Educating Youth in Environmental Science (EYES)

The Environmental Science Department at UTSA, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), has created an outreach program that includes visits to elementary school classrooms and a summer camp. The program seeks to engage participants with opportunities for hands-on scientific discovery and inspiration with activities designed around monarch butterflies. UTSA and the USFS are active in monarch research and federal programs for the conservation of monarch butterflies.

Lessons will be delivered by UTSA faculty and students through the Educating Youth in Environmental Science (EYES) Program. The mission of the program is to foster and promote interest in ecology in third to fifth grade students and teachers in the San Antonio area.

Our goal is to bring basic concepts in monarch biology, ecology, and conservation to students in the San Antonio area. Lessons will provide hands-on monarch butterfly education and generate interest in wildlife conservation efforts in Texas. We plan to visit each elementary school to discuss complete and incomplete metamorphosis, migration, and the importance of milkweed.

We hope to culminate the program by providing a small butterfly habitat enclosure for each classroom visited. Each enclosure will contain a milkweed plant and a monarch caterpillar that the students can watch grow and metamorphose into an adult monarch butterfly that will be released outdoors.

If you are a teacher or educator interested in participating in the EYES program, or you have any questions, please contact:

Julian Chavez: (210) 458-7097, Julian.Chavez@utsa.edu
Fernando Martinez: (210) 458-8163, Fernando.Martinez@utsa.edu