Tennessee teachers inspect and categorize fossils at the Darwin Day Teacher Workshop
Fossils and paleontology were the special topics this year for an exciting teacher workshop hosted at NIMBioS, the final event for Darwin Day Tennessee festivities. Lesson plans for K-12 on local fossils, developed by paleontologist Alycia Stigall of Ohio State University, were featured at the event. Thirteen Tennessee teachers attended, including a group that road tripped from three hours away. The workshop was planned and organized by UT paleontology graduate students Jen Bauer and Sarah Sheffield, and many volunteers helped on the day by demonstrating lesson plans and interacting with participants. Teachers took home many goodies: lesson plans, HHMI and NCSE materials on teaching evolutionary topics, and free fossil kits of donated local fossils that were assembled by the organizers.