The Texas Outdoor Family program is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s answer to families that have never been camping before, or perhaps just need a little refresher. From El Paso, to Galveston, and up to Lake Ray Roberts, the Rangers of the Texas Outdoor Family program are in the Texas’ State Parks most weekends teaching camping site set-up, kayaking, fishing, outdoor cooking and other basic outdoor skills. The program has grown each year, with new participants being exposed to Texas State Parks each weekend. The program is so successful in fact, that it has been copied by several other state park systems.

            But how do you measure success when you’re teaching families to camp in their state parks? Ask our families and you’ll hear some different answers. Success looks like a 6 year-old from Houston catching their first fish – and his mom finally getting the courage to put a worm on the hook. Success is the first meal cooked on a campfire you created, or beating your older sister to find the geocache. Success is a family leaving a park on a Sunday morning as they plan their next campout.

            For the Texas Outdoor Family Rangers, success is getting your 20 tents loaded into the trailer just in time for the rain to start. It’s watching Junior Rangers take the pledge to protect their parks, and teach others about what they’ve learned. Success is 70 camping workshops without a trip to the hospital. It’s 6,000 smiling faces every year. Success is hearing the stories from the campouts a family has had since they got their start with you.

            So whatever success looks like to you, we invite you to join us, or partner with us to help grow new guardians for Texas State Parks. Visit the Texas Outdoor Family website. 

Please plan to drop by the Texas Parks and Wildlife booth at CAST 2015!  There will be resources, drawings, and much to learn.  And join us in one of our 4 different CAST sessions this year! Everything from Project WILD, to massive migrations, using the tools of science in field investigations, and Texas Aquatic Science.  

TABT Presents: WILD about Biology

Kiki Corry

11/14/2015     10:00-11:00  AM         

Level 2 Meeting Room 203 A

Texas Project WILD features activities designed to engage students in how to think about wildlife issues. Sample a few activities and explore how you can use them to bring some of the WILD into your biology class.

ISEA Presents: Defying Gravity – No Rocket Needed

TPWD Staff

11/12/2015     1:00-2:00 PM  Texas Ballroom B

11/14/2015     8:30-9:30 AM  Level 2 Meeting Room 203 A

Wild animals and plants make remarkable journeys; seemingly defying gravity by all sorts of strategies. Whether they are natives making prehistoric migrations or recent immigrants moving in and taking over, wild plants and animals in motion are terrific study cases for biotic/abiotic relationships, adaptations, and ecosystem stability.  Join Texas Parks and Wildlife in following the journeys, investigating the strategies, and analyzing the impact of plant and animal movement. 

Processes and Concepts: Use the Tools of the Trade to Teach Students Both

Irene Pickhardt, Division of Curriculum TEA & Kiki Corry, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

11/14/2015     1:00 -2:00 PM Ballroom A

Learn how and when to use some of the required science tools and equipment to meet the science TEKS for the elementary and middle school levels.  Focus will be on equipment that can be used outdoors. Discussion on mastering key student expectations though field investigations will take place.

Texas Aquatic Science

Johnnie Smith, Kiki Corry

11/12/2015     2:30-3:30 PM  Ballroom B

Finally, a TEXAS curriculum for Aquatic Science! A Joint project of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, and the Hart Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, TEXAS AQUATIC SCIENCE was developed to help teachers make students aware of the importance of water to life and their part in conserving this valuable resource. Introduce students to the wide variety of aquatic ecosystems through science investigations, games, models, Internet projects, reading, short videos, and field based water quality and environmental condition assessments. Students understand that the characteristics of the water molecule make it unique in its value to all of life, and that conservation of water is a priority for all of us.