March 6, 2007

The Department of Environmental Quality will be hosting five training workshops on its environmental education curriculum program entitled the Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum Support (MEECS). The workshops will be held on Thursday, March 15, from 2:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, prior to the Michigan Science Teachers Association (MSTA) annual conference.

The workshops will be held simultaneously on each of the MEECS units which consist of Ecosystems & Biodiversity, Land Use, Water Quality, Energy Resources, and Air Quality. Teachers and nonformal educators are encouraged to register for the low-cost MEECS curriculum workshop trainings. Classroom instruction as well as curriculum materials will be provided for each trainee.

To register online, go to www.michigan.gov/deqworkshops and click on "Upcoming DEQ Workshops." The registration cost to attend a unit workshop is $25. For information, contact Thomas Occhipinti, Environmental Education Coordinator, at 517-373-2379, or email at occhipit@michigan.gov.

The MSTA conference, Science Out of the Box, takes place March 15-17, 2007, following the MEECS pre-conference trainings. Registration information for this conference is available on the MSTA Web site at http://www.msta-mich.org/conference2007/.

Editor's note: DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

"Protecting Michigan's Environment, Ensuring Michigan's Future"

Revised March 6, 2007 by Pat Watson