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News and Events
A Few Past CoreKids Events - 2011
October 2011
Michigan Earth Science Teacher's Assoc.
(MESTA) Annual Conference
July 2011
The Keystone Youth Policy Summit
High school students presented their recommendations to the public on July 29th. For information on receiving a copy of their final report, visit www.youthpolicysummit.org.
For more information the the Youth Policy Summit, visit our YPS page.
March 2010
This month we had a visit from Cub Scouts!
Here is the poster they sent us after their visit. Thank you to you
guys. You were wonderful visitors and we had a great time, too!
2009 CoreKids Events
September 2009
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Lansing Hydrogeologist, Arlene Anderson-Vincent, a member of the Michigan Basin Geological Society, used a WMU CoreKids Porosity and Permeability Learning Module to demonstrate porosity and permeability at the 2009 Big Rapids-area "Make A Splash" with Project WET water education festival. Four elementary schools in the area sent approximately 275 third graders to the one-day water festival. The children explored many action stations including the water cycle, recycling, watersheds and porosity and permeability.
August 2009
In August we visited with two Cub Scout Groups, one at Wabasis Day Camp and one in Battle Creek. Scouts learned about the difference between rocks and minerals and used marshmallows to create their own sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rock models. They also made posters showing some of the everyday items we use that are made from rocks and minerals.
more photos to come!
July 11-17, 2009
Keystone Science School's Youth Policy Summit on Greenhouse Gas Reductions
In partnership with Western Michigan University (WMU), the Keystone Science School conducted a Youth Policy Summit focused on Greenhouse Gas Reductions in Michigan on the WMU campus. Thirty students from 8 different high schools around the state met on the WMU campus for five days to negotiate consensus-based recommendations for the Governor, the state legislature, and Michigan’s business and NGO sectors. The students' final report is now available as either a full report (pdf) or an executive summary (pdf). The report also includes photos taken during the Summit. For more information, or if your high school is interested in participating in the 2010 Summit, contact Susan Grammer at 269-387-8642 or susan.grammer@wmich.edu.
May 1, 2009
Kalamazoo Gem and Mineral Show
We visited with hundreds of kids from SW Michigan at the Kalamazoo Gem and Mineral Show hosted by Kalamazoo Geological and Mineral Society. The show was open to school groups for special educational programming from 9-2 on Friday May 1, and the kids had the opportunity to talk to professors and students from WMU's Geosciences Department about geology. Next year we hope to offer educational programming during the hours the show is open to the public, as well.
Monday March 30, 2009
CoreKids welcomed PLUS of SW Michigan to MGRRE on Monday March 30 from 6:30-8:30 pm for Looking Beneath the Surface: Exploring Michigan’s Underground Resources. Pictures coming soon.
March 2009
We had a great time meeting teachers at the Michigan Science Teachers' Association meeting in Detroit March 4-7. We learned so much about what CoreKids can do to support Earth science education in Michigan, and we also came back armed with new curriculum that we can incorporate into our presentations and our website. The winners of our raffle are as follows:
Rocks With Holes Display: Deb Hautau, All Saints Catholic School, Alpena, MI
Copy of Under Michigan, by Charles Barker:
Rhonda Herwat, Hanover-Horton Middle School, Horton, MI
A. LaSovage, Southfield Lathrup HS, Lathrup Village, MI
Mary Ann Grate, kindergarten-grade 1
January and February 2009
We have had two very busy months to start out 2009. We visited all of the 3rd graders at Mattawan Later Elementary School - once to talk about Michigan Geology and Natural Resources and once to talk about Climate Change. We also visited the 3rd grade Visions class at Plainwell's Starr Elementary to explore Michigan Geology and then two weeks later we visited to talk about Michigan's Geological Natural Resources. We had a great time at Cooper Elementary's Science Night and are looking forward to the Plainwell Science Night in March.
CoreKids and MGRRE also hosted several field trip groups in January and February.
- Mrs. Kortlandt's Environmental Science Class from Otsego High School
- WMU Upward Bound Program's 9th and 10th graders from Kalamazoo Public Schools
- Mrs. Setsma's 8th graders from Kalamazoo Christian Middle School
Field trip groups had the opportunity to explore the concepts of porosity and permeability of rocks and sediments and learned why these concepts are important in everyday life. They also used data from an oil well in SW Michigan to determine at what depth geologists would have expected to find natural resources and then examined the rock core from the well to see what rocks holding our natural resources look like.
What is that black stuff in the rocks? Could that be OIL? So maybe oil, gas and water isn't really flowing in underground rivers and streams, maybe, as our visitors learned, it is really inside the pore spaces in rocks. Parents, ask your CoreKids about porosity and permeability and they can probably set you straight!
2242 thru 2244 feet deep |
2235 thru 2237 feet deep |
2226 thru 2228 feet deep |
The numbers written in black on the rock are the depths below the surface of Allegan County that the core sample was taken at. The oil well the students worked with data and samples from was drilled in July of 1987 and the rock core is preserved at the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education, where today's geologists can go to examine data and rocks from the past in order to better explore for and manage Michigan's natural resources today.
2008 CoreKids Events
December 2008
Covert Middle School students visited with us at MGRRE and had a chance to look at rock core from thousands of feet below the earth's surface just miles from their school.
November 2008
In November we were back at Starr Elementary in Plainwell talking to the 3rd grade Visions class about Michigan's Geological Natural Resources. Read the article mentioning our visit from Plainwell Schools' newsletter, School Matters (p. 7).
http://www.plainwellschools.org/fCMSBackend/imgRoot//Staff/Administrators/Jackson/SM_FA_08_vs3.pdf
October 2008
In October we visited the 3rd grade Visions classes at Plainwell's Starr Elementary School, pre-schoolers at South Elementary School in Hudsonville, MI, and Woodland Elementary 2nd graders in Portage, MI
September 2008
Core Kids visited 5th graders at Paw Paw Later Elementary this month. We had a great time and hope the kids did too!
August 2008
August 18:
Geological Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Michigan in the news
The Holland, MI City Council considers whether the Board of Public Works should submit a proposal with Praxair to the Department of Energy to study the possibility of constructing a "carbon free" coal burning power plant to produce power for the city of Holland. WMU's Dr. Dave Barnes is interviewed about the geology of the subsurface under Holland where carbon emitted from the plant would be injected and stored. Community members learned about the science behind carbon dioxide sequestration using the same demonstrations Core Kids uses during school visits.
View video of the Channel 3 News story
August 15:
WMU/DTE Press Release - Grant brings earth science to life for K-12 students
www.wmich.edu/news
http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news/2008/08/024.html
August 6th:
Congressman Fred Upton Visits MGRRE
Congressman Fred Upton visited MGRRE today for a press conference to unveil bipartisan legislation to advance clean coal technologies and reduce harmful greenhouse gases. Click here for a copy of the Press Release (PDF) and follow the link below to see the news coverage.
View the video on the Fox 17 website here.
July 2008
In July, Core Kids staff members went to Girl Scout Camp!
The Girl Scouts of the Glowing Embers Council’s summer camp invited Core Kids to visit at Arcadia Elementary School where 5 and 6 year olds learned that beach sands from around the world are quite different and 7 to 12 year olds learned about Michigan Geology and Natural Resources.
2007/2008 School Year
During the 2007/2008 school year we visited with students from Mattawan Middle School, Kalamazoo Christian Middle School, Plainwell Middle School and Plainwell Starr Elementary School, Hastings Middle School, Otsego High School and Grosse Pointe North High School.
Core Kids staff also made presentations at the Michigan Earth Science Teachers’ Association meeting in Fall 2007, The National Science Teachers’ Association meeting in Detroit and at the Michigan Science Teachers’ Association Meeting in the Spring of 2008. We look forward to meeting more of you at this year’s conferences.