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Twenty-five elementary and high school science teachers entered a dream laboratory of forests, ponds, streams and wildlife northwest of Boulder July 27 to begin a week of living and breathing Earth science.
The teachers are participating in Earthworks, an annual professional development program sponsored by CU-Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.
"Earthworks is designed to help elementary and high school teachers create Earth science research projects for students," said Susan Buhr, the CIRES outreach director. "CIRES provides each teacher with travel expenses, lodging and meals." CIRES also provides on-site childcare during the program, which is free to participants and runs through Aug. 2.
"Interest in learning about Earth sciences is all that's needed to qualify," Buhr said. "No previous knowledge of Earth sciences is required because the program mimics the science process." Teachers work in partnership with scientists, modeling what scientists do, she said.
"When scientists embark on an investigation, they don't know the answers. Earthworks builds trust in the experience of open-ended inquiry," said Buhr. "We take a hands-on, place-based approach."
The place is the Cal-Wood Environmental Education Center, a 1,040-acre learning site 20 miles northwest of Boulder. It provides a natural setting that includes an old homestead and an abandoned mica mine as well as thriving deer, elk, black bear, mountain lion and bird populations.
"Projects developed by Earthworks participants also are used in Cal-Wood's educational programs for visiting students." Buhr said. "Earthworks teachers also contribute to Cal-Wood's knowledge about their land and to their land-management tools."
Teachers camp or stay in log cabins during the week while they design and conduct individual research projects. During the day, participants join in small groups to do fieldwork, make scientific observations and discuss findings with scientists and other teachers, she said.
The program attracts teachers from across the United States. This year, seven of the teachers are program alumni. Sarah Stevens, a teacher at Gilpin County School near Black Hawk, Colo., is returning for her third summer.
"The first time I came to Earthworks, I was considering a teaching career. I was a hydrogeologist and I wanted to see if I should become a teacher. I did a soils study for Earthworks, an area of knowledge I didn't have.
"That first time at Earthworks confirmed for me that I wanted to teach," Stevens said. "My second year was even more productive, since I was more sure about what I was about."
The second summer Stevens developed a learning unit designed to interact with the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Rivers of Colorado Water Watch Network, or River Watch program. For the past year, Stevens' seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students have been collecting monthly water samples from a nearby river.
Stevens' Earthworks project has taught her to show students how to perform chemical analyses on the water samples and how to report findings to the River Watch program.
"Cal-Wood is the perfect setting for me because I teach in this environment. Plus, living there, the teachers really get to know each other and make contacts for the future," Stevens said. "We interact with each other, share ideas and get good advice. Being a new teacher, it's been a very good experience."Ìý
A vital part of the program is the Earthworks' Internet site, she said. It keeps teachers connected and serves as a professional resource for participants year-round.Ìý
For more information or to apply as a participant for next year, go to the Web site at .