Albuquerque: Bosque Education Guide Workshops for Teachers

The Bosque Education Guide has a full day workshop next week, with a few
spaces available:

Friday, March 28, 2008
8:30 a.m. - 4: 30 p.m. at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park
Reserve a space: (505) 344-7240, or email: Karen.Herzenberg@state.nm.us

The Bosque Education Guide is a popular curriculum to teach about the
Middle Rio Grande Valley ecosystem. It has over 600 pages of background
information and activities for elementary through high school. The main
activity has students set up a paper and cloth model of the river
valley, placing plants and animals in the appropriate environments to
show the bosque ecosystem as it was before major human alteration, then
changing the pieces around to show how humans have changed things in the
last century. Finally, students conduct restoration projects on the
model to see how land managers can maintain as much of the biodiversity
and natural processes of the ecosystem with out compromising the safety
of our communities. The Guide has many activities to be done with
students on field trips as well as in the classroom or schoolyard.
Topics include, the geology of the valley, surface and groundwater, the
demands on the river's water budget, natural history information and
human influence, several mapping activities and two web quests. The
final chapter helps teachers plan service-learning projects with their
students. A substantial background section and appendices including
correlations to the New Mexico education standards round out the book.
Many activities were recently translated into Spanish (see website) and
fire activities have just been added.

Participants will receive the curriculum and additional teaching kit
materials. These workshops are offered to educators through funding from
the PNM Resources Foundation. Co-sponsored by the NM Museum of Natural
History & Science and the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park with
long-term support from the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Bosque
Initiative Group.

Plan to be both inside and outside for the workshop, so dress in
comfortable clothes for the weather. Bring sack lunch, hat, water and
sunscreen. Some snacks will be provided.

Cost is $3 for parking at the Rio Grande Nature Center.

www.nmnaturalhistory.org/BEG/index.html


There is also a workshop scheduled for Monday, June 30, 2008.

Tish Morris
Senior Education Specialist
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
1801 Mountain Rd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505-841-2882
tish.morris@state.nm.us
www.NMnaturalhistory.org