Teacher Retention and Renewal through Bioregional Outdoor Education

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The bioregion of the Colorado Plateau is an expansive rural area in need of keeping teachers in the region to serve the many Native American students and other communities who have close ties to the land. This project uses a two-tiered mentoring model and school-based science resource centers to help teachers stay in teaching and encourage elementary teachers to use inquiry science approaches with their students. All teachers learn how to adapt math and science outdoor education skills to the local environments of their schools. This not only enriches their work but also inspires their students to see the everyday contexts of their school and homes in a new way. One strength to this approach is to connect parent volunteers to the program, to the school and to their children with the aim of improving student outcomes in mathematics and science. The project will develop culturally sensitive, Native American science materials that will be shared through the web, at conferences and in outreach activities with other districts. The development and implementation model for these science resource centers and for sustaining teachers through master teacher professional development and mentoring may become an important model for rural districts that need to enhance and retain their teaching professionals.