Educators from NYC aboard a SUNY Maritime research vessel monitoring water quality and microplastic pollution on Long Island Sound, Sept. 24, 2023. Credit: NYSG/L. Genovesi

Contact:

Lillit (Lilli) Genovesi, NYSG Long Island Sound Outreach Coordinator, NYC, E: Lillit.Genovesi@cornell.edu, P: (718) 595-3954

Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher Program provides peer-to-peer, hands-on, place-based and STEM-focused professional development opportunities, brings ocean/environmental literacy into classrooms throughout Long Island Sound’s Coastal and Inland Communities

Queens, NY, March 25, 2024 - Despite being located minutes from the coast, many residents of New York are unaware of the magnificent resources that Long Island Sound provides. From rich habitats for rare species to ecosystem services and more, the estuary is a treasure for all. With encouragement and empowerment, the Sound can also serve as an outdoor classroom for students to explore, learn, and participate in hands-on STEM and stewardship learning.

Through the Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher Program, teachers meet and share successful strategies for implementing ocean literacy into existing curricula. The coastal workshops feature lessons and activities designed for classroom or field use and are aligned to the New York Science Framework and/or the National Science Education Standards.

New York Sea Grant hosted four workshops in New York City, Westchester County, and Long Island (2) attracting more than 50 educators, offering a total of 16 Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) hours and original lesson plans, and reaching more than 1,000 students. Lessons and activities included microplastic pollution testing aboard a research vessel, integrating ocean literacy into P-5 English Language Arts, participatory science for students, and tools for measuring the biodiversity in our waterways.
 
Eight teachers designed and led professional development opportunities for other educators throughout the state to bring environmental and ocean literacy into New York City, Westchester County, and Long Island classrooms. The innovative workshops introduced new lessons and activities for students in grades P-12 ranging from water quality monitoring to stewardship and more.

Project Partners:

• SUNY Maritime Marine Education Center 
• Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium


Mentor teacher, Nicole Carone, points out an osprey nest along the Nissequogue River to workshop participants, Aug. 1, 2023. Credit: NYSG/J. Perez-Viscasillas


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.