Is Bigger Better? My trip to the Great Barrier Reef

Photo: GBR off the coast of Townsville, Queensland, Australia - note the clam in blue.


This past spring I started preparing for my trip to Australia. For many years I have wanted visit Australia and see the GREAT BARRIER REEF. I had the reef built up in mind so grand I couldn't wait to get my scuba gear on and get in! So there I am, finally there. We had storms come through the area and had to reroute our trip to a different part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Our new location had a silty bottom and with new divers, that means we can stir up the bottom! So silty bottoms + new divers + bad weather = low visibility.

Photo: GBR

At one point in time I was feeling a little down about my GBR experience because in my mind I had this idea of of seeing the most pristine and beautiful site in the world. Then a friend on my trip said something that changed everything. "Nobody said this was the most beautiful reef, but it is the largest and you learned to scuba dive on the largest living coral reef in the world!" Wow, I did! The only living thing that can be seen from outer-space and I was there diving in and around it.

Photo: Me in Juno Bay during my scuba certification check offs

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this great dive experience earlier, but I was watching a show about diving in the Maldives Islands and thought I want to go there next. There are many beautiful places out there to dive, some small, some big. Just take it all in and breathe! (literally, don't forget to breathe! LOL)
So my final thoughts on the GBR? It was truly life changing, everything is OK.

STEM - Larry, Troy, and I: The last of nine

This past week I went to Ohio University's Voinovich Leadership school where I met with 2 fellow teachers that I have worked with the past three years along with 4 amazing people involved with OU and our STEM projects.

Summer 2009 I along with 8 other science teachers attended a workshop on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) in the classroom. We had a couple of days of great lectures and tours from OU staff and Athens industry. We toured Dr. Botte's lab where they are using the hydrogen from ammonia to 'fuel' Fuel cells, Dr. Bayless's coal research, and much more. Each teacher received a $1000 grant to take back to their school district to implement STEM projects in the classroom with their students.

Spring 2010 Dr. Johnson contacted everyone again to see if we were interested in 'doing it again'. I am not sure how many of us took her up on the offer, but you can bet I was onboard. This past year my students designed a flange to go around a wind turbine that was mounted to a mock residential roof. With a meeting from a local engineer and then again a Skye conference after they were done, the students were ready to present their project at the state Skills USA competition. The NEA (National Education Association) STEM grant helped fund this project and another in which my students tested the effects of UV radiation on E. coli contaminated water.


Spring 2011 Dr. Johnson once again contacted a group of the original STEM workshop teachers. I agreed as did Larry (Warren HS) and Troy (Vinton Co. HS). We met this past week and found out our grant budget quadrupled. I am so excited to implement more projects and to document the progress through photo and video accounts. This year we will be visited by a videotographer that will visit our schools and SouthEastern Ohio to record footage for this STEM videospot.

Summer Collaborations - Get out there, there is still time.

There are many opportunities for teachers in the summer. Some are free, some are not.

Mailers start coming in Feb/Mar for summer workshops. Some of the opportunities I was aware of just couldn't fit into my already booked summer. At the SECO conference I attended a session that promoted a FREE one week beginner chemistry (with simple labs using cheap materials) workshop. The lessons continued throughout the fall with 6 credit hours to be earned at the end of the program. I would have LOVED to attend, but I was already committed to 2 weeks in Australia with Earth Expeditions the same month.

Some collaborations can be offered by your state's Dept of Education. I have been on a science range-finder committee (committee of teachers that help re-write the rubric for the Ohio Graduation Test in Science) for the past 3 years. This committee met during the school year at the beginning, but now meets in the summer. Hotel rooms are provided for those outside of the commuting area. It was from a fellow teacher from this committee that I learned about the Teacher At Sea Program.

It is still not too late. Get on the web, contact your school or university and see what is out there. Go to TEDed to get some inspiration if you can't attend anything.

I will be heading to Athens, Ohio August 11, 2011 to meet with a group of teachers and facilitators for a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) project. This will be our third year running - and this year we are incorporating video for a professional media presentation by a professional producer. This project is funding by NEA.