Tennessee Teachers Participate in Hands-On Workshop at UTC

Sandra Partelow, fifth grade science teacher at Nolan Elementary School on Signal Mountain, says her students love to do activities because hands-on activities make sense to them.

“I teach a lot about weather, and I have a weather station set up at school. With the information I am learning today, I can teach my students to not only read the instruments, but also to collect data and contribute to broader research efforts,” Partelow said.

Partelow was one of 25 in-service and pre-service teachers participating in a hands-on science workshop funded by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is an international K-12 program in which students and teachers collect environmental data at their school and upload it to the GLOBE website to be used by scientists around the world.

Teachers from Hamilton, McMinn, Polk, Sequatchie, Marion, and Bradley counties participated. UTC faculty in the biological and environmental sciences served as the trainers.

“Teachers learned about the atmosphere, global warming, acid rain, and the ozone. The teachers can now instruct their students on how to collect environmental data from our air, water, and soil,” according to Dawn Ford, Assistant Professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

Ford and other professors directed training at the UTC Challenger Center, Tennessee River Gorge Pot Point House, and the UTC Aquatic Lab.

To discuss GLOBE or to learn more about UTC Biological and Environmental Science, email Dawn Ford or call (423) 425-2247 or (423) 425-4341.