Several Wartburg College students and recent graduates presented at the Midwest Environmental Education Conference in Decorah, July 26-29.

Noah Christians and Ryan Dalton, who graduated in 2021, presented their research on “Biophilic Effects on Long-Term Concept Retention, Academic Achievement and Intrinsic Motivation in Secondary Science Classrooms.”

Rising seniors Genoa Gregg and Hanna Schmitt presented research about using dart frogs in the classroom to engage students in cross-curricular disciplines, and Sidney Baumgartner and Becca Montgomery presented their work on “Classroom Ioponics: Educational Lessons for Iowa Students.”

Baumgartner and Montgomery also presented on this topic at the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Des Moines, June 28-July 1. Their work is part of a grant Michael Bechtel, associate professor of science education, received from the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council to build and deliver Ioponics programs to educators across the state.

Liz Stange, another 2021 graduate, presented her research, “Sustaining Education: A Book Talk with Some Real Talk,” through her work with AmeriCorps.