Workshop Information

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This Improving Teacher Quality State Grants Program, funded by the Ohio Board of Regents, will provide tuition, room and board for 77 Ohio elementary school teachers and up to eaight elementary school administrators to study in and near Yellowstone and Grant Teton National Parks while in residence at Miami University's Geology Field Stationa nd at 4-H Camp Ohio. The purpose of this program is to train elementary school teachers to use Environmental Science across the curriculum to attain Ohio academic conduct standards and achievement test outcomes. We will give preference to teachers in schools with a large percentage of educationally disadvantaged students: those whose educational progress is hampered by the absence of a support system for achieving desired educational objectives due to special problems in their immediate family, such as: divorce, mental illness, poverty, unemployment, inadequare parental education, or social alienation due to ethnic, religious, or racial background.

Scientific content will emphasize: energy in the environment, biological cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and water, management of land and water, creation of rocks and landscape, geologic time and fossils, and the diversity and adaptations of plants and animals. Teaching each class is a team composed a professional geologist, a professional zoologist, a master botanist, and five master teachers who are actively teaching in Ohio school districts and who have completed similar courses in previous years. Teachers seleted for this program will be required to attend an Environmental Science Follow-Up Workshop at 4-H Camp Ohio near Utica, Ohio on November 5-7, 2004.

This course provices five semester hours of Miami University graduate credit that may be transferred to another university or college.

Facilities

The buildings are of log construction and includes bunkhouss, washhouse with showers, modern toilet facilities and a main lodge. The main building has a large comfortably furnished living room with a huge fireplace, kithcen and dining room. The dining room doubles as a study hall and leture room in the evenings. The facilities are western rustic, more on the primitive side than a typical dude ranch. There are no private rooms. Married couples taking the course together will be accommodated separately in the men's and women's cabins.

Study Areas

The Wind River Range, with peaks over 13,000 feet in elevation, is in western Wyoming near Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Glacial and stream erosion in these intensely deformed mountains has produced a wide variety of plant and animal habitats. And also in central Ohio, along the Rocky Fork, in the beautiful rolling hills of northern Licking County.

Eligibility

All Ohio elementary school teachers (grades K-6), particularly those with large numbers of educationally disadvantaged students, are encouraged to apply. At least 77 teachers will be selected from Ohio inner city and rural school districts. Up to 8 Ohio elementary school administrators will be selected. The Ohio Board of Regents provides tuition, room, board and a $265 stipend for those selected. Participants will pay approximately $450 for transportation to the field station and approximately $220 in personal expenses.

Location and Transportation to the Field Station

The Field Station is at Timberline Ranch, located on the northeast flank of the Wind River Mountains on the Wind River, 71 miles southeast of the entrances to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The closest town is Dubois, Wyoming, 15 miles to the southeast on U.S. Route 287. Public transportation by air is available to Jackson, Wyoming. Miami University vans will pick up participants arriving in Jackson on the Saturday before classes begin at the rate of $15 per person and will provide return transportation on the Saturday after classes end at the same rate. There is no public transportation from Jackson to Dubois or to the field station. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation to 4-H Camp Ohio near Utica, Ohio.

Staff

Robert McWillaims, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geology, Miami University

Richard Lee, Professor, Department of Zoology, Miami University

Edward Soldo, Retired High School Biology Teacher, Sycamore High School, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Robert Flinn, Sixth Grade Science Teacher, Lakeside Elementary School, Cincinnati, Ohio

Steven Hall, Seventh Grade Language Arts Teacher, East Liverpool Middle School, Ohio

Joyce Hayward, Fourth Grade Science Teacher, York Elementary, Bellevue, Ohio

James Mason, Advanced Placement and Honors Social Studies Teacher, Glen Este High School, Ohio

Cindy Brandi, 6-7th Grade Science Teacher, Roseville Middle School, Ohio

Sherri Nuttall, High School Science Instructor, Hamilton High School, Hamilton, Ohio

Larry Pack, Seventh Grade Earth Science/Secondary Environmental Science Teacher, New London Schools, Ohio

Marilyn Parkes, Curriculum and Instruction Consultant, East Liverpool, Ohio

Candace Picklesimer, Sixth Grade Science Teacher, Bloom-Vernon Middle School, South Webster, Ohio

Dennis Temple, 7th & 8th Grade Technology Education Teacher, Xenia Community Schools, Ohio.

Application Information

To request Environmental Science for Elementary School Teachers, write to (no phone calls): Robert McWilliams, Geology Field Station, Department of Geology, 114 Shideler Hall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056-1643 or e-mail: mcwillrg@muohio.edu.