Ashland Times-Gazette

Kings Junior High teacher Susan Seitz has been selected as a 2008 Earth Expeditions participant. This summer she will travel to the North Asian country of Mongolia to study steppe ecology, conservation and participatory radio.

The Earth Expeditions program, established by Miami University’s Project Dragonfly and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, recognizes outstanding educators throughout the country and provides them with research experiences at conservation hot spots Susan Seitzaround the world.

This month, Seitz will travel to Mongolia with a group of U.S. educators and Miami and Zoo instructors to conduct field research projects on the ecology of Asian steppe ecosystems and the conservation of Pallas’ cats and Prezwalski’s horse. While in-country, the group will also join some of Mongolia’s top radio programmers, local youth reporters, and the Mongolian educators for a first-of-its-kind Conservation Radio Workshop focused on sharing international stories and creating conservation messages.

When Seitz and the Mongolian educators return to their home institutions, their work will continue on Dragonfly’s web platform, created specifically for educator collaboration. Educators on some expeditions will be joined by professionals from zoos across the United States as part of Miami and the Cincinnati Zoo’s newest collaboration, Wild Research.

The Earth Expeditions program provides graduate credit to classroom teachers and educators from zoos, museums and other informal settings through direct study experience at research sites in Africa, Asia, Central American and the Caribbean. The projects mission is to build an alliance of educators with firsthand knowledge of inquiry-driven, community-based learning for the benefit of ecological communities, student achievement and global understanding.

All Earth Expedition participants earn tuition-free graduate credit from Miami University. The Earth Expeditions program is supported by funding from Miami University and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.