Workshops - Seminars - Volunteer Opportunities »
Training Workshops
Great Lakes Worm Watch training workshops for formal and non-formal educators are hosted periodically during the year and at different locations across the region. Check back for updates as new workshops are scheduled.
Contact our project coordinator, Ryan Hueffmeier, if you would like to schedule a workshop in your area!
Typical workshops can be 3 hours to full day events and may include:
- Introduction to the research, what it shows and how it led to Great Lakes Worm Watch.
- Earthworm anatomy and identification of ecological groups and species.
- Sample methods and strategies for designing a study of your own.
- Getting into the field, hands on introduction to earthworm surveying/sampling options basic soil characteristics; describing habitat and vegetation in a site.
- Learning activities you can use including instructions for conducting habitat, soil & earthworm surveys, Forest ecosystem game “Invasion of the exotic earthworm!” and making earthworm observatories
Volunteer Opportunities
Great Lakes Worm Watch will be providing volunteer opportunites this year for individuals and groups to get out in the field working side by side with researchers to conduct field sampling of earthworms, soils and plants. Join us for a day (or more) of earthworm sampling, learn about soil and forest ecosystems and get a first hand experience of what science is all about! Check the general schedule below for dates and locations, then if you want to get involved, contact Ryan Hueffmeier or Dr. Cindy Hale.
3rd Annual “Big Worming Week” with Great Lakes Worm Watch
September 25th- October 3rd, 2011
Join the force!
Throughout this year we will be offering a range of workshops geared towards preparing folks to participate in our "Big Worming Week". While we encourage sampling of earthworms at any time, by conducting your surveys during our "Big Worming Week", it minimized the seasonal variability of your data making it more comparable from year to year.
Various evening to full-day workshops will explore how exotic earthworms impacts forests of the Great Lakes region through a range of hands-on activities including a cool game showing how exotic earthworms affect forests and opportunties to conduct earthworm surveys. Learn about the research related to exotic earthworm invasions, how to identify earthworms using our new, fabulously illustrated book “Earthworms of the Great Lakes” and how to use earthworm observatories to create experiments, nature center displays or for science fair projects! Find out what you can do to prevent further spread of earthworms. Learn how to conduct earthworm surveys and contribute your work to this growing citizen science effort.