Congratulations to St. Francis Seraph School Music Teacher, Mrs. Toon

OXFORD, Ohio - St. Francis Seraph School educator Beverly F. Toon has been selected as a 2005 Earth Expeditions participant and this summer will travel to the African country of Namibia to study conservation of the cheetah and other African wildlife. The Earth Expeditions program, established by Miami University's Project Dragonfly and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, recognizes outstanding educators throughout the country and provides them with research experiences at conservation hotspots around the world.        

In August, Toon will travel to Namibia with a group of U.S. educators and Miami and Zoo instructors to conduct field research projects at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) investigating radio tracking, cheetah physiology, ecosystem management, and the design of school and community programs in Namibia. While in-country, Toon will also join Namibian educators, conservationists, and local citizens to begin long-term collaborative projects linking conservation work in both countries. When Toon and the Namibian conservationists return to their home institutions, their work will continue on Dragonfly's web platform, created specifically for this kind of collaboration.        

The Earth Expeditions program provides graduate credit to classroom teachers and educators from zoos, museums and other informal educational settings through direct study experience at research sites in Africa, Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean. The project's mission is to build an alliance of educators with firsthand knowledge of inquiry-driven, community-based learning for the benefit of ecological communities, student achievement, and global understanding.       

"We need to go beyond textbooks and engage educators and students in the real world," said Earth Expeditions Co-Director Dr. Chris Myers, director of Project Dragonfly and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University, Oxford. "We envision every educator as an ambassador who creates as well as transmits knowledge, who promotes needed dialogue at all levels of society, and who inspires their students to do the same."        

"Reading about the rain forest is one thing," said Dave Jenike, Co-Director of Earth Expeditions and Director of Education at the Cincinnati Zoo. "But it can be transformational for students to hear about the rain forest from their own teacher who's experienced it firsthand. Through Earth Expeditions, teachers become the conduit for their students to engage more deeply in their studies, for their schools to become centers of investigation, and for all to advance a powerful conservation ethic to help preserve our natural world."               

All Earth Expeditions participants earn tuition-free graduate credit from Miami University. The Earth Expeditions program is supported by funding from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.