By Janice Milanovich | September 2025
What happened?
On August 8th and 9th, 2025, 20 educators from Illinois and Indiana gathered at Indiana Dunes National Park for a two-day professional learning workshop focused on water’s role in Earth’s systems. Hosted in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife, National Great Rivers, the Dunes Learning Center, and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, the workshop offered an immersive, hands-on experience to explore aquatic and earth sciences.
Participants were introduced to the newly released Project WET: Water in Earth Systems guidebook, which includes 23 updated activities aligned with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. A highlight of the guidebook is a new lesson focused on the Great Lakes. In the activity, students build models of the Great Lakes to understand how much of the Earth’s freshwater they contain, their shapes and elevation, and how they were formed.
The theme – watersheds’ important roles in connecting regional water bodies like the Great Lakes and global systems – was reinforced by additional lessons that used experiments, games, drama, art, and inquiry. These activities improved educators’ content knowledge and provided new instructional strategies to bring back to their learning settings.
The workshop’s collaborative spirit was felt throughout the two days, and the culminating peer teaching activities showcased this teamwork. Participants were assigned a Project WET lesson and were provided with materials and time to prepare to teach the lesson to the group. The educators’ passion was evident as they worked together to teach fellow participants.
Other workshop activities included:
- An overview of Great Lakes teaching resources and place-based education opportunities.
- The geological history of the region was presented by Erin Argyilan, the education coordinator for the National Park Service’s Great Lakes Research and Education Center.
- A visit to Indiana Dunes State Park to visit the nature center and have s’mores with Smokey Bear.
- A dune hike to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan.
Erin Crofton, the director of program development and support at the Dunes Learning Center, reflected upon the experience. “The best part of the workshop for me was the energy. Everyone was so willing and ready to learn and be engaged. I felt so much gratitude being in a group of such wonderful educators who are literally changing the world through teaching science and sharing their passion, kindness, and knowledge with others.”
Workshop Accomplishments
By the end of the workshop, participants earned 13 professional development hours and engaged in 14 water-related lessons. Beyond these quantifiable measures, what stood out to the Indiana Project WET coordinator, Kathy Madren, from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife, was the way the workshop components fit together to highlight the importance of local freshwater resources. “From learning about the geologic history to participating in activities that educate about the Great Lakes to hiking the dunes to get to Lake Michigan’s shoreline, the workshop was a wonderful collaboration of agencies, educational resources, and opportunities to network while experiencing Lake Michigan’s watershed.”
This program was administered by the Dunes Learning Center, Indiana Department of Natural Resources/Division of Fish & Wildlife, National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and was funded in part by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Indiana Department of Natural Resources/Division of Fish & Wildlife, Dunes Learning Center, and Swarovski Foundation Waterschool.
About Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, education, and outreach.