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The theme of the gathering, “Catch a Wave,” included
a special educational presentation by the bottlenose
dolphins at Seven Seas and a virtual presentation by
Dr. Katherine McHugh, senior scientist at the Zoo’s
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, who spoke about
the program’s long-running research on wild bottlenose
dolphins in Sarasota Bay.
“Conservation education is so important for kids
and so important for our world,” said Patricia Steinmeyer,
manager in the Zoo’s Professional Learning and K-12
n a Saturday morning last April, more than Academics department, who created and runs the
O O40 teachers were gathered in Brookfield Zoo Teaching Safari. “It’s really great to have teachers with
Chicago’s Discovery Center. They taught subjects that interest coming in intentionally and figuring out
including the sciences, technology, mathematics, ways to make that a priority in their teaching and to
language arts, and art to students in grades pre-K integrate science and conservation into their instruction.”
to high school. The Teaching Safari program is based on a “whole-
What brought the diverse group to the Discovery school approach,” said Kevin Conley, vice president
Center was a Zoo program called the Teaching Safari, of education and learning at the Zoo. Nature, animals,
a free professional development adventure for educators. and conservation are not just topics to be taught in
The program brings teachers together to learn and share science classes, he said.
classroom strategies and insights related to teaching
about animals, nature, and conservation. More than
One teacher described the calming effect that holding “
100 teachers enrolled in Teaching Safari in 2023,
representing more than 70 schools from over 30 districts
throughout the Chicago area. The gathering that In Teaching Safari, I met and
Saturday was the first Teaching Safari Networking networked with science teachers from
Event for alumni of the program. everywhere. It’s good to know I’m not

and stroking a classroom pet—a nonvenomous ball the only one facing a particular
python—had on stressed middle-school students. challenge. We learned how to connect
A second-grade teacher shared that her students write to Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s resources
haiku poems about animals incorporating observations
about how animals look and move in videos. A high and how to structure field trips so
Gets an generated the most and least amount of plastic waste. Teaches middle-school science at Parkside ”
they are more productive.
school science teacher celebrated students who initiated
a research project to identify fast-food restaurants that
JANICE COLEMAN-MATHUS

S.T.E.A.M. Community Academy in Chicago,
and a S.T.E.A.M. coach

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