Educational resources about our caves, springs, and underground water
KarstintheOzarks.org is a project of the Ozarks Resource Center.
Public school teachers are invited to a Training Workshop and Field Trip about Ozark waters and geology.
You will gain hands-on teaching methods and tools to help students understand watersheds, groundwater, water quality, water use, conservation, stewardship, karst topography, and how human actions and decisions affect water quality.
Teachers who attend will receive:
• $300 stipend for attending the two-day workshop and field trip;
• Two student-friendly water quality testing kits; and
• School districts with participating teachers will have the opportunity to receive up to $5,000 in funding for field trips to local Ozark karst features such as springs, streams, losing streams, sink holes, and caves.
Stipends will be mailed out shortly after the workshops.
You may attend both sessions, if space allows, but only one stipend is available per teacher.
Other members of the community may attend, if space allows, but stipends will only be given to public school teachers.
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, online 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.
Choose between these two sessions
April 29-30, 2023 (Rain date: May 7; Registration deadline: April 15)
Workshop: Mountain View Community Center; Field Trip: Grand Gulf/Mammoth Spring
July 25-26, 2023 (Rain date: July 27; Registration deadline: July 11)
Workshop: Mountain View Community Center; Field Trip: Round Spring/Devils Well/Alley Spring
The Hands-on Karst and Watershed Education Workshop and Field Trip project is funded by grants from the US EPA Environmental Protection Agency and the South Central Solid Waste Management District.
OUR TEAM INCLUDES:
Teacher In-classroom Support
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.
TWO OPPORTUNITIES TO ATTEND
April 29-30, 2023 (Field Trip: Grand Gulf/Mammoth Spring)
July 25-26, 2023 (Field Trip: Round Spring/Devils Well/Alley Spring)
Educational resources about our caves, springs, and underground water
KarstintheOzarks.org is a project of the Ozarks Resource Center.