Climate Change Here and Now: Forest Ecosystem Impacts - Exploring U.S. Regional Climate Change
Impacts: Why It Matters to You
|
This Web Seminar took place on April 8, 2010 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time. Presenting was
Dr. Steve McNulty,
U.S. Forest Service Acting Director of Environmental Science Research, and US Congressional
Fellow and
Vicki Arthur
of U.S. Forest Service, D.C. Headquarters, and Conservation Education Office. Dr.
McNulty gave a cross-continental view of some of the impacts that climate change
is having and will have on the ecosystems of the United States. Ms. Arthur followed
Dr. McNulty’s presentation by providing a large number of online resources for teachers
to use in their classrooms.
The PowerPoint, related resources from the NSTA Learning Center, and web links from
the presentation are now contained in the above resource collection. Clicking on
the collection link will place it in your Learning Center, My Library, neatly organized
under the My Resource Collections tab.
This is the first of two Web Seminars scheduled as a follow-up to Climate Change
Here and Now: Forest Ecosystem Impacts Symposium that took place at the
NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Philadelphia, PA. In this program,
Dr. McNulty began with an overview of climate change and the anthropogenic causes
and contributors. Throughout the remainder of his presentation, he provided graphics
and specific examples of what is happening, or going to happen, in each region of
the United States. Vicki Arthur provided web sites that can be used in the classroom
to help teach students about climate change in their own region or locale.
Sixty-four (64) participants were present at the live Web Seminar in addition to
the presenter and NSTA staff. Participating educators represented the states of
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. One participant
attended the Web Seminar from a country outside the United States: Mexico.
Seminar participants received one of the NSTA SciGuides. A certificate of attendance was deposited into participants My PD Record and Certificates area in the NSTA Learning Center for completing the evaluation form at the end of the program.
Here are some comments provided by the participants at the end of the Web Seminar:
- “I teach an ecology unit and this information will be very helpful to use when
I plan for that unit that is at the end of the year. These are great resources to
use in the classroom and will help when discussing how the climate change is impacting
our mountain region.”
- “I appreciated the new information that was presented. I am about to teach a
week long unit on climate change, so this was timely.”
- “More graphs and detailed maps indicating possible extinction, reduction or
expansion of flora and fauna; especially timber species was good. A list of website
links to sites for high school students to review the most current studies of flora
and fauna impact around North America is very useful.”
- “Just getting informed about the latest info from an expert impresses me! The
resources seem to be of great interest, as well!”
Thanks to the participants and the presenter for the learning opportunity, the interactions, and a job well done!
To see more programs on Climate Change visit:
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/
ClimateChange/webseminar.aspx
For more information contact webseminars@nsta.org
Underwritten by Sally Ride Science, and the U.S. Forest Service.
|