Local Educator Attends National G-Gamp
by Ellen Orr
A favorite back-to-school essay prompt—“What did you do over summer vacation?”—often prompts student stories of summer camp. It’s a bit rarer, though, that a teacher has camp tales to offer.
Nathan Upchurch returned to his classroom this year excited to share all he learned at G-Camp, an 18-day geology camp for science teachers that takes place across Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, a region boasting vast geologic landscapes, volcanic features, ancient marine deposits, sand dunes, faults, glacial landscapes, streams, landslides, energy resources, and mineral resources.
The 36 “campers,” who were chosen from over 600 applicants nationwide, traveled free of charge to renowned geological sites, where they got their hands dirty learning about “current processes of weathering, erosion, glaciation, climate change, water issues, continental rifts, volcanic sites, and more,” Nathan said. “We had homework every day: drawing graph paper cross-sections, writing profiles, answering questions, and sometimes analyzing data we collected.”
A camp designed for science educators, the purpose of the trip is to empower teachers to be better geology educators. As it is facilitated by the Texas A&M University College of Geosciences, the program begins in College Station, studying rocks in a lab setting, and ends there as well, with discussion about how the teachers will implement what they’ve learned when they return to their classrooms. “We were given numerous books, articles, lessons, and maps from the professors to use with our students,” Nathan said. “I am developing 360-degree videos for my students to take virtual field trips to places like the ones I studied. I plan to enhance my teaching with some of the techniques I learned about notebooking. We used many different types of maps during the trip, so I hope to use these resources with my students, too.”
Nathan has been an educator for 23 years. This is his 11th year at Texas High. As well as Earth and Space Science, he also teaches astronomy.
