Ms Cowburn at Masaya Volcano

This post is long overdue, but I wanted it to be just right.  I knew for a while that I wanted to go on an Earthwatch expedition.  Then Recently, I was e-mailed by the Education Foundation concerning available grant money.  I filled out my first grant application with the assistance and experience of Dr. Coleman, who had been wanting this for me since she gave me my first Earthwatch catalog.  The purpose of this post is to thank the Education Foundation of Collier County and the donor of the funds publicly.  I will not post the donors name at this time since I am waiting for permission.   

Those of you who have worked with the Education Foundation or other organizations that fund educational persuits know exactly what I am feeling.  Its incredible to me that others are so giving.  a Thank You card somehow doesn’t seem enough to express the gratitude.   The best I can do is pass on everything I do and learn through this experience to every person I can reach. 

It would be less than truthful if I do not also admit that this is a wonderful personal opportunity for me.  It is something I would not have otherwise been able to do.  I will grow professionally and personally from this research project. 

Thank you Education Foundation, the donor of the funds, everyone at Lorenzo Walker Technical High School who is supporting me, and all of my online followers. 

The Big Deal is the what we will learn and what I’ll bring back to the classroom during and after the trip. I will be gathering information using GPS, gas monitoring, and geoelectrical and gravity instruments. I have some BIG Ideas about how these things will tie into some real life lessons on city and economic planning, technology use, and wildlife/ Public land use careers. I will even learn how to take soil and water samples. A dozen careers just flashed through my mind on that one. Biologist, chemist, utilities operations….. If you still don’t see anything for your class, here are some key words from the expedition description:

Recent lava flows, red hot magma, flora and fauna, turtles, crocodiles, parrots, spectacular scenery. I am way too excited about this, please forgive me veteran bloggers….

They finally did it. My Principal, Ms. Johnson and our Media Specialist, Dr. Coleman have gotten me to blog!!! I resisted having my own blog for so long, as they pulled me through Twitter, skype, digital cameras/ video equipment, United Streaming, and countless other technology tools. But the time has come. I will be going on an adventure in March, 2008 and this Blog is part of a much bigger plan to bring the experience into classrooms. I am not certain as I write this what kinds of tools we will use, but my idea is to have anyone who wants to be part of my trip, to be able to participate. The adventure is to Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua with Earthwatch Institute. (Earthwatch.org) I intend to build (over the next few weeks) a network of anyone who wants to join me – teachers, students, curious learners… I will also be announcing on this blog, which other Internet tools I plan on using, so that you can hopefully see me and converse while I am at the site of the volcano.