fall conferences.
Bennett reports, “Participating in a conference like this is really energizing. Joining working groups and hearing speakers on the cutting edge of scientific research is valuable to me as an educator on many levels. Our students deserve a science curriculum that is current and authentic. And I can’t help but bring my enthusiasm back to my students.”
