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Save the Date
Inland Seas is throwing a party for you on
Thursday, May 21 at 6:00 p.m.
at Black Star Farms. The entire Inland Seas family, including volunteers, donors, supporters, and their friends, will be treated to good food and wine. The event is free and is not intended to be a fundraiser. There will be a brief presentation by Executive Director Fred Sitkins and Board President RADM John G. Tanner to inform the ISEA family about the biggest project to date for Fred at the helm of this fine organization.
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How do You Feel About Change?
Are you the type of individual who embraces change and sees it as fun, exiting, and something to look forward to? Some look at change as scary, frustrating, and even unnecessary-are you like that? Regardless how you feel about change, I believe we all can agree with John F. Kennedy, who stated that, "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." While some of us may fear change, the reality is that deep down inside we all realize that change is a necessity. All successful organizations embrace change and innovation because it helps to ensure a successful future. Inland Seas has a very important mission and in order for us to impact the greatest number of individuals as possible with that mission, we must embrace change and innovation. Examples of some of the areas we are focusing on today that might resemble change include exploring different methods of instruction and strengthening our data collection. |
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Different Methods of Instruction:
This last decade of education has seen more sweeping instructional changes than any other period of time. As an individual who lived through and led a great deal of this change, I can tell you that it's for the better. The overarching theme of this instructional change is a move towards hands-on, student-centered instruction. Schools do not practice the "teacher is the giver of all knowledge" approach any longer. In fact, it's frowned upon and something that schools are trying to distance themselves from. While Inland Seas incorporates hands-on learning in all that we do, this is an area we will continually be seeking to improve.
One of our primary focus areas is striving for a more student-centered, less teacher directed approach to learning. In simplistic terms, this means students exploring more, questioning more, discovering more, and teachers acting more as a facilitator of learning rather than the source of learning.
ISEA is not changing the learning objectives of our Schoolship program, but rather we are focusing on teaching those objectives in the most effective manner possible.
Hopefully volunteers will notice some of the new tools, charts, and graphs that we have provided for each of the learning stations to help them facilitate learning at the stations they will be leading this year.
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| Different Methods of Data Recording: I am under the impression that everyone would like to see ISEA become more scientific in nature. There are many important things happening in these lakes and by simply recording our data more scientifically, we will be in a position to lead the way in understanding them. ISEA is going to play a bigger role in critical Great Lakes research and this starts with ensuring that we are collecting data in a scientific manner. Schoolship instructors this year will see forms for data collection that will look different from what they've experienced in the past. Please know that this change will strengthen our understanding of this resource we care so deeply about. As you might imagine, Inland Seas will be implementing some changes this year. It is our goal to keep you informed about these changes and our hope that you experience the fun and excitement associated with change. We would also like to remind you that we love to talk about what we are working on. If you ever want to know more details or offer your advice, we would love to talk with you. |
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April 16 Seminar with Tim Davis
Dr. Timothy Davis (ISEA's former Education Director) is a harmful algae bloom (HAB) researcher with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. He has spent the last ten years studying the ecology of these events in lakes throughout the Northeast USA and Australia. His current research focuses on the blooms that occur in the Great Lakes, primarily Lake Erie. He works with a team of NOAA scientists to forecast bloom size, frequency, and toxicity in an ever-changing world.
HABs occur annually in Lake Erie and other areas around the Great Lakes. These events can have severe environmental and socioeconomic impacts as well as be detrimental to human health. The threat is highlighted by the "do not drink" advisory issued for roughly 400,000 Toledo residents in August 2014 that lasted almost 48 hours. Notably, this was not the first advisory issued for cyanotoxin contamination in the western basin of Lake Erie, nor did it occur due to an extraordinary bloom such as the event that occurred in 2011. While these events typically do not occur in northern Lake Michigan, understanding the environmental drivers of HABs is important as climate change may allow for more favorable growth conditions around the Great Lakes region in future years.
Join Dr. Davis to discuss these harmful algae blooms in the ISEA Education Center on Thursday, April 16 at 7:00 p.m.
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Donate Your Boat or Nautical Items
As you do your Spring cleaning, consider donating your boat or nautical items to Inland Seas. Donated boats are listed and sold throughout the summer. Your nautical items will be sold in our flea market that is part of the Great Lakes Celebration on
July 25th. We'll be happy to send you a packet of information on the advantages of donating your boat, along with some information on how Inland Seas will put your tax-deductible contribution to work
Protecting the Great Lakes through Education.
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Inland Seas Education Association
PO Box 218 * 100 Dame Street * Suttons Bay, MI 49682
Phone: (231) 271-3077 * Fax: (231) 271-3088
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JOIN US!
ISEA Cafe
Wednesday,
April 29, 2015
11:00 a.m.
Immediately following the lead instructor meeting.
Bring your own lunch, ask follow-up questions from the morning meeting, chat with our staff, etc.
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Summer 2015
We have 20 tickets still remaining for his concert on Inland Seas
July 14.
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Help Needed
As we head into the sailing-season, we are working on a few housekeeping items that we need help with
. Please let us know if you can help with any of the following:
- Bringing boats back from storage
- Putting docks in the water
- General office cleaning to be prepared for the busy season
As always, we appreciate all of the hard work our volunteers do.
Thank you!
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Check it Out
Inland Seas' Captain Ben Hale is featured in the article, "At the Helm" in the spring issue of
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