Join us for the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition's Winter Workshop 2017.

Our invitation is for all educators – classroom educators, naturalists, and other non-formal educators, but also to biologists, natural resource managers, topic specialists, and other environmental professionals - to join us in learning how to utilize the new Iowa science standards to promote the protection of natural resources (of monarchs and pollinators specifically) and to advance environmental education as a vital part of the K-12 Education!

Educators and natural resource professionals that work with adult and mixed-age audiences will benefit from the opportunity to develop their skills using research-based methods for learning and teaching science (at any age).

Why attend?

• Classroom teachers can sit down with environmental educators to coordinate efforts to help Iowa students meet the new standards.
• Environmental educators will understand how to tailor their message for K-12 groups.
• Natural resources are now part of the Iowa standards and teachers will be looking for experts who know how to present effectively.
• Conservation professionals will update presentation skills to increase learning and generate behavior change in student and adult audiences.
• Participants will receive access to grade-specific environmental activities that are fully aligned to the new Iowa standards.
• 1 hour of renewal credit is available for teachers.

This is your opportunity to update programs, lessons, and delivery methods, for both formal and non-formal educators. No matter if your audience is one landowner, a classroom of 6th graders, or a mixed audience at a public event, please join us for this professional development workshop!

Winter Workshop 2017 Format and Key Presenters

• We will all have the opportunity to learn from cutting-edge monarch and pollinator scientists who will present their research to the group. We all understand the urgency of this information.
• We will also spend time viewing and expanding the grade-level work completed by our naturalists, teachers, and AEA science consultants this past summer as they worked to align programs with the new Iowa Science Standards. We will introduce phenomena and storylines as essential features of lessons and programs. 

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Karen Oberhauser, Professor, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota. Oberhauser has been studying monarch butterflies since 1984. She works with teachers and pre-college students in Minnesota and throughout the United States using monarchs to teach about biology, conservation, and the process of science.

Jennifer Hopwood, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist at The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation for past seven years, located in Omaha, Nebraska

Benjamin Vogt owns Monarch Gardens, a prairie garden design firm based in Lincoln, Nebraska. He has a weekly native plant and sustainable garden column at Houzz.com that has been read 2.5 million times, while his freelance writing and photography have appeared in over sixty publications, including the books Gardening For Butterflies (The Xerces Society) and Pollinator Friendly Gardening.