The Gevirtz Research Center receives a $50,000 environmental education grant for professional development of area middle school teachers

On September 18, 2006 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded the Gevirtz Research Center at UC Santa Barbara a $50,000 grant for a project titled Teacher Enrichment Adventure in Watershed Education and Training (TEAWET). A systematic and ongoing professional development program, TEAWET will provide environmental educational for 20 middle school teachers in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, who will then provide watershed education in the field and classroom for over 600 students.

At a ceremony on Stearns’ Wharf in Santa Barbara Congressperson Lois Capps presented a check totaling over $300,000 to seven local entities including the Gevirtz Research Center. Representative Capps said, “I am very impressed with the local leadership. Many of you are doing this education work already, I know, so this money will help strengthen that effort. This grant money is an opportunity for young people to get a different appreciation for their environment and to become leaders in their environmental future. It’s a way to insure our progress, advancement, and understanding continues with the next generation.”

The NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program provides funds to support environment-based education throughout the watersheds of San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay, and Santa Barbara Channel. At the ceremony B-WET program manager Seaberry Nachbar claimed NOAA’s goal was to “bring the environment into classrooms and students into the environment. The programs funded today will enhance partnerships and continue our mission.”

The Gevirtz Research Center will partner with the Santa Barbara School Districts, the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education Teacher Education Program, South Coast Science Project, UC Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute Education Team, and the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden to develop this innovative program. The program, which will eventually be taught to students from 5th to 8th grade, will emphasize the implementation of strategies in the classroom and the field; work with teachers to help them select a curriculum and resources best suited to individual needs; and provide evidence of actual implementation by the teachers. Dean Jane Close Conoley of the Gevirtz School is the Principal Investigator and Vishna Herrity, Executive Director of the Gevirtz Research Center, is the Co-Principal Investigator.

[Photographs fo the award ceremony are available; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789.]

Captions: Top Photo: The B-WET grant recipients stand with their symbolic check--Vishna Herrity is on the far left, Lois Capps on the far right;
Bottom Left Photo: Lois Capps addresses the crowd.
Bottom Right Photo: Sally Isaacson, Direcotr of Instruction and Curriculum at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Vishna Herrity, Executive Director of the Gevritz Research Center, and Karl Hutterer, Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natrual History, listen to Lois Capps' presentation.

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