Video: Richards teacher SCUBA dives in Key Largo

The past four summers, Richards High School science teacher Geri Kizior has traversed the Caribbean Sea from above and below.

Someday, she hopes to gather enough material from SCUBA diving and other experiences to write curriculum for a new course on marine life.

For now, she intends to keep learning and returning to Richards with new ideas for her classes.

“Though all these experiences I’ve learned to work with people from all different backgrounds, with many different levels of teaching experience. Not only have I been able to network, but I’ve also been able to gain insight and new ways to approach content along with gathering materials for my goal of creating a Marine Science Elective Course one day,” she said.

Last summer she completed the Marine Lab EcoDiver Teacher Workshop in Key Largo. She’s also completed the NOAA Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in Galveston last year; Earth Expeditions, Belize through Miami University (Ohio) in 2013; and, via the Shedd Aquarium, the Biology in the Bahamas Teacher Field Experience in 2012.

“While majority of these experiences have been marine science, I’ve still been able to use many of the intro lessons about inquiry at the beginning of the school year. Then I just tweak the activities along the way to match content,” said Kizior.

Kizior also hopes to inspire students to consider careers in marine sciences.

“Yes, we live in Illinois, so some of these kids have never seen the ocean. I probably would not be a teacher today if I would have had the opportunity to take a class on Marine Biology prior to my senior year of college,” she said.

Students sometimes just need a bit of exposure to a field to start asking the right questions.

“I feel it’s important for students to get some experience, or in my case, maybe just pique their interest in the field so that they are truly prepared in making their decisions about their future careers. If I can at least encourage a student to explore an area of science that they don’t know about, I might have opened their mind to endless opportunities in their future,” Kizior said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeDDhj2glE