Little River heads to Environmental Education Association conference

In an effort to share our interest in outreach environmental education with others, we are attending the Environmental Education Association of Illinois Annual Conference at the Touch of Nature Environmental Center in Makanda, Illinois.

The conference began today and runs through Saturday, April 11. Amanda and Jim will be there for Friday’s events, which include an exhibition of one of our Emriver Em2 geomodels facilitated by Amanda.

This year’s theme is Bridging Gaps Under Southern Skies, which emphasizes the connection between creating programs for people from all walks of life and understanding how to align programs with STEM and Next Generation Science Standards. Sessions include Environmental Education in Practice, Environmental Literacy, and Journey into Environmental Education.

An Em2 at the Mississippi River Watershed Education Symposium last year in Godfrey, Illinois.
Little River has always considered environmental outreach education one of the primary tenets of our models. From the U.S. to the UK and beyond, Emriver models have been used in demonstrations for all ages on how waterways are connected to the land and people.

By encouraging hands-on play and experimentation, people can observe different visible processes, such as infiltration, seepage, erosion, and deposition, while listening to an educator explain what is happening. Learners can then put their observations into words, involving them mentally and allowing multi-sensory learning to take place.

We're excited for tomorrow and the opportunity to teach fellow attendees and learning from them as well.

Blue dye helps visualize streamflow.

An organizer of MRWES examines our color-coded-by-size modeling media.

Editor's note: This blog post was written by Dr. Amanda Nelson, a River Scientist at Little River.

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