Teachers on the Prairie (TOTP) is an extension of the program Teachers in the Woods (TITW) originated in Portland, Oregon. Marion Dresner (dresnem@pdx.edu) started TITW in 1997 and in 2001 was granted a $1.1 million award from National Science Foundation. This award allowed the University of Northern Colorado to start TOTP.
TITW and TOTP are aimed at secondary teachers, but elementary teachers have become involved. The focus of this project was to give teachers the tools they need to become more activity based, hands-on teachers. TOTP teachers attended 6 workshops over the summer. These workshops were Soil Formation, Soil Ecology, Invasive Species, Colorado Life Zones, GIS and Bagging Big Bugs. In 2003, 14 teachers, from the Colorado Front Range, participated in the workshops hosted by TOTP. Along with attending the workshops the teachers also spent time in the field with researchers helping with their current projects. This allowed the teachers to experience actual fieldwork and experience the problems associated with fieldwork. At the end of the summer the teachers were required to do a Field Project Plan. This plan allowed the teachers to go through the planning steps to incorporate a field activity in their classroom.
Another important aspect of TITW and TOTP is mentoring. Once the teachers have finished the program they will then select one teacher to mentor. This allowed them to share the information they learned and assist another teacher to have an activity based classroom. If you have any further questions about the program you may contact Kim Melville-Smith (kimberly.melville@unco.edu).
Pictures of TOTP are available on this site.
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