Ripple Effects: STEM and Sustainability Educator Workshop

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Every action in Earth’s water systems creates ripple effects—and so can every lesson in your classroom. Join us at Tulsa’s Chandler Park on Saturday, November 15th for Ripple Effects: STEM and Sustainability, an engaging professional development workshop that blends Project WET’s Water in Earth Systems Guide with EcoRise’s sustainability design projects. This workshop is designed for educators who want to integrate three-dimensional learning into their teaching. Participants will engage with disciplinary core ideas about water in Earth systems, apply science and engineering practices such as data analysis, modeling, and design, and use crosscutting concepts like systems thinking and cause-and-effect to help students make connections. Together, Project WET and EcoRise provide a toolkit for moving beyond content knowledge into authentic, project-based STEM learning that empowers students to address sustainability challenges in their own communities.

Workshop Details

• Date/Time: Saturday, November 15th | Grades K-5 in Morning, Grades 6-12 in Afternoon
• Location: Samuel Washington Woodhouse Nature Center, Chandler Park (Tulsa, OK)
• Cost: $10 (includes Project WET guide, EcoRise access, workshop supplies)
• If this cost is a significant barrier to your participation, please reach out to Jack Hilgert, jack.hilgert@conservation.ok.gov, as scholarships are available!

Why Attend? This workshop is designed to help educators:

1. Integrate three-dimensional STEM learning into their curriculum using water as a unifying theme.
2. Connect classroom instruction to real-world sustainability challenges through project-based learning.
3. Access high-quality curriculum resources that support inquiry, collaboration, and problem-solving.
4. Empower students to see themselves as scientists, engineers, and change-makers with the ability to shape sustainable futures.

What to Expect

• Project WET: Water in Earth Systems
  Dive into lessons that explore the water cycle, groundwater, weather interactions, and human impacts on water resources. Activities model inquiry, systems thinking, and scientific practices aligned with NGSS and Oklahoma Academic Standards.
• EcoRise Sustainability Projects
  Learn how to extend water lessons into student-driven projects where learners investigate local sustainability challenges, design solutions, and apply STEM skills to real-world issues.
• Curriculum