NAME 2018 Conference

July 29 – August 2, 2018 • Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators (NAME) is a dynamic organization of professionals dedicated to sharing the world of water and using the allure of marine and freshwater places to excite audiences about learning.

Educators, researchers, students, and resource professionals from Washington, Oregon, Alaska and British Columbia are invited to meet, learn, share, and socialize.

Conference Themes

Science

Topics elaborating the most up-to-date scientific knowledge/discoveries giving educators the background and tools needed to fulfill STEM and NGSS. Do you have a cool or new science lesson, restoration project, citizen science program, or community learning project to share? What stories of climate change are you telling? How do you engage your participants in long-term change narratives during brief interpretive moments? What are the key messages for your class or site related to tracking local change? We are looking for teachers, informal educators, researchers or marine science loving citizens who want to share an innovative new idea or project they have been working on.

Culture

This includes topics with a keen focus on the traditional, indigenous knowledge, and/or the role of art in environmental education, STEAM, (includes artistic innovation). How do we and our participants come to know, understand, and appreciate our natural resources? Ways of knowing can be cultural, personally unique, or discovered. Have you found new gateways to knowledge and understanding – perhaps through inspirational vectors such as art, music, language, sensory experiences, or emotion? Share what you’ve learned about the diverse ways that people engage with our natural surroundings and how you’ve incorporated these ways of knowing into your presentations and curricula. Do all cultures have their own science? What tools have you used to incorporate Indigenous science and other cultural concepts into your curricula? How can this place-based approach to environmental education translate into global stewardship?

Education

Topics with a focus on prepared materials for educators fulfilling the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) opportunities. How do we prepare participants to steward ever-changing ecosystems? In your experience, is it true that knowledge guides us to love — and love, in turn, inspires us to action? How have your students or the members of your organization taken action to preserve and protect your local waters? What tools did you use to inspire these actions? And how did you measure the impact of these actions on both the natural world and the participants? Are you incorporating the latest breaking research into your teaching or bringing specialists into your classroom?