Teachers will be trained in effective, creative, and fun ways to help students and themselves become better environmental stewards and problem solvers in the Ozarks. Although the workshop will lean towards science education (and standards), teachers of other disciplines who seek opportunities to infuse either karst, watershed, water quality and/or environmental awareness content into their disciplines are eligible to register. Teachers are welcome with little or vast knowledge on the subjects. Participants will be exposed to various place-based hands-on activities, on-line tools, assorted resources, and inquiry lessons that can be adjusted to various grade and subject levels. The teacher field trip portion of the two-day workshop will include trips to outstanding karst features in the Ozarks. Emphasis will be placed on effective field trip locations for students, whether they take place on the playground, within the surrounding community, or to some of the Ozarks’ great natural wonders. The teacher field trips may include climbing many steps. Please contact the Project Manager, at tvaughn@scocog.org to discuss field trip accommodations, if needed.

Teachers who participate in the two-day workshop/field trip are eligible to apply for their school district to receive one of four $5,000 awards. These awards are for districts to take their students on field trips to local Ozark Karst features such as springs, streams, losing streams, sink holes, and caves. Funds may cover field trip travel expenses and related approved expenditures (such as school bus fuel, bus driver’s wages, lunch costs and drinking water for students, costs for substitute teachers, students' protective gear, supplies, and any entrance or guide fees). These funds are to be spent by end of July 2024.

Besides conducting the teacher workshop/field trip, project staff will be available to conduct push-in programs from the workshop to your students. Teachers who participate in the workshops will be offered a menu of possible additional in-classroom support after the workshops. In addition, project staff will be available to assist in the planning and/or conducting of your student field trips whether on your school grounds, surrounding community, or to another karst destination. Each teacher will receive two high quality water quality testing kits to use with their students.

Mary Ann Mutrux is a multiple award-winning Earth Science Educator (grades 5-12 and pre-service teachers) with extensive teaching experience in karst topography, watershed, water quality, and environmental education. She has extensive experience with field trips, both as a classroom teacher and as a conservation camps facilitator. In addition, she has written curriculum specific to karst, watershed, and groundwater quality.

Denise Vaughn, with the Ozarks Resource Center, is a renowned Ozark journalist and producer of karst publications and videos. She will provide background information on the karst features we will be visiting on the teacher field trips.

Tegan Vaughn, Project Manager with SCOCOG, will demonstrate how pollution enters surface and groundwater, using a watershed Enviroscape model, which will be available to teachers for classroom use upon completing this training workshop.

During the workshops and teacher field trips, Somewhereinthewoods Productions will be filming, and from that they will create an end-product video which will act as a long-term educational resource on karst and watershed education in the Ozarks. The video will be available for free on this website, as well as available on Youtube. Teachers who attended the workshops and field trips may go back later and view the video in order to help remind them of the information and resources provided.

Showcase lessons that are developed or used for the teacher workshops/field trips will also be available on this website after the workshop.

The aspired outcomes for this project are that students and teachers in the rural Ozarks have an enhanced understanding of local watersheds, water conservation, Ozarks karst systems, pollution and water quality, and an increased awareness of actions needed to conserve and protect local watersheds. Better understanding is likely to impact behavior and decisions about what is put on the ground—and particularly what is put into sinkholes. Children grow into adults, who, ideally, will have developed a life-long water conservation ethic, a greater connection to the outdoor environment, and an increased capacity for decision making about local water quality issues, which ultimately helps protect Ozark watersheds.

Each workshop/field trip has a maximum of 25 participants and there may be a waiting list. Participating teachers need to attend 1 workshop and 1 field trip to receive the $300 stipend, but teachers are welcome to attend both the April and July sessions if there is enough room, but will only receive the stipend once. Stipends will be mailed out shortly after the workshops.

Other community members (non-teachers) who are interested in attending the workshops/field trips may request to attend if there is room, but will not receive the $300 teacher stipend or water quality testing kits—and lunch will not be provided.