Earth Expeditions has had an absolutely incredible year! To thank this year’s participants and to celebrate their work, Project Dragonfly and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens sponsored the sixth annual Earth Expeditions World Community Conference at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, on Saturday, January 9, 2010.

This year’s conference was attended by more than 100 teachers, informal and zoo educators, school administrators, school board members, and young investigators. Following a welcome from the Zoo’s Thane Maynard and Dave Jenike and Dragonfly’s Chris Myers, conference attendees heard from Zoo Expeditions educators about their projects engaging the Zoo’s plants and animals and learned about international conservation projects in Africa, Asia, and the Americas from our Field Expeditions students.  Keynote speakers included Karen Glum (Kenya: Wildlife & People in Integrated Landscapes), “Inquiry, Citizen Science, and the Study of Birds“; George Bens (Costa Rica: Neotropical Ecology), “Comparison of Water Quality from Impermeable Surface Runoff and Water Catchment Sources“; and Natalie Harr (Plants & People), “Increasing Young Learners‘ Interest in Plant Literature.“

Some astounding animal ambassadors also made an appearance, including “Harley,” the blue-and-gold macaw, “Caroline,” the porcupine, and “Sarah,” the Zoo’s 8 year old female cheetah who currently holds the world record for fastest land mammal.

Guests at the conference also had the opportunity to explore projects and view posters created by Zoo Expeditioners that highlighted the Inquiry Projects they created for the course as well as creative displays of great photos, field journal, and even an art installation highlighting the experiences of our Field Expeditioners.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.