Hamline's Natural Sciences and Environmental Education (MAEd:NSEE) program, housed in the School of Education and Leadership, has received a $712,000 grant from the Legislative Citizens' Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). This grant will enable the NSEE program, along with partners from the University of Minnesota and Freshwater, to expand and grow the highly successful Teacher Field School, designed to help teachers develop the skills necessary to support pre-K through 6th-grade students in achieving both social-emotional and academic growth through nature-based learning.
The three-year grant will enable the project to serve many more teachers across the state of Minnesota through professional development and communities of practice. In its first two years, the project served teachers from eight school districts, potentially benefiting hundreds of children. Preliminary research on the project suggests that teachers find their students to be more engaged and have fewer behavior issues in the classroom, while they themselves report higher job satisfaction.