MDC Offers Online Series For Teachers
HANNIBAL —Connections to the natural world have taken on new meaning over the past year and time in nature has provided a haven for living life outside our homes. Even the origins of the pandemic reveal important lessons about how we think about our ecological communities.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will offer a series of online presentations based on the One Health approach to understanding these connections. This interdisciplinary lens offers opportunities to evaluate how plants, animals, and human health intertwine. Studying the topics at the intersection of these themes provides teachers timely and relevant, sciencebased content to incorporate into their classroom lessons.
The One Health speaker series will consist of five 60-minute virtual sessions, each focused on a unique topic. Seminars will take place 3:45–4:45 p.m. on Tuesdays this spring
• March 2: Preventing the next pandemic: One Health solutions with MDC State Wildlife Veterinarian Sherri Russell;
• March 23: Trees Work: A One Health campaign rooted in Missouri with MDC Natural Resources Communications Specialist Holly Dentner
• April 13: Physiological responses to contaminants in a One Health context with MDC Ecotoxicology and Conservation Physiology Program Coordinator Katrina Knott;
• May 4: Toxic algae: Working together to keep nature and people healthy with MDC Water Pollution Biologist Becca O’Hearn.
• One Health connections between urban agriculture, pollinators, and human health with MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank will be held at a later date.
MDC invites educators to register for any or all of these FREE webinars via MDC’s online Teacher Portal at nature.mdc.mo.gov/ discover-nature/teacherportal/teacher-workshops. Teachers will need to create an account in the Teacher Portal and then register for each session listed under Teacher Workshops.
For more information about this unique opportunity, contact MDC Conservation Educator Kathi Moore at Kathi.Moore@mdc. mo.gov or (573) 248-2530, ext. 6378.