From Crater Lake to the Oregon Caves, Southern Oregon has a wealth of spectacular natural wonders, great resources for teachers who want to introduce their students to natural science, ecology and sustainability. To get real education from those resources, however, teachers need context and structure. Most learn their methods based on classroom structure and have little experience teaching in the field. They need to know how to integrate the great outdoors into their curriculum.
That’s where SOREEL, Southern Oregon Regional Environmental Education Leaders comes in. SOREEL runs the August Institute, a summer teacher professional development project funded by a Gray Family Foundation grant. The institute is designed to get, and keep teachers up to speed on environmental education and available resources like experts in the community, equipment they can access, and institutions and sites that they can visit..
And when teachers can’t get their classes out to a remote environmental location? According to Rachel Werling, chair of SOREEL, “We encourage teachers to use the outdoors right around their school. Without having to go on big field trips, we show them what’s available in their own school yard to deliver environmental education, using nature as a vehicle to deliver the competencies of the common core.”
Werling and her group also want teachers to know how outdoor education benefits the community. “We think this is a way to educate future Oregon citizens to make good choices. It teaches them critical thinking, how systems work, and how the environment works. So that’s our goal with this kind of professional development.”