Teacher Fellowships
in partnership with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

We are actively working to improve student learning and understanding in K-12 schools by engaging in education research. 

We seek to answer questions such as:

• How do can we improve students’ environmental citizenship?  What do we mean when we say environmental citizenship?  How do we measure improvement? 
• What do students need to know about carbon, water, and biodiversity in order to become environmentally literate? 
• How do students learn ecology from data and investigations? 
• What types of activities in the classroom and beyond foster interest and motivation for learning about ecology? 

Fellowships

Listed below are the current fellowships available for K-12 teachers.  Please contact the relevant staff person to find out more information.  

• Communicating Tidal Marsh Ecology & Change: Middle or high school teachers who are interested in learning about how local wetlands will be affected by sea level rise, and how to teach this idea to students, are encouraged to apply. We are looking for two teacher fellows who will refine and/or develop new educational materials to help students understand changes in freshwater tidal marshes. The Fellowship will begin in the summer of 2012 with a full-day field trip to a tidal marsh, and an introduction to the project, existing materials, and available resources. Fellows are not required to be in residence for any particular span of time and so long as they meet milestones, they will receive a $2,500 stipend for participation. Teachers should expect to work the equivalent of 12 days during the summer, and 6 days during the following school year, when materials will be piloted and evaluated in the classroom. Travel support and some funds for classroom materials are also available.
  
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• Data Explorations in Ecology Project (DEEP) Fellowships: 

  High school teachers who are interested in a one-year project to understand how using local and/or real-time data in the ecology curricula helps students become better environmental citizens should contact Cornelia Harris, harrisc@caryinstitute.org for more information.
  
  This Fellowship includes professional development that will take place from August 13-17, 2012. During the 2012-13 school year, there will be five professional development sessions for teacher fellows, who will also be expected to implement curriculum in their classroom as part of this research project. Teachers will receive a stipend to compensate for their time, in addition to travel support and funds to purchase materials for their classrooms.  
  

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