The Great Lakes Ecosystem Education Exchange (GLEEE) program facilitates professional development opportunities for teachers and educators across New York's Great Lakes Basin every summer. Workshop participants are able to connect with fellow educators, learn directly from academic researchers, and test out new lesson plans and place-based educational activities. These workshops increase teachers’ and nonformal educators’ knowledge of and confidence in teaching about the Great Lakes. Equipped with new skills and tools, participating education professionals can bring the unique and special world of the Great Lakes to young learners across New York’s Great Lakes region.
Great Lakes Ecosystem Education Exchange Workshops
The 2024 GLEEE Workshop Series, titled New York's Great Lakes Shorelines in a Changing Environment Workshops, equipped educators with resources, lesson plans and activities to use with their students to explore the impacts of changing environmental conditions and adaptations our communities are using to protect our shorelines. The workshops highlighted how intense storms and seiches can lead to increased shoreline erosion by guiding participants through a hands-on coastal resilience design lesson plan. For more information, visit the following Google Site.
The 2025 GLEEE Workshop Series, titled New York’s Great Lakes Species in a Changing Environment, provided educators and teachers with resources, research, and lesson plans for teaching their students about how environmental changes are impacting the unique native species in New York's Great Lakes watersheds. The workshops focused on the ecology and conservation of native Great Lakes fish like lake sturgeon and cisco as well as native freshwater mussels like plain pocketbook and kidneyshell mussels. For more information, visit the following Google Site.
Upcoming Great Lakes Ecosystem Education Exchange Workshops
Summer 2026 Educator Workshop Series
Lake Ontario Ships Past & Present
July 9-10, 2026 (10 am - 4 pm; 9 am - 3 pm)
Oswego, NY
Recommended Grade Levels: Elementary, Middle, High. Subjects: Social Studies, STEM, Earth Science
Registration: http://bit.ly/26CGLLNYSHIPS
Community Action for Stormwater Clean-Up and Debris Elimination (CASCADE) Curriculum.
July 22, 2026 (10 am - 4 pm)
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Recommended Grade Levels: Elementary, Middle, High. Subjects: Living Environment, Biology, Environmental Science, STEM
Registration: http://bit.ly/26CASCADE
NY’s Great Lakes Species in a Changing Environment: Crayfish.
July 23, 2026 (9 am - 4 pm)
Rice Creek Field Station, Oswego, NY
Recommended Grade Levels: Elementary, Middle, High. Subjects: Living Environment, Biology, Environmental Science
Registration: http://bit.ly/26GLEEE
NY’s Great Lakes Species in a Changing Environment: Crayfish.
July 24, 2026 (9 am - 4 pm)
Buffalo State University Great Lakes Center, Buffalo, NY
Recommended Grade Levels: Elementary, Middle, High. Subjects: Living Environment, Biology, Environmental Science.
Registration: http://bit.ly/26GLEEE
Mollusca Robot Curriculum
July 29, 2026 (9 am - 4 pm)
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Recommended Grade Levels: Middle, High. Subjects: STEM, Technology, Living Environment, Biology, Environmental Science
Registration: http://bit.ly/26MOLLUSCA
Mollusca Robot Curriculum.
July 31, 2026 (9 am - 4 pm)
Newton Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Visitor Center, Brooklyn, NY
Recommended Grade Levels: Middle, High. Subjects: STEM, Technology, Living Environment, Biology, Environmental Science
Registration: http://bit.ly/26MOLLUSCA