Educational Outreach at LCF

"Lemur Week" March 22-26, 2010

Alex Porpora, LCF's distance education instructor, observing the red ruffed lemurs in the forest at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve.

Swing into Spring with Lemur Lessons!
March 22-26, 2010

Join us for an exiting week of distance learning classes from the Myakka City Lemur Reserve (MCLR) at the Lemur Conservation Foundation in Myakka City, FL! Broadcasting live from MCLR students will have the opportunity to see lemurs and speak with researchers and animal husbandry staff.

These lessons provide a unique setting in which students can learn about biodiversity, adaptations, habitats, careers in science and more. Each lesson is 30 minutes to an hour-long. Lessons can be adapted to most grade-levels and core curriculum standards. Lesson plans are also available. There is no cost to participate!

Sample module: "Adaptations" (Powerpoint)
Sample activity: "Lemur Puppets" templates and instructions (pdfs)

To book your class now, contact:

Alex Porpora Education Coordinator
educate@lemurreserve.org
407-267-2310 cell

Programs at LCF

The Lemur Conservation Foundation is committed to training future generations about the threats to endangered species and the importance of conservation. As part of this commitment to education LCF offers programs such as the annual Teachers' Institute for Conservation Biology for high school teachers and year-round distance education courses designed for K-12 students called Lemur Tales: Lessons from the Forest.

Lemur Tales K-12 Program

The Lemur Tales: Lessons from the Forest courses are a series of six 30-45 minute standalone sessions each focused on a different topic. Conducted with web conferencing software, the sessions are customized to the appropriate grade level. The LCF instructor and the class as a group meet online using webcams and sophisticated video conferencing technology that allows the instructor to talk directly with the students and present instructional materials such as videos, photographs, slide shows, documents, as well as an online "white board" to illustrate or describe their topic.

LCF's courses are part of the Montclair State University PRISM Program's "Rainforest Connection", which offers teachers across the nation an opportunity to tap into exceptional educational resources and experts in the field who can really bring a topic to life in the classroom. To provide this service, Montclair State has teamed with Verizon's Access New Jersey initiative which supports educational projects in schools and libraries using Marratech web conferencing software.

Course Description:

Lemurs are a diverse group of primate species found in Madagascar. They live in many different ecological niches and have a variety of different adaptations. Learn about their endangered conservation status, their wonderful habitats, their behaviors and biology and the special people that study them.
Click here for descriptions of the six modules.

Cost and Scheduling:

$200 per session. Sessions scheduled by appointment.

Contact Information

To find out more about LCF's K-12 program or to schedule a class, please contact:

Alex Porpora
educate@lemurreserve.org
407-267-2310

or
Kate Lippincott
librarian@lemurreserve.org
941-322-8494

To learn more about the technological requirements see:

Access New Jersey
http://www.accessnewjersey.net/

For information on the PRISM program and the "Rainforest Connection" at Montclair State University:

http://prism.montclair.edu/prism/index.html

Our Instructor:

Alex Porpora is a graduate of the University of Miami with a degree in Anthropology/Biology. Her undergraduate research focused on obesity in captive orangutans and she has presented this research at numerous professional conferences. She first came to LCF for a field methods course and then returned as an animal husbandry intern. A former educator at Sea World, Alex conducted tours and taught summer camp. She was also an intern at the Center for Great Apes and volunteer at the DuMond Conservancy. These experiences have contributed greatly to her enthusiasm for both science education and primates. Alex is currently pursuing her MS in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah,

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