How I Spend My Summer Vacations

by Bill Straits

Summer vacation is a time when you can do whatever it is you like most. I know that for a lot of folks summer vacation means lounging on the beach, or traveling to exotic destinations, or taking the kids to Disneyland. But for me summer vacation means... more science education!

Each summer my good friend Russell Wilke and I teach two Chautauqua Short Courses. The Chautauqua program, funded by the National Science Foundation, is designed to provide faculty - primarily post-secondary science faculty - with opportunities to develop their expertise as scientists and/or science teachers. The courses we lead are entitled, Birding in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Practical Considerations for Developing Science Process Skills in the Natural Sciences: Providing a Foundation for Inquiry. Both courses take place in Texas, the birding course occurs along the northern bank of the Rio Grande and the inquiry course meets on The University of Texas campus in Austin, TX. (I lived in Texas for seven years and the courses allow me to visit my "ol' stompin' grounds.")

The first course, Birding in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, is a field course which visits several different habitats as we spend four days birding along the Texas-Mexico border. Sites we visit include the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Bentson-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, the World Birding Center, and South Padre Island. And we've seen some cool birds. This past summer's list included, Plain Chachalaca, Great Kisskadee, Green Jays (pictured), Altamira Oriole, Ringed Kingfishers, Alpomado Falcon, Roseate Spoonbill, Groove-bill Ani, Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, Rose-throated Becard, Clay-colored Robin, and much, much more. If you're into birds then you know that's good stuff! (If you're not into birds, well then you just don't know what you're missing.)

Green Jay - photo by Edie Robbins

The second course, Practical Considerations for Developing Science Process Skills in the Natural Sciences: Providing a Foundation for Inquiry, is a three-day workshop that assists college science teachers to infuse active, inquiry-based learning strategies into their lectures. Specifically, we help instructors (particularly those of introductory courses) identify, prioritize, and develop science process skills appropriate to their science discipline and learn a variety of active-learning techniques modified to reflect inquiry-based instruction to develop these skills in the lecture setting. We discuss a variety of topics including, the fundamentals of instructional design; appropriate outcomes of inquiry learning, including goals and objectives for developing science process skills; simple inquiry activities appropriate for use in traditional lecture settings; and meaningful assessments for introductory science courses. This course generates a great deal of enthusiasm; science professors just can't wait for fall semester to start and to try some of their new, active learning strategies.

But most importantly, both courses allow me to hang out with my buddy Russell and binge on Tex-Mex - I'm a sucker for a good bean and cheese burrito.

(More information about these courses and the Chautauqua program in general is available at http://www.chautauqua.pitt.edu.)

Great Kisskadee -
photo by David Liebmann

Rose-throated Becard -
photo by David Liebmann

Altimira Oriole -
photo by Edie Robbins