ABS Education Committee
The Education Committee consists of six-subcommittees dedicated to outreach to the general public, providing education of membership and encouraging innovation in teaching pedagogies. All members of the Education Committee are expected to be actively involved in the Outreach Grant, Genesis Award, Educational Resources and Innovations, Penny Bernstein Distinguished Teaching Award, Outstanding Children’s Book Award, or Outreach Fair subcommittees. The Education Committee promotes quality instruction and training in the area of animal behavior. We help to facilitate collaborations across the ABS community to amplify education and engagement initiatives.
Key Activities
- Educational Resources and Innovations: This subcommittee collects, develops, and disseminates resources to the animal behavior teaching community by hosting workshops (e.g., the annual ABS conference) and maintaining the education website.
- Genesis Award: The Genesis Award recognizes outstanding poster presentations by undergraduates at the annual meeting.
- Outstanding Children’s Book Award: This annual award recognizes outstanding English-speaking children's books about animal behavior. The sub-committee solicits nominations from publishers and selects finalists; and schoolchildren then review the nominees and select the winner.
- Outreach Fair: The annual Outreach Fair subcommittee organizes a public education event at the annual conference with the goal of educating the public.
- Outreach Grant: Annual Outreach Grants support outstanding community engagement efforts by ABS members win which animal behavior is shared with diverse communities of all ages using creative approaches based on best practices in education.
- Penny Bernstein Distinguished Teaching Award: This annual award recognizes a sustained record of excellent teaching of animal behavior at any level. The teaching can be in the classroom or other educational settings, such as zoos, aquaria, museums, 4-H programs, research labs, field stations, or environmental centers.