Valles Caldera Summer Environmental Camp inspires science teachers

Sponsored by Lab, Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation

Lab intern Jalisa Singleton (left) laughs with Wendy Simpson. Photos by Sandra Valdez of IRM-RRMSO.

July 7, 2010—It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place for the nation’s science teachers to become better instructors than in that vast outdoor classroom known as the “Valles Caldera.”

In the verdant bowl formed by a volcano that collapsed about 1.25 million years ago, 22 science instructors from around the country participated in the first-ever “Valles Caldera Summer Environmental Camp for Teachers.” Organized by the Laboratory, the Valles Caldera Trust, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, the camp featured a number of exciting workshops led by scientists from the Laboratory, the Trust, New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), and the New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF).

An incredible opportunity

Wendy Simpson, a teacher from Allentown, Pennsylvania who is working with Bill Carey’s Earth Systems Observations group over the summer, called the program “awesome.” “Just to get the opportunity to do exciting research that lets me grow intellectually to become a better chemistry teacher has been amazing,” she said.

Similar environmental events have been held in past years for Northern New Mexico middle- and high-school students, said event coordinator Barbara Tenorio-Grimes of the Government Affairs Office. By reaching teachers, this event aims to “close the circle,” she said, adding, “We wanted the teachers to be familiar with the kind of science the kids had been learning about.”

Workshop topics included:

• the geology of the Jemez area (taught by Ardyth Simmons of Environmental Remediation)
• watershed hydrology and water quality (led by Armand Groffman and Tim Goering of Environmental Investigations)
• the study of plants, terrestrial insects, and aquatic macroinvertebrates (taught by Ralph Ford-Schmid and David Englert of NMED).

Participants watched herds of elk and cattle roam the vast grasslands of the caldera with their calves as they listened to Valles Caldera National Preserve Chief Scientist Robert Parmenter recount the history of the area. They picnicked under the pines as Tom Lucero of Jemez Pueblo shared the cultural significance of the Jemez mountains—lands that for centuries have been sacred to Native Americans.

Diversity is "God's gift"

Pulling it all together was the concept of diversity—diversity of scientific processes, diversity of plant and animal life, and diversity of people hailing from diverse cultures who, since time immemorial, have settled, hunted and gathered, logged, explored, studied, and conserved this magnificent landscape. As Don Ami of the Los Alamos Site Office, who gave the welcome address, noted, “What you’ll find here is diversity, which I define as God’s gift to humankind.”

In the afternoon, participants left for the Valles Caldera Science Education Center in Jemez Springs, where Glen Wurden of Plasma Physics presented the workshop “Astronomy in Your Backyard and on Your Computer.” The next day, Sarah Wolters of NMCF informed participants about the RACER (Risk Analysis, Communication, Evaluation, and Reduction) Project, which, according to Wolters, was created to provide a process that informs the Laboratory, regulators, and community members about the chemicals and radioactive materials present in the environment in and around Los Alamos.

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VCNP Chief Scientist Bob Parmenter talks about terrestrial insects.

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Therese Pinpoquin, a teacher at Jemez Day School, examines a bee.