Orleans Conservation Trust

The Nature Conservancy is a global organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters essential for all life, working across more than 80 countries and territories. Their mission centers on tackling climate change and biodiversity loss through innovative ideas, local leadership, and policy influence, fostering climate-resilient communities in the process. With ambitious goals set for 2030, The Nature Conservancy aims to sequester billions of metric tons of carbon, conserve extensive biodiverse habitats, and support indigenous communities in environmental stewardship. Their efforts include promoting sustainable practices and restoring critical ecosystems, ensuring a sustainable future for both nature and people. Generated from the website

MITS, Inc, Museum Institute for Teaching Science, was founded in 1983 with the goal of improving student interest and literacy in science and encouraging more students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in their higher education. Seven prominent museum directors in the Boston area met with the President of MIT to discuss the declining percentage of students furthering their education in science and engineering and the serious problem this presented to the economic future of this country. At this meeting the idea of using museums and their educators as a means to offer professional development for teachers was born. The focus was the elementary and middle school levels ( K-8 ) where students can easily be discouraged and/or lose interest in these subjects with little likelihood of continuing or returning to them in later years. It is important to capture and nurture students' natural curiosity of the world around them. Programs inspire and facilitate the incorporation of inquiry-based lessons into teachers' curriculum and are aligned with Massachusetts Frameworks A report from the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century states: Four important and enduring reasons underscore the need for children to achieve competency in mathematics and science: ( 1 ) the rapid pace of change in both the increasingly interdependent global economy and in the American workplace demands widespread mathematics and science-related knowledge and abilities ; ( 2 ) our citizens need both mathematics and science for their everyday decision-making ; ( 3 ) mathematics and science are inextricably linked to the nation's security interests ; and ( 4 ) the deeper, intrinsic value of mathematical and scientific knowledge shapes and defines our common life, history, and culture. Mathematics and science are primary sources of lifelong learning and the progress of our civilization.