News Release

By STEPHANIE GUNTER
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Twenty-four teachers from several northeastern N.C. counties will soon take part in the Environmental Science Institute, a hands-on workshop focusing on water quality and other freshwater issues in the state.

The event, to be held July 6 through 8 at Elizabeth City State University, is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Environmental Program, The Science House at N.C. State University and the N.C. Mathematics and Science Education Network Pre-College Program at Elizabeth City State.

The workshop is designed for teachers from Bertie, Chowan, Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties.

"More than 50 percent of our state’s residents depend on groundwater for their source of freshwater," said Michele Kloda, science educator for the program. "Many of these people reside in eastern North Carolina. Education is one of the most powerful tools that we have to protect and preserve clean groundwater supplies."

Learning activities are correlated with the N.C. Standard Course of Study in science for grades six through 12. Local guest lecturers and staff from the program and The Science House will lead the workshops, with field trips to Albemarle Learning Center and Bennett’s Millpond.

Participants will be given science materials on concepts and processes related to groundwater for classroom instruction and will be given the same materials for a school colleague. As a part of their participation, the teachers will train colleagues on how to use the classroom materials by November. Follow-up workshops are planned.

The materials are on "Investigating Groundwater," where students engage in activities surrounding a case study of contaminated groundwater in a fictitious town.

"My participation in this institute is important to my students because it will provide me with the knowledge and necessary materials to present a lesson on groundwater effectively," said Reshema Downing, a sixth-grade teacher at Elizabeth City Middle School. "I hope to heighten my students’ awareness of the qualities of North Carolina freshwater and to create an eagerness to learn more."

Water quality issues are addressed throughout the N.C. Standard Course of Study in science, in particular in eighth grade and in high school earth-environmental science.

The institute is made possible by a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation of Winston-Salem. The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences provided some support for the workshop staff and development of the curriculum.

The UNC Carolina Environmental Program is a multidisciplinary initiative addressing factors building an environmentally sustainable society through degree programs, collaborative research, technical assistance, training and more.

For more information on the institute, contact Kloda at (919) 843-5735 or mkloda@email.unc.edu

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(Gunter, of Raleigh, is a May 2004 graduate in journalism and mass communication.)

Contact: Michele Kloda, (919) 843-5735, mkloda@email.unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu