TBI Presents at the 16th Annual Montana Environmental Education Association Conference

Over twenty Montana educators recently got their hands dirty learning how to teach science through the art of batiking at the 16th Annual MEEA conference in March, sponsored in part by the Thermal Biology Institute.  TBI’s Outreach Coordinator Susan Kelly and Hot Science Coordinator Monica Brelsford gave a two hour, hands-on presentation on batiking. Batiking, the ancient art of dying silk fabric using a resist technique, is a wonderful tool to teach children of all ages about science. Kelly and Brelsford explained that, while TBI uses batik to help children visualize and understand the microbes that inhabit Yellowstone thermal features, the technique can also be modified to teach a wide variety of scientific topics such as geology, biology, or ecology.

MSU biochemist and TBI faculty member Brian Bothner participated in the conference too, teaching a popular hands-on demonstration about viruses.  Between the two workshops 50 formal and non-formal educators learned more about Yellowstone—and hopefully new techniques to get kids excited about science. 

Above:
TBI’s Brianna Wright puts her artistic skills
to the test during the MEEA workshop.

Below:
MSU biochemist and TBI faculty Brian Bothner teaches
Yellowstone formal education staff (left to right)
Danielle Nicolas, Trudy Patton, and Sally Plumb all about viruses.  

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 8/5/07