This curriculum support material is made possible with the generous support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) competitive funding grant. We would like to recognize those within the Education office at NOAA that have provided both executive leadership and front-line on the ground support of our efforts, which include:

• Louisa Koch, Director, Chair NOAA Education Council, NOAA Office of Education

• Marlene Kaplan, Deputy Director of Education, NOAA Office of Education

• Andrew Larkin, Senior Program Analyst, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office

• Elise Trelegan, Chesapeake B-WET Program Coordinator, NOAA Environmental Science Training Center

• Bart Merrick, Education Coordinator, NOAA Environmental Science Training Center

• Krysta Hougen, Environmental Communication Specialist, NOAA Environmental Science Training Center

Similarly, this effort would not have been possible without the support of the district STEM administrators that provide their unwavering support of the district teachers and students they are charged to serve. They provide critical administrative, logistical, and affective support from the original development of the proposal through all facets of this effort and play a leadership role from the following participating school districts participating in this effort:

• Dr. Tom Perelli, Director of Teaching, Learning and Accountability, Charles City County Public Schools

• Dr. Byron Bishop, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, New Ken County Public Schools

• Dr. Joe Douglas, Science and Social Studies Curriculum Specialists, Colonial Heights Public Schools

• Dr. Rodney Culverhouse, Instructional Science Supervisor, Newport News Public Schools

Next, and most importantly, we want to recognize the tireless work of the teachers that provide the high impact environmental, life science, mathematics, technology, engineering and literacy experiences for their students on a daily basis. They played a critical role in the development of these materials. Their expertise as secondary classroom educators provided critical feedback through expert pedagogical reviews, joint focus groups and in the piloting and revision of these materials before released for broader consumption. For the second year of the grant these teachers are sincerely appreciated:

Teachers

• Laura Nelson-Rogers, BT Washington Middle School, Newport News Public Schools

• Daniel Ellis, BT Washington Middle School, Newport News Public Schools

• Laura Harrison, BT Washington Middle School, Newport News Public Schools

• Amy Ziemba, BT Washington Middle School, Newport News Public Schools

• Margaret Wills, Charles City Elementary School, Charles City County Public Schools

• Lori Eckert, New Kent Middle School, New Kent County Public Schools

• Elizabeth Day, New Kent Middle School, New Kent County Public Schools

• Sara Fleenor, New Kent Middle School, New Kent County Public Schools

• Tamika Hathaway, New Kent Middle School, New Kent County Public Schools

• Deborah Robinson, Colonial Heights Middle School, Colonial Heights Public Schools

• Carol Bennett, Colonial Heights Middle School, Colonial Heights Public Schools

• Jennifer Rainey, Colonial Heights Middle School, Colonial Heights Public Schools

We also greatly appreciate our partners, both within and outside of the university, who have shared their time, expertise and subject matter expertise in science education and environmental life science. They play a critical role ensuring the STEM content is drawn and includes the latest in research, content accuracy, breadth, depth and currency as appropriate for our middle level student audience in support of our Virginia Standards of Learning. They also include their in-kind time and financial support for this effort and are identified for this grant below

Virginia Commonwealth University Grant Team
 

• Al Byers, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, STEM Education, Center for Innovation in STEM Education, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University. Principal Investigator, NOAA B-WET Grant: BEST in Bay Watersheds.

• Elizabeth Edmondson, Ph.D., Science and Mathematics Instructor, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, Co-Principal Investigator, NOAA B-WET Grant: BEST in Bay Watersheds.

• Sue Kirk, Education Coordinator, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University

• James Vonesh, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Population and Community Ecology, Conservation Biology, Aquatic Ecology. Director, Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University. Co-Principal Investigator, NOAA B-WET Grant: BEST in Bay Watersheds.

• Dr. Greg Garman, Director, VCU Rice Rivers Center, Virginia Commonwealth University. Co-Principal Investigator, NOAA B-WET Grant: BEST in Bay Watersheds.

• Rodney Dyer, Ph.D., Full Professor. Director, Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University.

• Todd Janeski, Director, Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program, VCU Rice Rivers Center, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Ron Lopez, Faculty Research Association, VCU Life Sciences, VCU Rice Rivers Center, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Casey Johnson, Life Science Master’s Graduate Assistant, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Julia Josephs, Life Science Master’s Graduate Assistant, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Nina Brundle, Life Science Master’s Graduate Assistant, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Jeen Joy, Doctoral Graduate Assistant for CISTEME, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Greg Sherman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Instructional Design and Educational Technology, Radford University. Third Party Grant Evaluator for the NOAA grant.

Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery, US Fish and Wildlife Service provided invaluable support for our teacher professional learning concerning mussel restoration, on-site tours of their facilities, and participation in live mussel restoration efforts. The mussel restoration efforts were a joint effort that also included individuals from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the James River Association:

• Dr. Michael Odom, Project Leader, Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery

• Dr. Rachael Mair, Fish Biologist, Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery

• John Reid-Ryan, Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery

• James River Association

• Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Sincere Recognition

We also want to recognize and thank Dr. Roni Linser, who served as a consultant on this particular student role play experience lending his instructional design expertise and principal authorship in generating this role play experience. If you would like to see other immersive role play simulations he has designed or learn more about his own online platform to conduct these role play simulations his work is available at Simplay.net.