The focus of this project is on field investigations in the natural sciences and the integration of various types of basic field data to better understand the natural environment. During a four week summer session elementary and junior high teachers will engage in field investigations supported by laboratory activities and lectures. These studies will be directed at the management issues of Idaho's public lands and will include many presentations and field investigations lead by scientists from both government agencies and private industry. As a part of the summer class the participants will make teaching collections and investigate various methods of presenting such science content in their classrooms. Follow-up activities during the next school year will emphasize incorporation of material from the project into science teaching. Each participant will prepare and pilot a teaching unit on a topic related to their summer experiences and later share it with their fellow teachers. In addition, the project director and master teachers will visit the classrooms of all participants, and the participants will exchange classroom visitation in order to improve their teaching methods.
