Summer Teachers' Workshop
Teachers: join us for an amazing, one-of-a-kind 4-day workshop on the tallgrass prairie, at the Konza Prairie Biological Station.
This is a full-immersion experience where educators are introduced to the prairie and then directly experience each of the student activities offered by the Konza Environmental Education Program.
Things you'll learn:
- History and ecology of the highly endangered tallgrass prairie
- How to identify the major grasses and many wildflowers of the prairie
- Access to the Prairie Week curricula specific to the grade you teach
- What the Konza Prairie Biological Station is all about and how it functions
- What the Konza Environmental Education Program (KEEP) is all about and how it functions
- How you can use your classes' visit to Konza Prairie to hit the Next Generation Science Standards
- What KEEP can do for you and your students
- How to incorporate student data into your classroom
- How wonderfully amazing the tallgrass prairie is!
The activities you'll experience include:
- Guided Nature Trail hike - 2.6 mile hike around our public trail
- Guided Butterfly Hill, West Loop and headquarters hike - 2.0 mile hike of our trail that is off-limits to the general public
- Bison Loop Tour - a driving tour of our bison enclosure - along with a discussion on the experimental design at KPBS
- Grazing ecology experiential activity - go into the bison area to see how bison grazing affects the biodiversity of the prairie
- Effects of fire on the prairie - visiting our Hulbert Plots demonstration area to directly observe and measure the effects fire on the composition of plants on the prairie
- Survey of grasshoppers on the prairie - catch grasshopper in two different parts of the prairie - grazed (by bison) and ungrazed. Identify and count the numbers of each species to determine if the land-use of the prairie affects the grasshopper diversity.
Participants earn:
- Free programming for their students for the duration of their career
- Bus stipends to assist with transportation to KPBS
- A wealth of books and resources given to each participant of the workshop - to use for personal reference or classroom sources
- A KPBS t-shirt
- Catered lunch each day of the workshop
- Free housing on-site during the workshop
- Continuing education credits (professional development) through the K-State Global Campus - for 16 hrs.
Limited to 10 teachers each year
Cost: $25/person to register
Fillable brochure for the 2025 Summer Teachers' Workshop
