Missouri Environmental Education News: March 2024
Welcome to the lastest edition of MEEA's Newsletter
Table of Contents
- Feature Article
- Lesson Resources
- Annual Conference & Professional Development
- Featured Events, Grants, Workshops & Webinars
- JEDIA: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
- Green Schools Corner
- Missouri Nature Phenomena This Month
- News from the Field
MEEA friends,
Dear MEEA friends,
Spring equals regeneration. Flowers are blooming, pollinators are emerging, seeking those flowers; birds are returning, preying upon those insects; nests are forming as places for the birds to have their families; predators such as snakes are waking up hungry from their underground long-sleep to feast on those birds, and the Hawks that remained over the winter are happy to have something to eat other than a squirrel (such as yummy snakes!). Yes, Spring is regeneration, and rejuvenation…a fresh start..
We at MEEA are also working hard to rejuvenate and refresh! One of our 6 Strategic Plan initiatives, as you may remember from previous newsletters, is Youth Engagement. We are thrilled to announce the first events being planned to recruit, feature and engage our new Young Environmental Leaders (YEL) membership throughout Missouri.
Thanks to a supportive grant from the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE/ee360+), we are implementing the first step of letting a younger generation (ages 16-26) use their voices to expand MEEA’s mission through a project called:
Young Environmental Leaders Catalyze EE in Rural Missouri:
An Outreach Project for Underserved Communities
Through this 2-pronged project, we are leveraging our established networks to:
1) Initiate statewide youth engagement to address the need for environmental leadership opportunities for the younger generation. We are recruiting rural youth (ages 16-26) to participate in focus groups (we are hosting two –1 in-person and 1 virtual ) to determine how MEEA can best support young Missourians concerned about the environment through the Young Environmental Leaders (YEL) membership level, and
2) Expand rural outreach to formal and nonformal educators who are connected with these young citizens throughout their school districts, colleges, and community programs to address the need for rural environmental education (EE) support.
**Be looking for more information about this effort via emails, social media, the newsletter and our website, including how to register for this particular project. We are excited to provide a platform for Missouri’s young, vibrant and brilliant citizens. I can’t think of a better way to welcome Spring than to recognize that our organization also needs rejuvenation…a refreshing “newness,” if you will. Get ready, because these young people are a force of Nature! I’m so excited to lift them up.
Happy Spring and Happy:
Jamin Bray, MEEA Co-Director
Feature Article: Nature’s Spring Phenomena
Article, photos and lesson ideas submitted by:
Jamin Bray
MEEA C0-Director, Salem, MO
March has become my favorite month of the year! My birthday is in October (Autumn used to be my favorite, of course, when I was a kid and looked forward to another birthday), but now I savor the extra sunshine and return of the blossoms, birds and bugs of the springtime in our latitude.
Also, my holiday obsession is absolutely St Patrick’s Day! Yes, I have some Irish heritage in my diverse ancestral melting pot, but also the idea of “greening” everywhere, topped with the sound of Irish music, makes my heart and dancing feet so happy. When I was a classroom teacher the kids would inevitably look to my room to enjoy rainbows everywhere, St Pat’s necklaces, stickers, crazy costumes, funny and tasty SPD snacks, and, of course, the “sick” Irish accent that I would use all day, even while teaching.
Ah, Rainbows. A symbol of St. Patrick’s Day (and the gold you might find if you can ever reach the end of it!), but also the most beautiful visual form of physical science/the color spectrum right before your eyes. And rainbows remind us of the diversity of our human species–also beautiful and right before our eyes, everywhere and every day. The rainbows of Spring are on their way to bookmark Missouri’s classic afternoon storm systems. When my children were young, they thought I was some sort of magician when I would tell them, “Hey, I’ll bet there’s a rainbow–let’s go look!” after we would emerge from the basement following a severe afternoon thunderstorm. We would race to the yard and look up toward the black clouds in the eastern sky. As soon as the sun emerged from the clouds in the west, sure enough, there it would be! A lovely rainbow; sometimes even a double. Now that the kids are grown, they know I’m no magician, but they still go out to the yard with me to get another glimpse of a predictable, but still overwhelmingly gorgeous rainbow showing itself like clockwork. I so love those moments…
The Spring Season this year will not only showcase the Equinox alignment of our planet to the Sun (another seemingly-magical but actually quite mathematical phenomenon), but also a rare Solar Eclipse that will be visible to many of us coming up next month. There will be so many viewing events along with lesson ideas we hope you all will take advantage of to experience this special event yourself (see Lesson Section and Events link below).
I encourage you to get out and enjoy the greening of Spring, the storms, the rainbows, and all of the other Nature phenomena. So maybe they are predictable, but that doesn’t make them any less magical to me. In fact, maybe that’s the best magic of all? The wonders of nature, right before our eyes.
Lesson Resources
2024 Solar Eclipse Lessons and Events
NASA Releases New Solar Eclipse Educational Materials
To help learners of all ages understand how to safely observe the Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse and the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse, NASA has released a new set of resources for educators.
My NASA Data, in collaboration with the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT), has released a new set of resources for educators centered around solar eclipses. My NASA Data allows students in grades 3 through 12 and their teachers to analyze and interpret NASA mission data. It also supports educators in the integration of authentic Earth systems data into their instruction.
The My NASA Data solar eclipse resources include lesson plans, mini-lessons (shorter activities for quick engagement), student-facing web-based interactives, and a longer “story map,” which deepens the investigation of the phenomenon over multiple class periods. Engage learners with data collected during past solar eclipses, including maps and visualizations, and how data is used to predict future solar eclipses. Learners can analyze NASA mission data from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) missions.
The Sun’s energy interacts with all of Earth’s systems. The Sun produces a constant stream of particles called the solar wind, which flows outward from the Sun in all directions, interacting with our planet and others, and creating the heliosphere, which encompasses and protects our solar system. Total solar eclipses provide rare opportunities for scientists to observe the Sun’s corona (outer atmosphere), where the solar wind originates. These observations help scientists predict space weather events that may impact human and robotic space exploration, and affect the technology on Earth that humans rely on every day. Learn more about the solar wind and how space weather affects Earth by exploring NASA HEAT’s educational resources at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/heat/home/.
NASA conducts many experiments during solar eclipses, including monitoring atmospheric conditions, such as changes in air temperatures and clouds, and recording animal sounds. Learners can collect their own data on cloud and temperature observations during the upcoming solar eclipses with the GLOBE Observer Eclipse tool. My NASA Data is part of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Mission Earth, an international science and education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and to contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment.
Find all My NASA Data solar eclipse resources here: https://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/phenomenon/solar-eclipse
Learn more about these upcoming solar eclipses and more about eclipses at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses/home/
My NASA Data, part of GLOBE Mission Earth, and the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT) are part of NASA’s Science Activation portfolio.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md
Where can you see it?
Missouri State Parks has multiple sites that will be in the path of the total eclipse.
Find more State Park Resources and Event Details:
https://mostateparks.com/2024-eclipse
https://www.education.com/resources/science/?q=2024%20eclipse
Annual Conference & Professional Development
MEEA Annual Conference 2024
Planning Continues!
Our Inspiring Conference Theme:
Growing a New Era of Education for Water, Soil and Human Health through Regenerative Practices
What we know so far:
- The 2024 conference will be in the Springfield, Missouri.
- First Weekend of November (Friday & Saturday Nov 1-2). Mark your calendars!
- The conference planning committee is meeting regularly to plan your event.
- Young Environmental Leaders (YEL) will be super involved!
- Venues have not yet been confirmed, but there is so much EE happening in Springfield area.
email us with questions, comments and feedback.
MEEA Professional Development in 2024
THIS JUST IN! Great News for Missouri Educators: MEEA is now a DESE-approved training organization! So, moving forward you will be able to earn “Clock Hours” credit for your in-person and online PD.
Check Out MEEA’s New PD Course Platform!
- Thanks to funding from the EPA and distributed through the North American Association of Environmental Education (NAAEE), of which we are an affiliate, MEEA has been able to work closely with other state affiliates to receive training in an online course platform, Moodle.com. This month we will finish up the 2nd round of the new course called Teaching and Learning in the Outdoors, a course that was the number one PD topic requested by EE educators in a multi-state survey this past spring. Next month we will roll out another course for the next group of educators, so stay tuned!
- More courses to come (some ready, some being developed as we speak by multiple state affiliates):
- Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (see the course schedule coming up for this in the “JEDIA” section below)
- Foundations in Teaching Environmental Education
- Environmental Justice
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
- Green Schools
- Climate Justice
- Climate Literacy
- EE and Civic Engagement
- The Healing Power of Nature
In the mean time, visit this link to explore our Moodle platform and our growing list of future courses: eecourses.meea.org
Featured…
Events
Featured Event Opportunity:
Green Leadership Academy for Diverse Ecosystems (GLADE)
For more information go to: “GLADE” Week
June 9-15
Apply Here! Deadline to apply is April 22
Grants
Featured Grant:
MEEA Spring 2024 minigrants still open!
This grant is open to any Professional MEEA member. MEEA will award up to three grants this spring of $250 each to purchase materials or supplies for advancing outdoor, nature, environmental, or sustainability education.
- Deadline to apply is April 15, 2024
Workshops & Webinars
Featured Workshops:
MDC “Discover Nature Schools” Workshops
Statewide Calendar for upcoming workshops:
JEDIA: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility
JEDI eeCourse coming up in April!
**Registration for this course will open toward the end of March, so look for the registration link in an upcoming email blast.
Our Values say it all: Everything we do as an organization is guided by our dedication to include ALL: meea.org/our-values
Sneak Peek: This course was developed through a partnership between the Center for Diversity and the Environment, EcoInclusive, Environmental Educators of North Carolina, Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education, Kentucky Association for Environmental Education, and Youth Outside. We thank these other NAAEE affiliates for sharing this excellent course with us to use here in Missouri!
This course is designed to provide a strong foundation in the language, concepts, and principles of equity work. It is meant to be an introductory course and spark interest in further learning around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. For additional learning opportunities, please reach out to the Center for Diversity and the Environment, EcoInclusive, and Youth Outside.
Objectives and Expectations
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Develop a strong foundation in language, concepts and principles of equity work
- Develop an understanding of why JEDI is integral to the relevancy and health of EE
- Spark interest in further learning/underscore the importance of on-going learning and engagement
- Inspire grassroots change in organizational cultures by getting more people engaged in equity work
Green Schools Corner
Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) unanimously passes the Show-Me Green Schools Resolution during the 2024 Statewide CFM Convention!
Lesli Moylan, MEEA Co-Director announces:
“I’m so excited to share here the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) voted on Saturday [March 2, 2024] to adopt a resolution to increase multistakeholder support for green schools!
The Conservation Federation of Missouri is a private organization made up of thousands of Missourians who work together to better our natural resources and represent Missouri’s citizen conservationists. Actively involved in state and national issues that relate to conservation, the Federation has long been a prominent and effective voice before the Missouri general assembly, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
A critical activity performed by CFM is the formulation of an organizational stance or position based on the best available information and/or science. CFM resolutions are one of the most powerful expressions of their opinion as a conservation organization. The adoption of this Resolution means that CFM stands in support of it, and they support its distribution to key people in the legislature, government agencies, and other entities.
I invite you to check it out. The format is kind of archaic – each idea is preceded with a “Whereas”, and it culminates in a “Be it Resolved” statement. But it basically lays out what green schools are and why they are so beneficial, then unpacks how Show-Me Green Schools is poised to catalyze those benefits of green schools and is already serving a small portion of MO schools, then lists some avenues recipients can take to support the growth of SMGS throughout the state.
I’d love feedback on how Show-Me Green Schools and the organizations who manage this suite of programs (MEEA and Missouri Gateway Green Building Council) can leverage this newly adopted CFM Resolution!”
Nature Phenomena This Month
Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation. Learn more at https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide
News from the Field