40 Years of Great Lakes Research, Education and Outreach

Education

From Keeping the
Great Lakes Great, 1983:
Sea Grant programs help us learn about and wisely use the oceans and Great Lakes... Environmental Education specialists create courses and classroom materials about the Great Lakes...

Michigan Sea Grant has supported formal and non-formal learning by helping students of all ages increase their knowledge about the Great Lakes over the past 40 years. The program has made Great Lakes literacy a priority by developing and supporting a variety of print and online resources, teacher workshops, family-oriented educational cruises and events.

Steve Stewart, with Michigan Sea Grant since 1977, said he remembered the first big education effort in which he became involved in 1983.

“It was the Great Lakes 4-H camp. Myself and others from Michigan Sea Grant, specialists from MSU, 4-H leaders and I think a few others came together on Beaver Island to scope out some kind of an experiential classroom for students,” said Stewart, now the Education Co-leader and Southeast District Extension Educator. “It’s had legs. It’s still around and has been growing since 1983. It filled a niche for Great Lakes education.”

The camp is a way for students to experience nature; grow in awareness, appreciation and understanding of natural resources and related careers; and to take part in 4-H and other outdoor natural resource projects including community service.

Through programs like the Great Lakes Education Program and the Summer Discovery Cruises, Sea Grant educators have been teaching students and the public while cruising up and down the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair for 20 years.

Michigan Sea Grant is currently developing a set of online lesson plans for educators and others, focusing on using real data to teach broader concepts about the Great Lakes. For example, one lesson focuses on dissolved oxygen levels and temperature – by using data collected through the Great Lakes Observing System.

“Students like to use real data, because it’s real,” said Stewart. “They are more engaged if what they are studying is relevant – especially if it’s something they’re interested in or something that affects their life. In the Great Lakes State, if you live near the shore of Lake St. Clair or go to the beach with your family, studying information from the Great Lakes is more likely to grab you rather than studying some lake halfway across the world or an ocean you’ve never seen.”

Sea Grant specialists have worked with K-12 educators to develop and test online curriculum.

“From Fisheries Learning on the Web to the new Great Lakes Lessons, we are excited to be working with educators,” said Elizabeth LaPorte, Michigan Sea Grant Communications Director and Education Co-leader.  “Michigan educators have been so supportive of the development of these materials. We know that their feedback is very important in making sure these materials will be used in the classroom. And this is what it’s all about – Sea Grant supporting the effort to teach youth about the Great Lakes.”

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