Professional Development for Elementary Teachers: A Collaborative Effort Involving A University, a Forest Learning Center, Industry, and State Agencies

Abstract

This professional development collaborative involved state agencies, local industry, an outdoor learning center, a university, and teams of teachers from rural schools. The Habitats and Their Conservation program had three main goals: to encourage inqu iry-based approaches to teaching science in the elementary classroom, to utilize field experiences in forestry habitats and a river delta to connect the program to real-life applications, and to improve the technological skills of the teacher-participants . Twenty elementary school teachers representing teams participated in a series of daylong workshops that involved the teacher-participants in hands-on, inquiry-based approaches to learning in formal and informal settings. A post-project questionnaire des igned by the author to determine attitudinal change and confidence levels of teaching revealed that the teacher-participants expressed a significant commitment for teaching more environmental science in their classrooms, an increase in content knowledge, and a higher confidence level for teaching environment science. A follow-up questionnaire was administered to the teacher-participants after a year of implementing the teaching strategies and environmental science activities. A commitment to teach more en vironmental science was still evident, but not significantly. The teacher-participants did not perceive an increase in their principals' interest in their teaching environmental science activities.