Learning on the Edge is an exceptional partnership that focuses on equipping teachers with the skills, curriculum, support and materials to strengthen science teaching as it relates to the environmental treasures of Texas Coastal Bend.

The workshop not only provides field based science educational experiences for educators; it also enhances their ability to fulfill the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) requirements.

Learning on the Edge seeks to bridge the gap that exists between field based science experiences and classroom science experiences. The program provides teachers an opportunity to learn about the local ecology and environmental issues by providing hands-on field experiences and curriculum.

The Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program partners with the already successful educational programs of the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contest – Kritters 4 Kids, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi –Center for Coastal Studies – Wetland Explorer, Texas State Aquarium – Keepers of the Coast, and the Corpus Christi Geological Society. By combining all of these resources into one program, Learning on the Edge seeks to provide teachers the tools needed to successfully teach science and promote student awareness of local ecology and environmental issues affecting the bays and estuaries.

The program provides field trips, led by experienced scientists and educators, to increase the participants’ knowledge base of the local ecology. These experiences and curriculum are correlated to the TEKS objectives to help teachers more readily incorporate the experience into their classroom instruction.  These experiences are also supplemented by field equipment provided to each of the participating teachers.

Participating educators exit the program obtaining added insight into the issues affecting the bays and estuaries, a sound knowledge base of the local ecology and curriculum that translates into successful science experiences for their students.

This program “… provides an innovative and creative project to meet a critical and far-reaching educational need in our Coastal Bend communities. It will help those of us who 'live on the edge' of our bays and estuaries, and depend so much on their resources, to learn on the edge!”

- Patricia M. Eisenhauer
Coastal Bend Community Foundation Chairman