cc  >> Cathy Vrentas: Welcome to  Wednesday Nite at the Lab,  here at the UW-Madison  Biotechnology Center.  Tonight, we'll have Catherine  Woodward speaking.  She has an extensive background  in tropical ecology and  conservation, and has been  involved in many projects  surrounding research,  conservation and teaching.  So her background includes a PhD  in Botany from UW-Madison.  And her roles have included work  at the Center for Biology  Education here on campus,  involving teacher education.  And as an adjunct professor at  the Universidad San Francisco de  Quito in Ecuador, including  teaching study abroad classes.  And as the vice president of  the Ceiba Foundation for  Tropical Conservation, doing  work to help maintain our  tropical resources.  So today, she'll be talking to  you about a new project,  the "MOO," or the Mazomanie  Outreach Outpost,  which she was involved in  winning a Baldwin Award for,  to do education for teachers in  the area around Mazomanie and  surrounding rural communities.  So please join me in welcoming  Catherine to Wednesday Nite at  the Lab today.  (applause)  >> Catherine Woodward: Thank  you, Cathy. 

 Thank, you guys, for coming, as  well.  This is very informal.  I don't expect to go for the  entire hour, probably a little  shorter than normal.  And please, at any time, feel  free to interrupt me with your  comments, questions or  observations.  Mostly what I'd like to do today  is introduce you to this new  UW-based science outreach  endeavor that we have in  Mazomanie, funded by, as Cathy  mentioned, a Baldwin grant.  We've named it the Mazomanie  Science Outreach Outpost,  "MOO," for short.  I'd like to talk to you a little  bit about what the MOO is, what  our goals are, and how you might  be able to get involved.  And I'd also like to end a  little early to be able to open  it up and have you brainstorm a  little bit with me on the sorts  of things that MOO can do for  UW-Madison and for the community  it's intended to serve, which is  the K-12 community in  southwestern Wisconsin, as well  as the general public.  So, what is the MOO?  The MOO is a venue for UW  science outreach programs,  targeted to school districts, as  well as the general public in  southwestern Wisconsin.  It's located in Mazomanie. 

 The Wisconsin Heights School  District and the Mazomanie  Elementary School offered, very  generously, a space on the  second floor of the building, a  very large space.  There's capacity there for 36  people on the second floor,  right there, near downtown  Mazomanie.  So it's a wonderful space.  It's located very close to the  Black Earth Creek, which runs  literally right behind the  school.  There are a lot of surrounding  natural areas, as well, that are  nearby.  And I'll talk more about those  later.  The Outreach Outpost  is a really nice extension  to the Wisconsin Idea.  That being that the university  should have a positive influence  on people's lives and  communities beyond the  boundaries of the campus itself.  And the idea for this, for the  MOO, really has been growing  over several years, stemming  primarily from the outreach  activities of the Biocore  program here on the UW campus.  The Biocore, Michelle Harris is  here today in the back, is the  mentor of students within the  Biocore program who volunteer  each year on an annual basis to  conduct outreach activities in  schools in the Mazomanie area,  the Wisconsin Heights School  District, and other rural areas  around Wisconsin, to help  teachers develop and implement  inquiry based science  activities, and science lessons  in their classrooms. 

 So the involvement, this had  been going on since 2004.  And the involvement of the  Biocore ambassadors has been an  extremely positive experience,  both for them, but especially  for the teachers who, because of  that positive experience, the  idea came about to start  something a bit more formal and  expand science outreach in the  Mazomanie area.  So it was from this that the  idea sort of was planted to  write a proposal to establish  the Mazomanie Outreach Outpost.  So unfortunately, just positive  response for teachers isn't  exactly enough to convince  funders that you should do it.  So we needed to gather evidence  of the need for this facility.  And in doing so, we conducted a  survey to which 75 teachers  responded, K-12, all the way  from elementary school teachers  through to high school teachers,  from several districts around  southern Wisconsin, to establish  is this really necessary, is  there a perceived need for  science outreach activities.  And in fact, 67%, two-thirds of  teachers that responded to this  survey said that they did not  always feel confident teaching  science.  And in fact, a few teachers  never addressed or covered the  scientific method in their  classrooms.  And only a small proportion,  larger, but small proportion  implemented any sorts of  hands-on inquiry based  activities with their children  more than once or twice a year.  So there seemed to be a need for  science professional development  that the teachers themselves  were receiving. 

 The survey also asked teachers  to rate or rank a number of  activities that the MOO could  offer them, to find out which  one they deemed to be the most  useful to them.  And high proportions believed  that inquiry based science  activities that were lead by  UW-Madison faculty and staff  would be an extremely useful  experience for them.  The majority also felt that  professional development  workshops would be extremely  useful.  All teachers in the Madison  School District, anyway, and I  think in all of Wisconsin, have  to take, one of their options  for professional development is  to take six credits of  professional development  coursework every five years, as  a requirement for renewing  licensure and moving up in their  professional status.  So they deemed that as  important, as well.  And 80% also, 79%, wanted to see  natural history and science  inquiry programs that utilized  the natural areas surrounding  the Mazomanie region, so Black  Earth Creek.  There are several prairies, the  Aldo Leopold Nature Center, and  other locations.  So it was clear from this data  that there was at least  perceived need for outreach  activities taking place for  teachers in these school  districts.  We also provided the opportunity  for teachers to provide,  indicate what kind of assistance  they most needed.  And we got specifically  open-ended. 

 Just some exemplary quotes from  certain teachers.  Some wanted more hands-on field  experiences in nature.  So, a person that had a DNR type  educational background would  like to give kids more hands-on  experiences in nature,  mist netting, radio telemetry,  fish survey and animal trapping.  Others wanted assistance  developing curriculum that  aligned well with state  benchmarks and teaching  standards.  And many wanted, this person  also wanted to add more  specifically, science inquiry  into their lesson.  Another need that was expressed,  not just by this person, but by  others, was the need for  equipment to conduct scientific  investigations.  So this person wanted to have  equipment, especially  biotechnology equipment that can  be very expensive for schools  to acquire, and expendable  materials, as well.  Another teacher said that she  didn't do inquiry based science  only because I don't have the  experience teaching this way.  And she sought a model for being  to incorporate this sort of  teaching into her class.  It appeared there was a need,  and yet you still needed to  convince, in our grant proposal,  funders that we needed to do  this off-campus, that this was  something that it wouldn't be  sufficient to be able to offer  these outreach opportunities  here in Madison, and that there  would be some advantage of  creating an outpost. 

 So the survey, we asked teachers  to identify the barriers to them  coming on campus to receive  professional development, or  bringing their students to  receive science outreach  activities.  And travel costs and distance is  a major barrier for teachers.  Finding and paying for parking  is also a major barrier.  And probably the best outcome of  all of this, is that the  majority of teachers indeed in  these districts said that they  would in fact be able to come to  the MOO and utilize that outpost  were it to be created.  So this provided nice evidence  and powerful arguments for  creating the outpost.  We also looked at other reasons  for why we should do this in an  off-campus location.  One of the things that we want  to address is the issue of the  problem of nature-deficit  disorder, children's disconnect  with the natural world.  And with Mazomanie being located  so centrally within a varied  range of natural areas, it  seemed like a really good place  to address that as well.  I really like this quote.  It was done in 2008 from a  pretty comprehensive report on  the state of children and  nature, and their relationships. 

 That the outdoors, especially  diverse natural environments of  varied plants and landscapes  invites children to act on their  natural curiosity.  And it's this curiosity that  leads to scientific learning,  not only specific details of  nature, but the scientific  method, as well.  So these are just a list of some  of the natural areas that we  have around the MOO.  So we managed to, just to  summarize, to show that by  creating an outpost off-campus  for science research, to bring  UW science expertise out to  southwestern Wisconsin  communities.  We would be able to meet needs  of teachers, meet needs of kids,  utilize the resources and  natural areas that are around  that region, and to really be  able to bring the Wisconsin Idea  to the Mazomanie area.  So we received three years of  funding from the Baldwin grants.  And thanks to Michelle Harris  for her hard work on that  proposal.  So that funding was received in  2009.  This is the first year, so we're  in the development stage of  creating programs for the  outpost.  And not only creating programs,  but finding existing programs  that can be brought out there. 

 Who we are.  Myself, I'm acting director of  the outpost right now.  My role really is a coordination  one.  I do a little bit of teaching  myself, and am involved in some  of the courses that we offer.  But largely, my role is to  strategize, to plan, and to  coordinate the kinds of  activities that the MOO will  offer.  The Biocore program and the  outreach ambassadors are still  involved.  They have a long history of  working with teachers in the  area.  Teachers know them.  And so they provide a really  nice connection.  The Wisconsin Heights School  District, as I already  mentioned, provided the space. 

 They also help a lot in  contacting teachers and putting  the word out to teachers and  kids about our programs.  And then the Center for Biology  Education, housed here in this  building, our role is largely to  facilitate the accreditation of  professional development courses  for teachers, to allow them to  obtain UW-Madison credit for  their experiences.  And the Office of Science  Outreach, which is even sort of  more of an umbrella, that's  working with the School of  Education to develop a plan for  professional development, UW  based professional development  for teachers throughout the  state, really, but certainly  around the UW-Madison area.  We also have non-UW, some other  programming partners that are  partners on specific activities,  programs or places that are  going on.  The Aldo Leopold Nature Center  provides their facility there,  and MATC, DNR, UW-Extension and  others.  This is really a work in  progress right now.  It's a blank slate.  And if anyone here in this room  knows about other organizations  or programs that we could  potentially bring to the MOO, by  all means, I'd like to hear  about them.  And we'll have a chance to talk  about those when I'm done.  Okay, so what are we doing, and  what will we do?  As I say, this is really in the  development phase. 

 We've only done a few activities  that have taken place.  These things are being  scheduled, but we do have things  going throughout the summer and  already scheduled into the fall.  The big picture is to bring this  UW science outreach to  southwestern Wisconsin.  And one of the ways to do it is  through teacher professional  development.  Courses that are designed for  teachers to improve their  science instruction,  particularly with an emphasis on  inquiry based science  instruction.  So we have several courses that  are in the works or a couple  here that have already been  done.  Stream monitoring, I'll talk  more about these in detail.  The UW-Extension and the DNR,  with their Water Action  Volunteers program, will be  doing a stream monitoring  curriculum training for  teachers.  We also have tree identification  courses for biology teachers to  go out and learn Wisconsin's  native plants.  Partnering with Fotodyne  currently, possibly Promega and  other biotech firms in the city,  to offer biotech training to  teachers. 

 And curriculum workshops and  other inquiry based science  instruction.  I'm going to talk a little bit  more about some of these in  detail that have already  happened.  The Summer Science Camp, I'll  talk more about that in a  moment.  We also want to be able to offer  field trips and outdoor  education opportunities for the  K-12 community, both teachers  and students, but also to the  public, field trips to the  natural areas.  The MOO will be able to serve as  a resource for teachers that  want to, say, obtain equipment,  say stream monitoring equipment  or biotech equipment for  implementing activities in their  classrooms.  And more broadly, you know, UW  faculty that have something to  offer, or that perhaps need to  fulfill broader impact  requirements on their grants,  can utilize this facility for  interactions and teaching,  interactions with the broader  educational community.  Okay, so one of the things that  we just did this middle of June  was summer science camp.  It's been running now since  about 2007.  This is the third year of Summer  Science Camp.  It's essentially a program that,  it's a week-long, pretty  intensive inquiry based day camp  for kids from 4th through 12th  grade in the Wisconsin Heights  School District, primarily. 

 It's led by instructors from  UW-Madison, either faculty or  staff, but also the Biocore  Ambassadors that the teachers  know.  And this year, it was attended  by 60 students.  They all were able to choose on  what subject area they wanted to  participate in.  And so, these are the six  subject areas.  And each student participated in  a hands-on inquiry  investigation, where the  culmination of it was doing  their own scientific  investigation, generating their  own questions, taking their own  data, their own original  investigations, analyzing that  data, and then presenting it in  poster form to the entire group.  So it was a very successful  event.  And it utilized the natural  areas around Mazomanie, as well  as the Mazomanie Middle School,  where the classrooms were  available.  Concurrently with the Summer  Science Camp, was an inquiry  based science course for  teachers, which was taught by  Kevin Niemi and Michelle Harris.  And 19 teachers attended this  year.  It was a really popular course. 

 The course is intentionally  taught concurrently with Summer  Science Camp, so that teachers  who are participating the course  can observe the instructors of  some of the science camp  implementing inquiry base  approaches with the kids.  So the teachers literally  observe.  They really don't participate.  They take a very passive role in  watching the implementation of  inquiry based instruction with  the kids.  And then the teachers themselves  actually conduct a project on  their own.  They ask a question.  They collect data.  They analyze it.  They present it.  And then later on, they discuss  how they might incorporate, and  how they might be able to  incorporate inquiry based  approaches into their own  curriculum, and into their own  classrooms. 

 And I believe, if this is still  true, that there's an option for  additional credit to actually  develop lessons that they will  in fact implement in their  classrooms.  So this was going on  simultaneously.  Things are happening primarily  in August.  There's also some things going  on in July.  There are two courses for  teachers, one being offered by  the DNR and UW-Extension, as I  mentioned before, on stream  monitoring.  These organizations are  developing a new curriculum, a  stream monitoring curriculum  that has a very inquiry based  approach to it.  Essentially, it uses stream  ecology as the context for  teaching kids how to do science.  And the teachers will obtain  credit for learning, basically  they'll get some training on  what the curriculum entails.  They will implement the  curriculum in their classrooms  during the fall semester.  There's some funding available  to help them with busing and  subs, and that sort of thing so  they can do their field trips. 

 They'll implement that  curriculum.  Then they will come back  together at the end of the fall  and evaluate the curriculum.  This will assist the DNR and  UW-Extension in improving the  curriculum before it can be more  widely released around the  state.  The DNR has done some  interesting GIS work, looking at  which schools might most be able  to use this curriculum, and have  found more than 60 schools  within Wisconsin.  I think this is, actually the  analysis was just southern  Wisconsin, that are within  walking distance of a stream.  So it's really nice.  It really brings together the  idea of getting kids outdoors,  and also getting kids involved  in doing science hands-on.  The other course that I will be  teaching in August is going to  be a week-long tree  identification course.  This is not just for teachers.  It's also for the general  public. 

 I've done this before with Troy  Gardens, the Arboretum,  St. Dunston's Church, and some  other groups that have had the  general public, members of the  community have wanted to obtain  a better grasp on identifying  Wisconsin's trees.  So, I'll been doing this.  The course will have an online  component, where the student can  login at any time and take a  couple of online background  presentations, I guess, on  terminology and background  material that they need to know  to identify trees.  Then we'll go out in the field  and learn to use tree keys,  identify some of the most common  Wisconsin trees.  So those are some of the other  programs we have.  I'm working right now on  developing these biotechnology  workshops.  There's some very nice, I  really recently learned about  these, but several biotech firms  offer workshops for teachers on  established biotechnology  methods, methodologies, things  that are pretty much basic, like  PCR, sequencing, and also, sort  of up and coming, sort of more,  like stem cell research, things  that are really ground breaking,  in order for science teachers to  be able to be able to stay up to  date on the kinds of things that  they're teaching in their  classroom.  So there's three that are  potentially going to be offered.  As I said, I'm working this out  right now.  These are half-day to two-day  workshops. 

 And one of my favorite ones that  they offer, that Fotodyne offers  is a DNA fingerprinting workshop  that uses the DNA from sandhill  cranes.  I'm sorry, they're not  sandhills.  What are they?  One of the endangered species  that comes from Asia, I believe.  And they actually will genotype  and do paternity analysis on  crane chicks that are born at  the International Crane  Foundation.  And we'll be able to, hopefully,  pair this with a field trip to  the Crane Foundation.  Again, bridging that gap between  sort of the natural world and  the science that we're doing.  We're hoping to offer these as  well.  The lovely thing about these  biotech firms, is they actually  provide, they come to you.  They will come to the MOO.  They'll bring everything. 

 They'll bring thermocyclers, you  know, PCR machines.  They'll bring pipe headers.  They'll bring everything, all  the reagents.  Then they actually can leave  loaner kits behind, that  teachers will be able to check  out from the MOO to implement  these things in their  classrooms.  So we're hoping that this will  happen.  If not this fall, then certainly  next year.  Lastly, with the help of Madison  Area Technical College, which  provided additional funding for  this program, is more directly  addressing this nature deficit  disorder idea of getting kids  outside in a less structured  environment.  We're putting together an  outdoor education and leadership  camp.  It would be a week-long  wilderness camp, essentially,  where we will do some teaching,  natural history, plant  identification, basic compass  skills, leadership and survival  skills, team building things.  There will also be some  unstructured time for children  to just explore the natural  environment. 

 And it will culminate in an  overnight camping trip, probably  on the Kickapoo River.  The Wisconsin River is deemed  too dangerous, which it is.  So we'll probably go on the  Kickapoo River.  The instructional model will  have several age groups working  together.  So the kids that will be  participating as wilderness  explorers will be middle  schoolers.  And each group of four children,  or so, will be paired with an  adult instructor, and a teen  team leader, that has already  graduated from Shabazz's Project  Green Team.  I don't know if any of you have  heard of this.  But Shabazz High School here in  Madison has, for several years  now, run a very, pretty  progressive pilot, kind of  groundbreaking semester they  call Project Green Teen.  It's an environmental curriculum  that culminates in an outdoor  experience.  They learn much of the same  things that we will be doing in  Wilderness Explorers. 

 So they will already have gone  camping.  They will already have been  on a canoe trip.  They will already have done  orienteering and learn survival  and team building skills.  So they can act as peer mentors  with the groups of kids,  together with the adult  instructors.  So we're putting this together.  MSCR will hopefully, we're  working out these details, be  involved in providing some  equipment for this activity.  So, these are some of the things  that are shaping up right now  with the MOO.  I'm really excited about where  it's going.  I think a lot of them, we're  sort of sorting out which ones  will work, which ones won't,  which ones will meet needs  better than others.  But in general, we're hoping  that this outpost will serve as  a model for other outposts that  could be established in other  areas, with UW System schools. 

 So for example, UW-Eau Claire  could establish an outpost for  school districts in their  surrounding area.  So we're hoping that that's what  this will become.  And with that, I actually would  like to open up the floor a  little bit on what some of your  ideas might be of ways that the  UW community can engage with the  Mazomanie Outpost, and can bring  activities out to teachers,  kids, and the general public,  outside of the campus arena.  So if anyone has any ideas or  questions, I'd really love to  hear them.  >> You said this is funding for  three years.  When did you start this and how  long will it last?  >> Catherine Woodward: When did  the grant start, January, was  it?  The first of the year, 2009,  for three years.  >> How does your public get  involved.  You mentioned that there are  several areas where the public  can get involved.  How does that occur?  >> Catherine Woodward: Well,  some of the professional  development courses that are  available for teachers,  I think also have a wider appeal  for the general public.  For example, the stream  monitoring. 

 Well, maybe not this curriculum  per se, but the tree  identification course, some of  the field trips to natural  areas, where natural history  will be taught.  I think, also, it would be  interesting to, I'm not sure if  the numbers will be out there in  Mazomanie to support this, but a  lecture series like this,  something like Wednesday Nite at  the Lab, or Family Science  Nights, to bring that out there  as well.  So I think those are ways the  community can get involved.  But I'd love to hear your ideas  as well.  Anybody else?  Kevin.  >> Have you talked to the  Wisconsin Alumni Association  yet?  >> Catherine Woodward:  About this particular thing?  >> Yes.  >> Catherine Woodward: No,  that's a good point.  >> I hadn't thought of it  before.  >> Catherine Woodward: Yeah,  that's a neat idea.  I'm going to write that one  down. 

 >> They do a lot of day events  to really connect with alumni  in various parts of the state.  They have dinners and events.  >> Catherine Woodward: That's  a good idea.  (inaudible)  Well, there's probably several,  I mean, a lot of alumni just  living in those districts  already.  That's a nice idea.  Any other ideas  that people have?  Sure.  >> Do you get together with an  online society, like  Sierra Club, and stuff  like that, or whatever?  >> Catherine Woodward:  I like that idea.  The Project Green Teen program  works with Trout Unlimited.  One of the things that they do  during Project Green Teen is the  kids learn to fly fish,  and tie their own flies.  And they go out with Trout  Unlimited members and fly fish. 

 So I think there's definitely  room to bring in experts from  organizations like those, to  lead, for example, natural  history field trips or  something.  >> I just went through Poynette,  and like in '99, I remember they  were saying that the high school  or some of the kids, they helped  restore the creek that goes  through there.  Is that part of the southwest  Wisconsin area?  >> Catherine Woodward: Yeah,  well, near where we are, I mean,  there's Black Earth Creek  watershed.  There's a lot of dedicated  people to that watershed that  have been doing monitoring and  clean-ups for many years in that  area.  And I think bringing them  onboard is a logical step.  So yeah.  Are you involved in any of those  groups directly?  >> No, I got (inaudible),  so I'm not great at hiking  anymore.  I used to.  I used to live in Arizona.  And there we had hiking clubs. 

 People would be science  teachers, and we went up to  northern Arizona, and professors  would lead us on hikes in the  San Francisco peaks and educate  us, and go on trail restoration  things.  So I mean, it was great for  getting out and learning.  Everybody would pick everyone  else's brain.  We'd see the Grand Canyon.  >> Catherine Woodward: Yeah,  I like the idea of bringing  in groups or clubs,  like you're talking about, or  the Alumni Association,  and mixing them with kids.  So it's not just a Alumni trip,  but it's an Alumni plus kids  outing.  And I think the Alumni  Association is also encouraging  those kinds of things, where you  mix age groups, and mix  abilities, skills and knowledge.  >> It's like American Youth  Hostels.  There are people, this one guy's  a science teacher, going on bus  trips and he'd bring his kid  along and you know, hike the  Sierras, or whatever else.  I don't know, it's a good way to  learn. 

 My nephew just dropped his kid  off in International Falls  for a month for summer camp.  He lives in Cincinnati, but I  think he wants to get his kid  used to the woods.  >> Catherine Woodward: Uh-huh.  Yeah, it's amazing how afraid  kids can be of the forest.  >> Do you want to expand on the  Aldo Leopold West Campus?  >> Catherine Woodward: Sure.  >> It's a secret, I think.  >> Catherine Woodward: Yeah,  many people don't know about it.  The Aldo Leopold Nature Center,  there's one on Monona Drive,  here in Madison, that you might  be familiar with.  And there's a new property that  was just donated to them.  Actually, it's not new. 

 What is it, two years ago now?  Oh, is it five already?  Wow.  A beautiful farm, really.  It was owned by a neurologist or  psychoanalyst, or something.  And she had built a theater on  her property.  It's a beautiful space.  It's really like, what they've  turned it into now is an  interpretation center.  And the house still stands on  the property.  And it has plenty of space.  They've put bunk beds in it now,  and it has plenty of space  for housing for 20 or so kids.  And it's located just five  minutes outside of Mazomanie,  but in a beautiful natural area. 

 They've got how many acres of  woods?  It's 80 acres, I think, total of  property, or something like  that.  They've got mixed hardwood  forest, prairie that they're  restoring.  So it's a really nice facility  out there.  It's open to the public.  It's not open every day.  You have to call ahead of time.  But they bring groups out there.  They've got a nice fire ring.  It's a nice facility.  >> So if there was a tree  identification class, or a  stream monitoring event, would  that be publicized through --,  and open to the public?  (inaudible)  >> Catherine Woodward: That  would be great. 

 You're all invited.  (inaudible)  That'd be great.  Yeah, the water action  volunteers, that's something I  didn't mention, with the stream  monitoring curriculum training  for the teachers.  When the teachers implement the  curriculum in their classrooms,  they won't be completely on  their own.  But a water action volunteer,  who's already done these stream  monitoring techniques,  dissolved oxygen, all these  things that they measure, will  come to the classroom and work  with the teacher, actually not  into the classroom, but with the  class on the field trip, and  actually help the teacher  implement the curriculum.  So that'll be really nice.  It'll be a nice way of bringing  the community to work more  directly with schools and with  teachers.  Anybody else?  So, my email address is at the  bottom of this slide.  And if you think of anything,  a program, an opportunity, a  person that you feel would be,  or yourself, that you feel would  like to get involved in outreach  activities at the MOO in  Mazomanie, or one of its  surrounding natural areas,  by all means, please email me  and let me know.  Because we're developing this  program actively, and it'll be a  work in progress through the  entire three years. 

 We're hoping to continue it  beyond the three years, but I'm  sure it will continue to evolve.  So, does anyone else have  anything else?  If not, then thank you so much  for listening and for coming.  (applause)  Spread the word.