Contact: Christine Manninen E-mail: manninen@glc.org

For immediate release August 22, 2000

TEACH Great Lakes:
New gateway for students
and teachers

www.great-lakes.net/teach/

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Students and teachers now have a new source for Great Lakes educational materials, thanks to a product recently released by the Great Lakes Commission. The Education and Curriculum Homesite (TEACH Great Lakes) features mini-lessons on Great Lakes topics. Geared for elementary through high school students, the lessons include links to a glossary to help explain scientific terms and acronyms. Current modules focus on water levels, Areas of Concern, urban sprawl and nonindigenous invasive species.

TEACH resides on the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN), a Great Lakes Commission-managed gateway to Great Lakes information on the Internet that now averages nearly 2 million visits per month. Online since 1993, GLIN has received awards and high praise as the premier resource on the Web for Great Lakes-related news, issues, organizations and activities.

"As a teacher that likes to make connections between different subject areas, I am very impressed that TEACH includes sections on history, geography and science concepts," says Tim McDonnell of Rochester, N.Y. "This way, teachers working as a team can do an interdisciplinary unit. I will definitely use TEACH in my classroom."

In the TEACH Chat section, "Ask and Win" lets kids submit questions about the Great Lakes and enter a drawing to win a prize. (See www.great-lakes.net/teach/forms/ask_form.html) One question is featured each month, and all answers are archived in the "Great Lakes Vault of Knowledge."

Upcoming TEACH modules will focus on shoreline geography, shipping, the Great Lakes fishery, endangered species and human health issues. The site also will feature environmental stewardship projects in Great Lakes communities, image and map galleries, a speakers bureau, and a directory of Great Lakes-related field trip opportunities. The TEACH project is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Great Lakes National Program Office (U.S. EPA-GLNPO).

GLIN is supported by grants from the Ameritech Foundation; the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration; U.S. EPA-GLNPO; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District; and Environment Canada. GLIN design, development and maintenance services are provided by the Great Lakes Commission.

The Great Lakes Commission is a nonpartisan, binational compact agency created by state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and its residents. The Commission consists of state legislators, agency officials and governors’ appointees from its eight member states. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a "Declaration of Partnership." The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission offices are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.