Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a fount of inspiration and information for science teachers with its incredible biodiversity. With that in mind, park officials have scheduled a workshop for North Carolina teachers interested in bolstering their lesson plans.

The free workshop is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 26, and you need to RSVP by March 21 to reserve a spot in the program. The workshop is open to all school teachers within the park's surrounding North Carolina counties. The workshop will be broken into two tracts, one for elementary instructors and one for middle/high school instructors.

The choice of a grant-funded stipend or flexible in-service hours (must be pre-approved by your school system) will be offered to all participants. Limited space is available and registration closes on Monday, March 21st. Please contact Susan Sachs to register ([email protected], 828-497-1945).

During the workshops, Great Smoky rangers will demonstrate hands-on activities, along with methods and resources that can be incorporated into classrooms. Inter-disciplinary program topics that will be included throughout the activities and classroom resources are embedded inquiry, technology & engineering, biodiversity & change, data analysis, and communication.

Rangers will also reveal the newly updated Parks as Classrooms (PaC) website, which includes field trip information, professional development pportunities, and curriculum-based activities for classrooms.

According to a park release, these PaC field trips are designed to provide students in grades K-12 the opportunity to participate in free, hands-on, curriculum-based, outdoor education programs. Each program, using the natural and cultural resources of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, enhances classroom learning through activities correlated to North Carolina Curriculum Standards. Pre-visit and post-visit classroom activities are also developed for each PaC program.

As a result of recent National Park Service education initiatives, the park has revised and expanded its offerings for students and teachers. Opportunities currently include field trips, citizen science projects, service learning projects, summer internships, teacher-ranger-teacher positions, distance learning resources, and career and professional development. Park officials also plan to pursue additional opportunities in the future and look forward to working with more local students and teachers.

This teacher workshop, along with PaC programs and other student opportunities, would not be possible without the generous support of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Great Smoky Mountains Association, Toyota, and Parks as Classroom grants.

Teachers also are invited to visit the website www.nps.gov/grsm/forteachers to learn more about teacher opportunities within the national park.