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Friday, November 1, 2024

Western Connecticut State University: WCSU graduate students translate learning into teaching opportunities

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Western Connecticut State University issued the following announcement on April 8.

DANBURY, Connecticut —Two graduate students in the M.S. in Integrative Biological Diversity program at Western Connecticut State University, JoAnn D’Addio and Tim Martin, are utilizing their studies to cultivate a new generation of environmental stewards.

D’Addio is an instructor of biology and special education at Carmel High School in Carmel, New York, where she has worked for 14 years. Martin currently teaches at Stamford High School in Connecticut. He has worked there for four years teaching science.

Martin received his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University  of North Dakota and his master’s in Education from the University of  Bridgeport before earning a doctorate for Educational Leadership from  Southern Connecticut State University. He is now in his last semester at  WCSU in pursuit of his master’s degree in Biology. This semester,  Martin is working on an independent study project centered around  beekeeping.

Tim Martin tending bee hives

Tim Martin tending bee hives at Stamford High School

His interest in the discipline stems from a hobby of maintaining his  own personal beehive with his son. More recently, he has translated this  hobby into the concept for a popular new Beekeeping Club at Stamford High School. The club meets each week after school for  about two hours. During the first half of the meeting, Martin discusses  what bees are likely doing at that time of year, then the students don  their beekeeping suits and observe the hive bees’ behavior to see if it  matches their predictions.

“The kids do all the work, as I guide them through the process,” said  Martin, “There’s a job for each person, from lighting the smoker, to  inspecting the hive, to taking notes. All jobs change from week to  week.”

The club was first established after students’ return to in-person  learning in 2020 to help them “feel like they’re part of the school  community again.” Since Martin is the club’s only supervisor, membership  is limited to 15 students. There is an extensive waiting list for the  club, and Martin said, “We can open the club up to more students as  students graduate in the spring.”

To supplement his work with Stamford High School students, Martin  applied for several grant opportunities he learned about from WCSU‘s  M.S. in Integrative Biological Diversity Coordinator Dr. Theodora Pinou.  As a result, Martin received a $1,000 grant from the National Parks  Foundation.

“I plan to take my environmental science students to Weir Farm National Historic Site on a series of three trips where they will sit in the woods alone for  hours and journal about their experience,” Martin said. “I’m trying to  get them to understand what Thoreau did while writing Walden and then  link how his writings influenced Muir and led to the modern  environmental movement.”

JoAnn D'Addio in the Pollinator Garden at Tarrywile Park

JoAnn D’Addio in the Pollinator Garden at Tarrywile Park

Fellow graduate student D’Addio aspires to create a similar club at  her high school. In the summer of 2021, she became the steward of a  plant-pollinator garden at Tarrywile Park in Danbury for her graduate program. This garden is part of a larger movement in the northeast called the Pollinator Pathway, which is an initiative D’Addio would like to implement in Carmel.

D’Addio has been a teacher for 20 years, spending 14 in her current  post in Carmel. She is originally from Newburgh, New York, where she  attended college. At Mount Saint Mary’s College, she earned her  undergraduate degree in Media Studies, while also studying Elementary  and Special Education. She then went on to study Literacy for Special  Education in graduate school.

D’Addio was informed of the garden by another WCSU graduate student  who was the Tarrywile steward in 2020. She describes the Pollinator  Pathway as an initiative to combat invasive foreign species of plants  that damage the ecosystem and ultimately the environment. “It includes  planters planting gardens devoted to native plants,” she said, “which  serve as way-stations for native insects and birds to visit and nourish  themselves before they move on to the next patch.”

In her day-to-day teaching, D’Addio said that her stewardship  experience and classroom studies in the WCSU master’s program have had a  profound effect. “The information that I learn in my courses at  WestConn has really bolstered my ability to teach my students and be  able to provide additional information. I can speak to and have a deeper  understanding of topics that are barely covered in the textbook,” said  D’Addio. She hopes to see more high school special education teachers  access the program provided by WCSU.

WCSU Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Rayda Krell, who has a  background in plant-insect interactions, mentored Martin and D’Addio.  “Tim and JoAnn came into our master’s program as highly accomplished  professionals, but it was so fun to work with them and see how our  program gave them opportunities to explore their passions for  environmental work. Our Integrative Biological Diversity program  provides the structure, ecological expertise and community connections  to allow students to execute a project that is meaningful for them. Tim  and JoAnn both made the most of the opportunity and chose projects that  could connect their passions and professions. I love that our program  ends up having exponential impact because they are extending what they  learned back to even more students.”

For more information, visit www.wcsu.edu/biology-msbiodiversity/ or contact the Office of Public Relations at pr@wcsu.edu.

Western Connecticut  State University changes lives by providing all students with a  high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals,  scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To  be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding  teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in  a meaningful way.

Original source can be found here.

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