Developing Environmental Experiences for Leadership for Outdoor Projects (Project DEVELOP)

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Project DEVELOP is a six-week summer workshop with an academic year follow-up that emphasizes the development of teaching content, critical thinking skills and leadership techniques in field biology, ecology, and geology for newer or less well prepared middle and high school teachers. Over two years, forty participants will be selected from Western and Central Ohio and Eastern Indiana. The first three weeks will provide an introduction to the principles of ecology and geology, thinking skills, leadership, and discussion of local resources. The workshop will then travel by vans to the High Altitude Laboratory of the University of Denver (at 10,700 feet on the slopes of Mt. Evans), where the participants (accompanied by several researchers) will spend 15 days investigating the biology and geology of the area. A paved road services the mountaintop (14,258 feet). The area abounds in biological and geological topics to study. Workshop participants, with staff assistance, would pass on the benefits of their experiences to their students and fellow teachers throughout the following academic year. Each participant will develop a teaching module or exercise from the summer experience. These modules are to be shared with the participants' colleagues at their own institution and with workshop participants. The development of the modules will involve assistance by a mentor team selected from past workshop participants. During the academic year, six evening meetings will be held with the participants to discuss their module development and implementation. Additionally, there will be several field trips during the academic year to identify local resources. The program participants will receive ten semester hours of graduate credit, certificates of achievement, and will be recognized by the local media. An amount equivalent to 30.4% of the NSF award is being contributed as cost-sharing.//