Nurturing respect and appreciation for the natural worldiSEE Program
The informal Science Education Enhancement (iSEE) is a collaborative partnership between Clark Planetarium, Discovery Gateway, The Leonardo, The Living Planet Aquarium, Red Butte Garden, Natural History Museum of Utah, HawkWatch International, Thanksgiving Point and the Utah State Office of Education.
iSEE programs serve K-12 teachers and students and are designed to spark students’ natural curiosity and sense of wonder by providing exciting opportunities to experience science, practice science skills, and gain a deeper understanding of science.
Our standards-based Habitat Investigations outreach program is designed to be an exciting complement to what teachers are doing in their classrooms. This 60-minute 2nd grade program focuses on students using science processing skills to explore two Utah habitats — wetlands and deserts. Students analyze an assortment of samples collected by the Zoo’s “research team.” Students make observations and inference, measure, collect data and share their results with classmates. They then observe living Utah animals and connect their ideas with the evidence to make conclusions about the adaptations these animals possess to survive in their Utah habitats.
Standard 1: The Processes of Science, Communication of Science, and the Nature of Science. Students will be able to apply scientific processes, communicate scientific ideas effectively, and understand the nature of science.
Objective 1: Generating Evidence: Using the processes of scientific investigation (i.e. framing questions, designing investigations, conducting investigations, collecting data, drawing conclusions)
Objective 2: Communicating Science: Communicating effectively using science language and reasoning
Objective 3: Knowing in Science: Understanding the nature of science
Standard 4: Life Science. Students will gain an understanding of Life Science through the study of changes in organisms over time and the nature of living things.
Objective 1: Tell how external features affect an animals’ ability to survive in its environment.
Objective 2: Compare and contrast the characteristics of living things in different habitats.
Objective 3: Develop, communicate, and justify an explanation as to why a habitat is or is not suitable for a specific organism.
Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Granite, Iron, Juab, Kane, Logan, Millard, Morgan, North Sanpete, North Summit, Ogden, Park City, Piute, Rich, San Juan, Sevier, South Sanpete, South Summit, Tintic, Tooele, Uintah, USDB, Washington, Wayne, Weber and charter schools located within the geographic boundaries of those school districts.
Teachers will receive training in Growing Up WILD. It is an early childhood education program that builds on children’s sense of wonder about nature and invites them to explore wildlife and the world around them. Through a wide range of activities and experiences, Growing Up WILD provides an early foundation for developing positive impressions about the natural world and lifelong social and academic skills. Teachers receive a curriculum guide— Growing Up WILD: Exploring Nature with Young Children. It is written especially for early childhood educators of children ages 3-7. They will also receive additional supporting materials for their classrooms. Growing Up WILD is a multi-award winning program having received the 2009 Family Choice Award and the 2011 Renewable Natural Resource Foundation Excellence in Journalism Award.
Suzanne Zgraggen, Academic and Community Programs Manager
801-584-4551 or szgraggen@hoglezoo.org
