March 7, 2005

Contact: Susan Duffy
Cal Poly Liberal Studies
(805) 756-2935

Cal Poly Sets April Workshop on Ag Literacy & Art for Teachers

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly’s Central Coast Center for Arts Education will offer its fourth professional development workshop sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation and the California Food Fiber Futures Project.

The Paper Chase workshop, designed for teachers in grades 4-12, will offer intensive activities from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 30, in Cal Poly’s Education Building, Room 213.

This workshop specifically addresses the Forestry and Natural Resources Pathway of the California Agriculture content standards for teachers. The standards help students understand the relationships between the state’s natural resources and the environment, according to Liberal Studies Department Chair and CCCAE Director Susan Duffy.

Participants will learn to work with pulp and paper from various plants and products, create beautiful handmade paper and paper-sculptural elements, and find new ways to address state agriculture, science and art standards

Guest speakers will include Robert Cichowski, Cal Poly professor and director of the university’s Center for Excellence in Science and Math Education, who will lead hands-on activities involving soil science and cellulose chemistry. Also speaking will be Robert Flores, chair of the Agricultural Education Department, discussing his efforts to create a program at Earth University in Costa Rica to create new ways of using banana pulp.

“The hands-on workshop is designed from an interdisciplinary perspective and will open new paths for teaching agriculture and getting students to view agriculture in new ways,” Duffy, said. “The activities are designed for teachers who see themselves as ‘art novices’ but would like to enhance their classroom activities while generating interest in both agriculture and art.”

Teachers from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties can choose to receive either a $150 stipend or a curriculum-development consultation plus two in-class lessons by a teaching artist. Participants will also receive classroom sets of materials, including CDs of images to use in the classroom. Complete standards-based lesson plans for both art and agriculture will be provided so that teachers can apply what they learn immediately in their classrooms.

The deadline to register is Wednesday, April 20. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

The Paper Chase workshop is part of the Agricultural Literacy and the Arts project, a collaborative effort of Cal Poly’s Liberal Studies and Agricultural Education departments.
For more information and to receive a registration form, call (805) 756-2935.

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