Students in the college?s Environmental Science course formed teams and conducted research on environmental issues in order to address environmental problems and educate the public as part of their Environmental Awareness and Community Action Projects (EACAP). Student teams will discuss their findings and the actions they took in partnership with various community environmental organizations during the class presentations. There will be two presentations per session on the following dates: April 19, April 22, and April 24, 2013, and one presentation per session on April 26, 2013. Sessions will be held at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. in room 246 of the Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building. The presentations are open to the campus community.
Initiated as a result of her involvement with the Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research, Dr. Mahsa Kazempour, Assistant Professor of Science Education at Penn State Berks, developed the EACAP project to further enhance students' awareness of environmental issues and encourage them to become involved locally and globally to tackle such issues and educate the public.
Since early in the semester, students worked in teams on service learning projects and collaborated with members of community organizations including Berks Parks Department, Blue Marsh Lake, Hawk Mountain, Monocacy Hill, and Nolde Environmental Education Center. They were involved in various projects, such as removing invasive species, using GIS technology to map certain regions within parks, creating riparian gardens, developing lesson plans for schools and student visitors, creating websites and promotional materials, and developing promotional and informational videos for the organizations to use.
For more information, contact Kazempour at 610-396-6312 or via e-mail at [email protected].