The purpose of this three year program is to provide teacher enhancement in the subject areas of Environmental and Behavioral Biology. Each year, twenty-four junior high school and high school biology teachers will receive instruction at the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) of Michigan State University. Instruction will cover recent developments in environmental sustainability, agroecological practices, and the place of microbes in the environment. Lead teachers from previous workshops will be included as part of the teaching faculty. Teams of middle school and high school teachers from the same district will be encouraged to apply. The summer workshop can be applied toward a Masters of Biology Teaching Degree. Instruction will consist of lecturediscussion, guest speakers, and appropriate laboratory and field experiences. In addition, participants will be shown ways of integrating economic, ethical, and political factors pertaining to environmental use into their curricula. Teacher teams will develop laboratory or field experiences that will be shared with all other participants. Participants will be required to develop a Unit plan based upon a Conceptual Change Model. Based on their summer and classroom experience, participants will provide three days of inservice workshops to peer teachers. The total cost share of this program is 8.1% of NSF cost.
