Please plan to attend a special Virginia Chapter workshop from 1:30 to 3 pm on Sunday, January 19th, 2014 at the Walker Nature Center, 11450 Glade Drive, Reston, Virginia 20191. We will be demonstrating many of the rich educational resources now available to educators and Chapter volunteers for telling the story of the American chestnut tree and efforts to return this giant of our Eastern forest to its status as a keystone of Appalachia.
The lead presenter is Betty Gatewood, an experienced Virginia educator who will share her experience working with teachers and students to use American chestnut history and science to address learning objectives and state standards.
Participants will experience a variety of hands on materials and activities from the American Chestnut Learning Box, as well as video, graphic and web resources, and an introduction to the Virginia chapter breeding program and plans for 2014
This event is open to the public at no charge.
Betty Gatewood’s topic: Just as The American Chestnut Foundation is striving in its research to produce the next generation of chestnut trees, many teachers up and down the Appalachians and beyond are striving to educate the next generation of chestnut tree researchers and stewards of this remarkable resource. Stories of the American chestnut, its past, present and future, provide incredible educational opportunities for teachers in addressing learning objectives and state standards. Through TACF’s American Chestnut Learning Box activities, the on-line Charlie Chestnut curriculum, outreach programs for teachers, and in-the-field transects, students are learning the history, lore, culture and science of the American Chestnut.
For the past two summers, students from Valley Ridge Governor School in Rockingham/Augusta Counties have delved deeply into the history and the science of the American chestnut through readings and electrophoresis in a genetics lab. Using the inquiry teaching method and the standard protocol for the Appalachian Trail MEGA-Transect Chestnut Project in the field, students collected data, then analyzed and shared their conclusions with each other and the public. These educational techniques have stimulated these students to think about the future of the American chestnut and theorize ways to participate in stewardship of this iconic tree of American forests.
Betty Gatewood currently works as an interpretive and education park guide at Shenandoah National Park where she is developing educational curriculum on climate change and how it is affecting an endangered species in the park. She also conducts interpretative programs (walks and talks) for park visitors. For the last two summers in the park, she has taught Valley Ridge Governor School students how to do a chestnut transect. Until recently, she was Teacher-in-Residence at Mary Baldwin College’s Graduate Teacher Education, Environment-based Learning Program. She has 18 years of classroom experience as a middle school and high school life science/biology teacher, 8 years of experience as an environmental educator/naturalist and 11 years of experience educating in a museum context. Betty has been a key player in the Trail to Every Classroom program, helping Appalachian Trail educators learn to use the trail as an outdoor classroom. She and her husband Mark maintain a section of the A.T. as members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and they trained with the initial class of A.T. MEGA-Transect Chestnut Project volunteers in 2008, and have done chestnut counts on “their” portion of the A.T. every year since then.
For more information contact:
Kathy Marmet, VP Education
