2025 MESTA Conference
|
Date: Friday, February 7, 2025
Time: 8:00am - 3:35pm Location: District 287 Conference Center. 1820 N. Xenium Ln, Plymouth, MN 55441 Keynote Speaker, Break-out Sessions, Activity Share, Free Resources, Breakfast and Lunch included Hotel Accommodations These hotels are near the conference facility. Call for prices and to make your own arrangements: Comfort Inn Plymouth: (763) 559 -1222 Crown Plaza Minneapolis: (763) 559 -6600 Ramada Plymouth: (763) 553 -1600 Optional Thursday Night Activities Take a tour of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) at the University of Minnesota. 2 SE 3rd Ave, Minneapolis @ 5:00pm $10 - Register for this event with your conference registration Click HERE to fill out the electronic registration form for the 2025 MESTA Conference. |
LocationDistrict 287 Conference Center
1820 N. Xenium Ln, Plymouth, MN 55441 |
Thursday Evening Event
Take a tour of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) at the University of Minnesota.
SAFL was built as a hydraulic research laboratory from 1936-1938. For over 80 years, SAFL has evolved its research program to include overall fluid mechanics research versus just hydraulics to solve real-world problems. With its unique position on the historic Minneapolis waterfront, the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) garners a lot of attention from the local community and visitors to the area. Many people ask what makes SAFL unique. Participants will be able to see for themselves!
2 SE 3rd Ave, Minneapolis
5:00pm
View a tour preview at https://cse.umn.edu/safl/public
SAFL was built as a hydraulic research laboratory from 1936-1938. For over 80 years, SAFL has evolved its research program to include overall fluid mechanics research versus just hydraulics to solve real-world problems. With its unique position on the historic Minneapolis waterfront, the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) garners a lot of attention from the local community and visitors to the area. Many people ask what makes SAFL unique. Participants will be able to see for themselves!
2 SE 3rd Ave, Minneapolis
5:00pm
View a tour preview at https://cse.umn.edu/safl/public
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Belinda Jensen
Chief Meteorologist, KARE11 News, KARE-11 Saturday Anchor, and Author
MESTA is excited to welcome meteorologist Belinda Jensen as our keynote speaker. Ms. Jensen, a recipient of the AMS Seal of Approval for broadcast meteorology, has been a meteorologist at KARE-11 since 1993 and was promoted to Chief Meteorologist in 2005. Before moving to Minnesota, she worked at the National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City, Utah and produced and co-anchored a sunrise news program.
Ms. Jensen has been visiting classrooms and educating children about the weather for more than twenty-five years. As a child, she was fascinated by science. Today, she is passionate about inspiring children with the wonders of weather as the author of the Bel the Weather Girl series of children’s books that introduce children to key weather phenomena. To learn more about her books, follow the link below.
https://lernerbooks.com/series/10429-bel-the-weather-girl
Chief Meteorologist, KARE11 News, KARE-11 Saturday Anchor, and Author
MESTA is excited to welcome meteorologist Belinda Jensen as our keynote speaker. Ms. Jensen, a recipient of the AMS Seal of Approval for broadcast meteorology, has been a meteorologist at KARE-11 since 1993 and was promoted to Chief Meteorologist in 2005. Before moving to Minnesota, she worked at the National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City, Utah and produced and co-anchored a sunrise news program.
Ms. Jensen has been visiting classrooms and educating children about the weather for more than twenty-five years. As a child, she was fascinated by science. Today, she is passionate about inspiring children with the wonders of weather as the author of the Bel the Weather Girl series of children’s books that introduce children to key weather phenomena. To learn more about her books, follow the link below.
https://lernerbooks.com/series/10429-bel-the-weather-girl
concurrent session presenter information
Behind The Scenes Meteorology
Laura Lockwood, Meteorologist and Director of Operations, Weatherology
Gold Rushes and Minnesota State Geologists
Dr. Kent Kirkby, University of Minnesota
The Care and Keeping of a High School Earth Science Teacher: How To Make It All Work!
Anna Karsten, Earth science teacher, Lincoln HS
Splendid Sands
Kate Clover, Geoscience Educator
Laura Lockwood, Meteorologist and Director of Operations, Weatherology
- Weather is intertwined with the earth sciences, social sciences, and many others fields of study and career paths. Meteorologists in the education, government, and private sectors help us to understand the weather and aid us in being better prepared for not only everyday life, but the unexpected as well. We will hear about some of the main concepts and fundamentals of the field, including where to find valuable resources for teaching.
Gold Rushes and Minnesota State Geologists
Dr. Kent Kirkby, University of Minnesota
- Although Minnesota has a particularly diverse bedrock geology, gold rushes are not a common theme in Minnesota history, yet two of the first three Minnesota State Geologists played pivotal but disparate roles in the gold rushes that altered our state and nation’s history. In both cases, the reports of gold in economic quantities were grossly overstated but played out in separate ways. It is a lesson we need to remember in a world where resource exploitation is exponentially expanding and often occurs on the lands of highly vulnerable communities.
The Care and Keeping of a High School Earth Science Teacher: How To Make It All Work!
Anna Karsten, Earth science teacher, Lincoln HS
- Converting to a new way of teaching with a new curriculum can seem overwhelming. This session shares a personal philosophy of teaching using the 5E model and some units to use as you incorporate the new science standards. This session will include examples of units with ready-to-teach lessons and ways to modify them for your personal style.
Splendid Sands
Kate Clover, Geoscience Educator
- Sands, the grains you casually walk on at the beach or on a desert, vary greatly around the world. They are story tellers that chronicle regional geology and marine ecosystems. Here, we will discuss sands and have time to use microscopes to examine the grains in sand samples. We'll be identifying some rocks, minerals and the skeletons of marine creatures. Expect to learn about sands from the shores of Lake Superior, garnet-rich heavy mineral sands and the biogenic organisms in sands from Puerto Rico.
Contact UsConference event information:
Stephanie Erickson [email protected] Conference registration questions: Jess Strom [email protected] |
MESTA LIST-SERV Subscribe |