Teaching with TMRA
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Teaching with TMRA
By Bryan Beck, AP Environmental Science Teacher
Heritage High School
Frisco, TX
Texas Mining and Reclamation Association offers yearly workshops to Texas teachers free of charge. These workshops come at no cost to the educator, and professional development credit is offered to participants for the time they donate during summer break. Participants come from all reaches of the state and range from K-12 educators of different disciplines and experience levels. These workshops are presented at several different types of mining facilities in Texas. The workshops I attended were a coal workshop at Sabine Mine, an Industrial Minerals workshop in Central Texas near Austin, and a uranium workshop based in Corpus Christi, TX this past summer.
These workshops have provided this Texas transplant a wealth of knowledge about the different regions of Texas in terms of geology, different mining techniques, different resources that are mined in our state (coal, industrial minerals, and uranium). I was able to see mining of coal in East Texas, and meet miners to hear about their work experiences and stories. Near Austin, limestone, gravel, aggregate, and sand mining are common. These products are sold on a global scale. And, this past summer, on our Texas coast I was able to experience in situ mining of uranium, and learn about our nuclear power industry. All of these experiences have been invaluable to my classroom experiences as an Advanced Placement Environmental Sciences teacher over the past three years.
In addition to the tours and excursions that are made during these workshops, the discussions amongst teachers and the sharing of ideas for our classrooms are invaluable. I have learned how to simulate a watershed from an elementary teacher. A career middle school teacher even taught us how to build an aquifer in a bottle. TMRA workshops bring in teachers from all over Texas to meet, discuss, and figure ways to bring the mining industry from the field into our classrooms.
I cannot thank the member companies and individuals of the Texas Mining and Reclamation Association enough for the knowledge and experiences that they have given me. These workshops will help students in my classes comprehend a topic that is often discussed today, not so clearly understood.
