Corbin Hilling

One of the coolest parts of being a scientist is sharing your work with others, particularly young people and non-scientists. I have worked with a number of organizations and school groups to share my enthusiasm for fishes and would be happy to work with your group also! Please feel free to contact me (corbin.hilling@utoledo.edu) if you're interested in an outreach activity on fish, fishing, natural history, or fish and wildlife sciences. Outreach activities can be developed to meet your needs, but some examples of previous outreach topics and activities I have done are detailed below and could be put together fairly quickly, others would require some time to assemble.   

 

Groups I have worked with on outreach events include: Harding Avenue Elementary (Blacksburg VA), Mayapple School (Newport, VA), Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment (Blacksburg, VA), Achievable Dream Academy, Blacksburg Middle School (Blacksburg, VA), Bellview Elementary Junior Master Naturalists (Christiansburg, VA), Explore Virginia Tech, Higher Achievement (Richmond), Virginia Master Naturalists (Roanoke Valley Chapter), Virginia Tech Black College Institute, Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Districts Youth Conservation Camp, 4-H (Montgomery County, VA).

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Careers in Fish and Wildlife Sciences (High School and Undergraduates)

I have done this in the past with high school students visiting Virginia Tech, but it could be expanded to early career undergraduates interested in the life sciences. This PowerPoint-driven presentation on careers in fish and wildlife sciences shows students there are options in the life sciences other than medicine. Currently, the presentation would take around 20 minutes, but could be expanded upon based on the objectives of the group.

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What is a fish?  (Kindergarten to High School)

This seems like a silly topic, but there are over 30,000 fish species. As the students learn, answering the question "What is a fish?" is actually quite difficult due to this wide diversity of species and their biology. This has been focused on younger groups in the past, but could be expanded for high school students by integrating more advanced aspects of fish ecology.

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Fish Adaptations (3rd to 5th Grade)

This lesson fits in well with the curriculum for older elementary school students. This is a PowerPoint-driven presentation on particular aspects of fish anatomy and how these adaptations help fishes thrive in their diverse environments from the deep ocean to lakes prone to desiccation.

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Fish Life History and Form (3rd to 8th Grade)

My fish life history and form activity is similar to Fish Adaptations, but is more focused on critical thinking and creativity for small groups. Following a brief lecture on fish anatomy and life history, students are provided an illustration of a fish and create a 3-dimensional model using PlayDoh. Once all the models are completed, students present their fish to their peers and infer the species life history (habitat, food, swimming speed, etc.) based on anatomy. This normally takes about 30 minutes for groups of 10 or so.

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Virginia Watersheds and Fishes (3rd to 12th Grade)

Virginia is one of the most diverse states in America in terms of freshwater fish diversity. This presentation describes the concepts of watersheds and the distributions of Virginia's fishes across those watersheds. Another major component of the presentation is a discussion of non-native species, as many species in Virginia have been relocated to areas they do not naturally belong. The presentation takes about 30 minutes. 

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Fisheries Management in the New River Valley (Middle or High School)

The New River supports several recreational fisheries that must be routinely monitored to ensure sustainability, ecosystem health, and satisfaction among anglers. This presentation for middle and high school students discusses the fishery management problems in the New River Valley and how scientists are addressing those problems while protecting at-risk species. Presentation is approximately 30 minutes in length.

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Introduction to R | Undergraduate/Graduate Students and Professionals

R is a language-based statistical software for statistical programming that is commonly used among scientists. I offer workshops for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals to teach the basics of coding using R. Due to variability in experience levels and research interests, I tend to work with beginners in the program at workshops. Methodologically targeted and advanced courses are beyond the scope of my currently prepared workshops. Learning R could introduce advanced high school students to programming, but may be best suited for those interested in statistics or sciences. R workshops are 3 to 4 hours in length, but could be extended.