Consulting
Me with a Clouded Leopard cub
Welcome to byCaitlin, a collection of my work and passions. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” I am not sure why some people stopped adhering to this, but I know that the only way for people to make well-informed decisions is to BE well-informed. As Maya Angelou said, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." That is what I strive for here at byCaitlin; to provide you with information on a variety of topics so that we can all continue to learn and be well-informed. Please scroll down for a complete list of the content you can find here.
I have considerable experience working in education as an adjunct college professor, a high school teacher, a summer camp counselor and consultant working with elementary school children, and as a presenter of public outreach programs. While sharing my joy for nature with my students I strive to help them feel personally connected to the environment and the animals who inhabit it. I particularly enjoy providing hands-on opportunities for student exploration in a fun and educational way. I believe this personal connection fosters a life-long learner who exhibits an interest in learning more about a subject and applying their knowledge in future personal decisions. I greatly enjoy the opportunity to turn people’s curiosity into knowledge.
It is my belief that science can be taught in a way that allows people to see how different scientific concepts interrelate. I firmly believe that scientific literacy is vital to helping people make informed choices and I want to increase scientific understanding in America and around the world. While formal education is a vital part of this endeavor, I prefer informal education because of the ability to reach large audiences spanning age levels and diverse backgrounds.
While working as a Volunteer Naturalist at the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center in Nashville, TN I taught several classes to local homeowners and contractors about various gardening practices and projects. I have included materials from those classes here, the resources I used are cited and I recommend them if you want to read more. The three currently available programs, found in Gardening and Hardscaping under the Education Resources tab, are: Water Wonderland- Ponds for your yard and patio, Eco-friendly Hardscaping- Patios & Walkways, and Nashville Natives- Choosing the right plants for your yard (why to plant native plants, some non-natives, and avoid invasive plants). While the plant choices were geared to the Nashville area, many of them grow happily in most zones throughout the US.
Under Education Resources you can also see some of the lessons and activities I prepared as a high school Ecology teacher, college Principles of Biology professor, and as a summer camp instructor for 5 - 9 year olds at an AZA accredited zoo. I have also included some tip sheets to help teachers incorporate teaching scientific vocabulary and topics into instruction. The materials included can be adapted for many different age groups and either condensed or expanded upon. If you are showing movies to your class or child feel free to use some or all of the questions I wrote for movies I showed. Depending on the lesson you are teaching, grade level, State Standards, and other topics in the unit some will be more relevant than others.
Through this website, you can also read the results of my Master's thesis research as well as other papers that I write on a variety of subjects in the Research & Projects section.
In the Photography & Paintings section you can view some examples of my sports, nature, and pet photography by following the links in the menu above or the sections at the bottom of this page. These can be viewed in compressed form and contain a watermark. If you are interested in purchasing the images without the watermark, please email me at byCaitlin@gmail.com. You can also view various paintings that I have created by filling balloons with paint, hanging them in front of a canvas, and then shooting them.
In the Pet Information tab you can find information on a variety of animals. There is general information to help you set up a fish tank and ensure your reptile has what it needs to be healthy, and I am adding pages for specific species as quickly as I can in my free time. There is also a page devoted to chickens, including information on the breeds I plan to own as soon as I have a yard large enough. I will be adding information for small animals in the future as well.
This site is a work in progress - I will continue to add more content as quickly as I can. As I am currently pursuing a PhD in Science Education my free time is unfortunately very rare.
Everything on this website is copyrighted. If you redistribute work you find here for educational purposes, cite it and please send me a quick message letting me know what you used and how it went; work may not be redistributed for other reasons without prior written consent. At the bottom of the pages for educational purposes you will see a Creative Commons license. This means that the information can be distributed freely, so long as I am credited and you are not selling it in any way. Handing it out to students of any age as is or in an edited form is acceptable and encouraged, just include the link to this webpage and identify it as your source. If you post it on your website, be it personal or school affiliated, it must also be credited to me and grant people identical terms of use. Thank you for your cooperation and please email me with any questions. License terms can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Caitlin Kempski
byCaitlin@gmail.com
I have considerable experience working in education as an adjunct college professor, a high school teacher, a summer camp counselor and consultant working with elementary school children, and as a presenter of public outreach programs. While sharing my joy for nature with my students I strive to help them feel personally connected to the environment and the animals who inhabit it. I particularly enjoy providing hands-on opportunities for student exploration in a fun and educational way. I believe this personal connection fosters a life-long learner who exhibits an interest in learning more about a subject and applying their knowledge in future personal decisions. I greatly enjoy the opportunity to turn people’s curiosity into knowledge.
It is my belief that science can be taught in a way that allows people to see how different scientific concepts interrelate. I firmly believe that scientific literacy is vital to helping people make informed choices and I want to increase scientific understanding in America and around the world. While formal education is a vital part of this endeavor, I prefer informal education because of the ability to reach large audiences spanning age levels and diverse backgrounds.
While working as a Volunteer Naturalist at the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center in Nashville, TN I taught several classes to local homeowners and contractors about various gardening practices and projects. I have included materials from those classes here, the resources I used are cited and I recommend them if you want to read more. The three currently available programs, found in Gardening and Hardscaping under the Education Resources tab, are: Water Wonderland- Ponds for your yard and patio, Eco-friendly Hardscaping- Patios & Walkways, and Nashville Natives- Choosing the right plants for your yard (why to plant native plants, some non-natives, and avoid invasive plants). While the plant choices were geared to the Nashville area, many of them grow happily in most zones throughout the US.
Under Education Resources you can also see some of the lessons and activities I prepared as a high school Ecology teacher, college Principles of Biology professor, and as a summer camp instructor for 5 - 9 year olds at an AZA accredited zoo. I have also included some tip sheets to help teachers incorporate teaching scientific vocabulary and topics into instruction. The materials included can be adapted for many different age groups and either condensed or expanded upon. If you are showing movies to your class or child feel free to use some or all of the questions I wrote for movies I showed. Depending on the lesson you are teaching, grade level, State Standards, and other topics in the unit some will be more relevant than others.
Through this website, you can also read the results of my Master's thesis research as well as other papers that I write on a variety of subjects in the Research & Projects section.
In the Photography & Paintings section you can view some examples of my sports, nature, and pet photography by following the links in the menu above or the sections at the bottom of this page. These can be viewed in compressed form and contain a watermark. If you are interested in purchasing the images without the watermark, please email me at byCaitlin@gmail.com. You can also view various paintings that I have created by filling balloons with paint, hanging them in front of a canvas, and then shooting them.
In the Pet Information tab you can find information on a variety of animals. There is general information to help you set up a fish tank and ensure your reptile has what it needs to be healthy, and I am adding pages for specific species as quickly as I can in my free time. There is also a page devoted to chickens, including information on the breeds I plan to own as soon as I have a yard large enough. I will be adding information for small animals in the future as well.
This site is a work in progress - I will continue to add more content as quickly as I can. As I am currently pursuing a PhD in Science Education my free time is unfortunately very rare.
Everything on this website is copyrighted. If you redistribute work you find here for educational purposes, cite it and please send me a quick message letting me know what you used and how it went; work may not be redistributed for other reasons without prior written consent. At the bottom of the pages for educational purposes you will see a Creative Commons license. This means that the information can be distributed freely, so long as I am credited and you are not selling it in any way. Handing it out to students of any age as is or in an edited form is acceptable and encouraged, just include the link to this webpage and identify it as your source. If you post it on your website, be it personal or school affiliated, it must also be credited to me and grant people identical terms of use. Thank you for your cooperation and please email me with any questions. License terms can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Caitlin Kempski
byCaitlin@gmail.com
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