Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

We couldn’t have been more pleased with the 2nd annual Will Steger Foundation Summer Institute, held August 13th-15th at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Our participant numbers tripled in size from 2006, drawing a majority of educators from outside the Twin Cities metro area, as well as out of state. We partnered with St Paul Public Schools, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and International Polar Year to provide a wealth of educational resources on climate change and renewable energy solutions. We also recruited a wide range of dynamic speakers to meet the needs of our diverse audience, including J. Drake Hamilton from Fresh Energy, Louise Huffman from the ANDRILL Project, and Peggy Knapp from the Center for Global Environmental Education at Hamline University.

Will Steger and fellow expedition members shared new footage from their recent expedition to Baffin Island, providing an eyewitness account of the impact of climate change on the Arctic ecosystem and Inuit culture. Four students from the School of Environmental Studies also shared their stories and images from Baffin Island. The group was part of a student exchange that joined the Steger Expedition in the remote Inuit village of Clyde River last spring. Four Inuit students and two teachers will be visiting Minnesota for two weeks this fall to complete the exchange.

The goals of the 2007 Summer Institute were four-fold:

1. to provide background knowledge on global warming science and implications with a focus on the polar regions
2. to provide an overview of the renewable energy landscape
3. to provide tools and resources for implementing cross-disciplinary climate change curriculum in the classroom
4. to create an opportunity for participants to design an action plan related to climate change solutions.

Our 75 participants made the most of this opportunity working with each other to design activities and curriculum that ranged from a school recycling plan, to a shop class on wind turbines, to a semester long study of the impact of climate change on indigenous cultures across the globe. Participants are invited to join us again this winter for a follow-up session at the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley. We look forward to sharing the progress and outcomes of these action plans on our website throughout the year!

Interested in being part of the solution? Visit www.globalwarming101.com and click on ‘Action’ for a step-by-step guide to creating an action plan for your community.

Quote from Educator Quotes:

The guest speakers inspired me to teach about global warming and to take action! - Minnesota Educator

One of the best workshops I have attended! - Minnesota Educator

I was looking for CEU credits and I came away with so much more…I will take this back to rural Minnesota and start awareness there.” - Minnesota Educator

Thank you for allowing me to attend. I am totally reenergized to start school. - Veteran Educator, Connecticut

I plan to use the Lesson Plans & Activities, etc. to teach a Semester long course on global warming and other environmental issues. - Minnesota Educator

Here are a few of the Will Steger Foundation 2007 Summer Institute Presenters and links to their presentation:

• J Drake Hamilton, Fresh-Energy
  • Presentation Download (1.8MB PowerPoint)
• Alex Danovitch, Eureka Recycling
  • Presentation Download (15.3MB PowerPoint)
• Daniel Enderton, MIT PHD Student
  • Presentation Download (24.6MB PowerPoint)
• Peggy Knapp
  • Presentation Download (1.3MB PowerPoint)

The Will Steger Foundation would like to thank our partners for their invaluable support:

• Saint Paul Public Schools
• Science Museum of Minnesota
• Valley Natural Foods
• International Polar Year
• Great River Energy
• Blue Sky Guide
• Do it Green Magazine

Please support the following businesses and non-profits organizations that donated their goods and services to our participants:

Orion Society
Peace Coffee
Lunds, Edina
REI
Minnesota Energy Challenge
Prairie Restorations, Inc.
International Migratory Bird Day

Summer Institute 2007 Sponsors: