astronomy

Mary Jane Dockeray

Mary Jane Dockeray is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary Jane Dockeray rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Jane Patricia Dockeray (March 8, 1927 – August 18, 2020) was an American environmental educator, founder of the Blandford Nature Center and Environmental Education Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2012, she was admitted to the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

Key takeaways

Mary Jane Dockeray belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary Jane Dockeray to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary Jane Dockeray from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary Jane Patricia Dockeray (March 8, 1927 – August 18, 2020) was an American environmental educator, founder of the Blandford Nature Center and Environmental Education Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2012, she was admitted to the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life Dockeray grew up on a poultry farm in Walker Township. Her father, Winfield Dockeray, was a bookkeeper who also raised chickens. The family owned 2.5 acres just outside of Grand Rapids, an area where neighbors raised goats and open space was plentiful. Dockeray attended Oakleigh School, a 7th Day Adventist Academy. Her 5th grade teacher, Anna Nelson, discovered that she had an interest in geology and the world around her. Nelson, who was typically quite austere, realized the interest in the young girl and helped Dockeray grow her love of geology.

Career

Dockeray was a curator of natural history at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in the 1950s and 1960s. She taught summer programs and visited schools to give science presentations. She began developing the Blandford Nature Center with an initial land donation in the 1960s, and the visitor center opened in 1968. She worked at the center until her retirement in 1990, but continued to volunteer at the center after that milestone. She taught at Michigan State University and at Aquinas College, hosted a radio program, Nature Spy, wrote a book, Let’s Go Exploring: Suggestions for Field Trips and Associated Studies in Environmental-Conservation Education, and narrated an educational film, These Things Are Ours (1963). Into her eighties, she was still giving geological tours of Grand Rapids. Dockeray served on the executive board of the Michigan Audubon Society, and was recognized by the society with an Outstanding Member Award in 1985. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2012. The Blandford Nature Center's Mary Jane Dockeray Visitor Center opened in 2017. "If people can become better informed about the natural world around, they’ll take better care and their lives will be richer," she explained of her work. In addition, Dockeray created and made the movie "These Things Are Ours," which was shown as part of National Audubon Society lecture tours across the US and Canada. Dockeray's school visits and lectures with her vintage slide projector were also memorable.

Personal life Dockeray self-published a memoir, Rock On, Lady: Memoirs of Dr. Mary Jane Dockeray, Geologist Naturalist, in 2014. At a young age Dockeray made the decision to put her career before marriage, and she dedicated her life to her work. Later on in her life she became engaged to her longtime partner, fellow Blandford volunteer Bertrand L. Hewett, until his death on June 18, 2008. She died 12 years later on August 18, 2020.

Legacy Dockeray's legacy is the Blandford Nature Center she founded in 1968 and the Blandford Environmental Education Program. The center, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, began as Collins Woods which was a part of a family farm where Dockeray grew up and developed her love of the outdoors. Blandford Center preserves over 143 acres of land. Their mission as stated on their website is to engage, empower, and educate their community through enriching experiences in nature. The center hosts nature trails, an interpretive center, farm demonstrations, several historic buildings, and a wildlife care program. The Blandford Environmental Education Program allows children to experience a full year in nature, it connects every academic subject to nature. Grand Valley State University offers a Scholarship (Mary Jane Dockeray Scholarship) honoring her legacy. The scholarship is awarded to students pursuing education in science.

Publications and projects Book: Let's Go Exploring: Suggestions for Field Trip and Associated Studies in Environmental-Conservation Education Film: These Things Are Ours Memoir: Rock on, Lady: Memoirs of Dr. Mary Jane Dockeray, Geologist Naturalist Radio Program: Nature Spy

Awards Michigan Audubon Society Outstanding Member Award Michigan Women's Hall of Fame Inaugural Association of Nature Center Administrators’ President's Award for exemplary leadership in the Nature and Environmental Learning Center Profession

References

External links Blandford Nature Center website Mary Jane Dockeray profile at Michigan Women Forward "Paving the Way for Nature" (2017), a half-hour interview with Dockeray; on YouTube "Go on an Adventure with Mary Jane Dockeray" (2016), a video about Blandford Nature Center, featuring Dockeray; on YouTube Howard Meyerson (October 4, 2013), "A Life of Conservation: Mary Jane Dockeray" The Outdoor Journal. A blogpost profiling Dockeray Shelley Irwin (August 21, 2020), "Blandford Nature Center", a WGVU radio interview with Jason Meyer, on the occasion of Dockeray's death

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Jane Dockeray

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Jane Dockeray claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary Jane Dockeray before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary Jane Dockeray ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary Jane Dockeray

In research: Mary Jane Dockeray appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary Jane Dockeray in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary Jane Dockeray is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1927 births, 2020 deaths, American educators, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Jane Dockeray outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary Jane Dockeray in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary Jane Dockeray means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary Jane Dockeray out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Jane Dockeray in simple terms?

Why does Mary Jane Dockeray matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary Jane Dockeray?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary Jane Dockeray.