This unusual five-year Teacher Student Development through Research Experience (TSD) project brings together real life miners, research scientists, and teachers in a working mine and inactive mines to participate in mining activities and the associated laboratory research activities surrounding minerals. In year-one, 24 teachers from the Upper Peninsula of MI will participate in a six-week program that includes: content and skills preparation; working with scientists and engineers, in working and inactive mines, collecting specimens and cataloging them; and, hone leadership and change agent skills to enhance the transfer of the research/high tech mining experience back to the classroom. The six-week summer research and field experiences are complemented by professional development activities over a 12-month period. In years two and three the participant pool will include teachers from neighboring states: WI, MN, IN, OH, and IL. Each year 24 additional middle and high school teachers will participate. In years four and five teachers will come from a national pool focusing on those regions that have extensive mining activities. Teachers may earn five (5) graduate credits from MTU.
