By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 2-28-07
GREENSBORO, NC – Seems the nearer their location, the more you wish they would go slip slidin’ away. That is until you really get to know those intriguing reptiles and amphibians.
Dr. Catherine Matthews, a science educator and herpetology enthusiast in the School of Education at UNCG, has received a $180,000, three-year Burroughs Wellcome Fund Student Science Enrichment Program award to run a weeklong herpetology summer camp for 30 high school students from the Orange County Schools.
Matthews’ project, “Slip, Slidin’ Away: Monitoring Local Reptile and Amphibian Populations,” will be based at Camp Chestnut Ridge in Orange County. The experience is designed to foster students’ knowledge of our slithering friends, be they scaly or slimy; to encourage scientific exploration; and, hopefully, to recruit future scientists and naturalists.
“Kids have basically lost touch,” Matthews said. “They don’t have the same contact with nature anymore. What’s kind of funny is, yes, at first they’re afraid of the animals, afraid to put their hands in the water, afraid to get their clothes muddy.”
Participating teachers will also spend three days at the camp learning what their students have learned about reptiles and amphibians. Students will return for six follow-up days during the school year to continue their research and field work. For students, camp dates are June 10-15, for teachers, June 14-16.
Working in teams, students will identify, track and measure animals, and study environmental and conservation issues. They will also design their own research projects.
A wide variety of creatures inhabits the area around the camp. Student researchers will come across box turtles, salamanders, toads, tree frogs, aquatic turtles and 10 kinds of snakes.
Matthews would like to see the program expand so that teachers can bring classes to the site throughout the year.
“We hope kids will generate questions,” she said. “Most kids find reptiles and amphibians fascinating but don’t know a whole lot about them.”
For more information, contact Matthews at (336) 334-3444 or cmatthews@uncg.edu.
