QUEST 2024 summer professional development institutes were attended by teachers from 16 New Jersey public school districts, 1 private school and 1 international teacher. Collectively, they anticipate teaching approximately 3,500 students during the 24-25 academic year.
FISHAIR: Dive into Form and Function with Machine Learning
This year's first QUEST unit was facilitated by Princeton University’s Daniel Rubenstein, Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology Emeritus, Senior Scholar | EEB and a member of the Program in Teacher Preparation Faculty Committee together with Dr. Leanna House, Associate Professor of Statistics at Virginia Tech in collaboration with Scott Collenburg, Senior Fisheries Biologist, New Jersey DEP Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries and Lead Teachers Helen Corveleyn, Mercer County Teacher of the Year and Hopewell Valley Regional School District STEM Educator and Wahab Ashraf, Science Park High School and 2023 DSST Winner.
Participants sort fish to photograph with help from Prof. Rubenstein and NJDEP's Scott & Robert.
QUEST participants, Prof. Rubenstein, Dr. Monaghan, NJDEP's Scott & Robert get ready to collect fish data at Rosedale Park in Pennington, NJ.
Participants photograph fish as part of Imageomics data collection.
August 14, 2024
This year's QUEST Hydrology unit was featured in Town Topics!
Physical Aquifer Activity with Prof. Maxwell (image courtesy of Princeton University).
Beneath the Surface: Exploring the Hydrologic Cycle, Leveraging Technologies, and Envisioning our Collective Water Future
The second QUEST unit was facilitated by Reed Maxwell Princeton University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI), Lisa Gallagher Education and Outreach Specialist, Integrated GroundWater Modeling Center, CEE along with Lead Teacher Heidi Wachtin, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. With support from Mario Soriano Jr., Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI, Elena Leonarduzzi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Research Institute WSL and MeteoSwiss, Amy Defnet, Research Software Engineer, Bill Hasling, Senior Research Software Engineer, and Harry Stone, PhD Student CEE.
Participants explore campus using thermal cameras, making observations about land cover & heat sources (image courtesy of Princeton University).
Campus Heat Exploration Activity with Dr. Gallagher (image courtesy of Princeton University).
Teachers participate in a sand tank activity (image courtesy of Princeton University).
Prof. Laure Resplandy discussing future climate models and projections.
Climate Change: Exploring Solutions to a Complex Problem
Our final QUEST 2024 unit was facilitated by Prof. Laure Resplandy, Princeton University Department of Geosciences and High Meadows Environmental Institute and Danielle Schmitt, Princeton University Department of Geosciences in collaboration with Abigale Wyatt, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher [C] Worthy and Lead Teacher Mary Elizabeth Hughes, Hillsborough Township Public Schools.
August 23, 2024
This year's QUEST Climate Change unit was featured on NJ Spotlight News in a segment called “Teachers on a QUEST to better explain scientific topics”!
Participants and Abigale Wyatt *24 (left) explore the albedo (a measure of reflectivity) of different types of roofing material.
QUEST participants tour Princeton University’s new T.I.G.E.R. (Thermally Integrated Geo-Exchange Resource) energy plant with Ted Borer, Energy Plant Director.