FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 7, 2015
FLORIDA
COASTAL OFFICE CONDUCTS
“TEACHERS ON THE ESTUARY” WORKSHOPS
~Reserves promote estuarine education in the classroom~
 Teachers learn about estuaries from Rookery Bay Reserve Director Keith Laakkonen.
NAPLES, Fla. – The Florida Department
of Environmental Protection’s Florida Coastal Office hosted Teachers on the
Estuary (TOTE), an educational program that provides hands-on, field-based activities
for teachers to increase their knowledge and appreciation of estuarine
environments and to support teaching estuary and watershed topics in the
classroom. Developed by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, five
TOTE workshops have been held for teachers in four of the gulf states, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. This marks the first time FCO has hosted a TOTE workshop.
“Our program is targeted toward
middle school curriculum,” said Sarah Falkowski, education coordinator for
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Naples. “The goal of TOTE is
to improve teachers’ and students’ understanding of the environment using local
examples and to provide resources and hands-on experience, as well as to
promote stewardship of watersheds and estuaries.”
The Naples workshop, held Aug.
5-6, featured programs led by education coordinators from the Florida Coastal Office’s GTM Research Reserve in Northeast
Florida, Rookery Bay Research Reserve in Naples and Apalachicola Reserve in the Panhandle, as well as the Mission-Aransas Reserve in Texas. Teachers from Collier County, and around Florida and Alabama learned about
issues facing estuaries in Southwest Florida through field trips into the Rookery
Bay estuary as well as hands-on sessions addressing water quality, invasive
species and watershed management.
TOTE
participants will be able to help their students:
-
Appreciate the
important connection between the ocean and humans;
-
Understand
estuarine ecology, including functions and values of estuaries;
- Enhance
their abilities to analyze and interpret data;
-
Grasp how scientists
use data to study and protect ocean resources;
-
Better
understand the scientific method, including the concept that science is an
on-going, iterative process; and
-
Foster a
sense of stewardship of watersheds, estuaries and oceans.
The Gulf States TOTE program was funded through a grant from
NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education Training program. For more information about the
program visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/outreach_education/gulf_b_wet/index.html
| 
