North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) Conference
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Making Natural History Personal Through Wonder Essays
Cristina Veresan, M.Ed. NAAEE 2025 #ForwardTogether #WonderEssays Session Home Base Document Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about implementing the curriculum or want to share any student work! |
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Bay Area Wonders Volume 4!
This year's fifth-grade Bay Area Wonders anthology is published — read the online version here! The illustrated essays, a poignant blend of natural history writing and memoir, are inspired by Aimee Nezhukumatathil's World of Wonders. Learn more about my wonder essay curriculum in this blog post.
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Podcast Guest Appearance
One of my aims as a teacher is to show students how art can be used in service of science communication. I had such a fun time talking to Chessie Craig as a guest on her Mutualisms podcast to discuss this intersection of art and science! Listen on the Apple podcast player or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Illustrated Climate Graphs
For this project, 5th grade students analyzed climate data sets. Then, they incorporated an actual graph line into an original watercolor depicting a specific impact of climate change they researched. The technique was inspired by the data art of science communicator/artist Jill Pelto. Enjoy the beautiful examples below— can you spot the line graphs?
I wrote a blog for NOAA called "Sci-Art Lesson Share: Illustrated Graphs" if you want to read some thoughts on the intersection of science and art and check out some more lovely student work.
MiddleWeb Article on Women in STEM
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Read some of my thoughts on a resource to help educators promote diversity in STEM fields and shift cultural perceptions of what science is and who can do it. The blog was inspired by Erin Twamley and Josh Sneiderman's latest book Everyday Superheroes: Women in STEM Careers. The book features 26 prominent women of color in STEM careers from A-Z (Astronomy to Zoology). Young readers will be amazed by the profiles of the superheroes and they will be challenged to develop their own STEM superpowers through embedded activities. Click here to read the blog, and click here to order a copy of Everyday Superheroes.
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National Geographic Headquarters, Washington D.C.
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Science Scope Article on Plankton
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I have a featured article in Science Scope (January 2019, Oceans Issue) called "The Microscopic World of Plankton." Science Scope is the middle school journal of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). The article describes a series of activities for students to investigate plankton and better understand plankton's role in aquatic ecosystems. Students can engineer a plankton net out of household materials, observe plankton specimens with a microscope, and construct a visual model of an aquatic food web!
Click here to read the article. Click here for a Plankton Primer info sheet. Click here for the Plankton Activity Cards. |