Stephen F. Austin State University

The teachers sat cross-legged on the sidewalk under a canopy of trees, holding assorted objects they had pulled from a pillowcase: a sponge, a strainer, a doll, a coffee filter, a bottle of antacid tablets and a wire wisk.

"In what ways are each of these items related to wetlands?" their instructor asked.

They were given a few minutes to contemplate the question, and then one by one, the teachers provided answers.

It was an exercise the educators can take back to their classes in Central, Hudson, Huntington, Lufkin, at Pineywoods Academy, Zavalla, Beckville, Hallsville, Martinsville and Murchison, to recreate the "Wild About Wetlands" study they attended this week at Stephen F. Austin State University's Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

After a day of gathering soil samples and studying ecosystems, the teachers are prepared to teach lessons about wetlands that are engaging, hands-on and meaningful for students.

The "Wild About Wetlands" study was just one of a series of monthly workshops that the group of public teachers attended this school year as part of the "Angelina Initiative," funded through a Teacher Quality grant, through the U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Steven Wagner said the initiative started last summer, when the teachers attended a summer institute at SFA. Throughout the school year, the teachers visited locations throughout East Texas studying environmental science.

Wagner and SFA elementary education professor Dr. Alan Sowards have conducted observations in each participating teachers' classroom.

"All of the elements of the summer course and the monthly workshops are driven by national and state standards," Wagner said. "We've developed a program that is designed to improve the relevant content knowledge of participating teachers. The program also provides teachers with material they can immediately take into their classrooms to help their students improve their own content knowledge and abilities to carry out and understand scientific investigations."

The program has been funded again for the 2007-2008 school year, and Wagner said applications are currently being accepted from teachers who are interested in participating.

Judy Covey of Hallsville said she has found the hands-on activities and the collaboration with other teachers invaluable. "The association with the university really brings you back in the loop," she said.

Susan Mueller of Martinsville agreed. "I teach fifth grade science, and the things we've learned, and the observations from Dr. Wagner and Dr. Sowards have been so helpful," she said. "It's really wonderful for a small school to get to participate in something like this."

Wagner said the upcoming study is centered on the theme "Remembering Columbia." As the five-year anniversary of the shuttle disaster approaches in 2008, Wagner said teachers will examine how earth and space science is utilized to study the biosphere, global change and human exploration and development of space.

The program targets third and fourth grade teachers, but Wagner said it's not restricted to those grade levels.

Teachers receive 45 contact hours as part of the summer institute training and 60 hours of continuing education through the monthly workshops offered during the school year.

Dr. Thomas Callaway (associate dean of the College of Science and Mathematics) and Dr. Daniel Bruton (associate professor of physics) will teach the summer institute. Wagner will serve as project director and lead instructor during the academic year, and Sowards will share instructional responsibilities during the academic year, Wagner said.

Some of the teachers participating in this year's program said the things they learned helped them teach subjects other than science. "I'm an English teacher, but I used what I learned here in writing exercises," Regina Hudspeth of Zavalla said. "By bringing in the outdoors -- something my students are interested in -- I made writing relevant to them. I also showed them that science is everywhere, even in English."

Rachel Collins, librarian at Zavalla, said she has taken the resources she has been given through the workshop and made them accessible to all the teachers at her school. "The teachers can check things out, so more students reap the benefits," she said. "I also found out about educational trunks that can be checked out from some of the places we visited -- like the Oil Museum. I can check out the trunk, and then the teachers at my school can check it out from the library."

The trunks contain items that are useful in teaching a specific lesson or series of lessons, she said. For information about the initiative, call (936) 468-2135.