Alaska Resource Education awards pair of teachers
Alaska Resource Education unveiled a new and creative program this spring, award- ing scholarships to two Alaska teachers, to advance their inno- vative approaches to teach the importance of Alaska’s resourc- es to their students. Those two winning teachers were honored at the Fairbanks convention. Jennifer Cooper is a home school mother and teacher, with children in second to sixth grades. But beyond her own family, she leads homeschool and creates unique learning for 30-50 similar aged children in her expanded home school com- munity. Jennifer plans to focus on exploring the jobs and oppor- tunities in Alaska and would like to show the importance of mining in our community and environment. She plans to use the scholarship for educational materials as well as field trips. The second winning teach- er, Heather Bogardus, plans to teach a new unit for the Earth & Space Science, and Natural Resources classes at North Pole High School for approximately 125 students That program has limited funding for providing students with opportunities to interact with industries and profession- als outside of the classroom. Being able to immerse students in the environment around them increases student engage- ment and their ability to retain and transfer knowledge between content areas. Heather plans to spend the scholarship on mineral edu- cational materials and tools, as well as a field trip to the Kinross Fort Knox Mine.
Teacher Heather Bogardus, above, with Beki Toussaint of ARE, Deantha Skibinski and Lisa Cassino. Home school teacher Jennifer Cooper, below, plans to expand ARE programs to home school students.
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The Alaska Miner
Spring 2024
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