Web Site Offers Great Lakes Education Tools for K-12 Teachers

Teachers in Michigan, the Great Lakes region and beyond recognize the importance of educating the next generation on the value of the Great Lakes, including its fishery resources. As a result, a comprehensive new collection of education tools and resources for K-12 educators in the Great Lakes region is now available through the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN).

Funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, Michaela Zint, an environmental education professor at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment, together with her master's students, education specialists and a core group of K-12 educators, has developed a Teachers' Corner - for GLIN's revamped online education portal, The Education and Curriculum Homesite (TEACH) - to make instructional kits, sample lesson plans, reviews of curricular materials and online discussion opportunities easily available to teachers.

"Past studies have told us that K-12 educators want to teach their students about the Great Lakes but they are not aware of relevant teaching materials that can also help them meet state education standards," says Zint.

The portal, (http://glin.net/teach/teachers/) offers all the teaching materials the research team was able to identify in existence on the topic. Independent education expert reviews of the materials also are provided. "With the reviews as a guide, teachers can easily compare and choose between materials based on their content and education characteristics," adds Zint. "Also provided are sample lesson plans teachers correlated to Michigan education standards."