Due to high demand our Oct. Women's Backpack Trip is 
The evening includes dinner, 
Workshops, hikes, camping trips
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"This workshop has completely exceeded my expectations for any professional development. The worst part is that all future programs I attend will have this experience to top and I doubt any will!" – 2005 Smoky Mountains Science Teacher Institute participant
“I can’t thank you enough. You’ve opened up a new world to me and in turn I hope to open that same new world up to my students.” – 2007 Smoky Mountains Science Teacher Institute participant
Immerse yourself for one week in the biological diversity of the Smokies and return home with exciting new ideas for involving your students in hands-on science. Throughout the week, we will visit different Smokies habitats to learn about their amazing natural resources as well as the environmental problems threatening them. Each day you will become a citizen scientist, helping to inventory and monitor everything from salamanders to slime molds. Increase your own science skills and discover new ways to do the same for your students. This workshop is a collaboration between Tremont, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Discover Life in America. Your instructors will include Tremont staff, NPS educators and scientists, and other scientists involved in research in the park. Program lasts from Sunday supper through Friday lunch.
Cost: Tremont is offering this workshop to teachers for $50. There are only a few openings left. Download the application here.
TEACHERS: By attending this program, you will qualify to be free when you bring your school group, and all of your students will get $8 off their price.
Overview of Goals
Goals:
• Provide teachers in communities neighboring the park with an awareness and understanding of biodiversity in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, threats to that biodiversity, and biodiversity - focused inventory and monitoring research such as the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory.
• Provide teachers with support to involve students in citizen science opportunities in the park.
• Develop and strengthen on-going relationships among the park, its partners, and local teachers.
• Train local teachers in the use of technology relevant to biodiversity research and provide ways for them to use that technology to enhance their teaching.
Sample Institute format: The institute will be a 4 1/2 day and 5 night, intensive residential field school. Each day will focus on a particular ecological system in the Smokies. Participating teachers will learn about the resources associated with that system, threats to that system, and on-going research on that system. Hands-on activities will include citizen science projects that the teachers and students can participate in at the park or replicate back in their schoolyards. Activities will also highlight relevant technology that can be used for both scientific and educational purposes.
