Agriculture cohort for rural science teachers – application open

Agriculture is big business in Ohio. The number one industry in our state, food and agriculture contribute $124 billion annually to Ohio’s economy, and employing 1 in 8 Ohioans.* We can help Ohio students see the vast number and variety of job opportunities in the agriculture industry as they consider their future careers. Our best approach: Create places for teachers to connect to the real-world opportunities and challenges in the agriculture sector so they can help students make informed decisions about careers.

The Ohio STEM Learning Network and Education Projects & Partnerships are organizing our second cohort of the Ohio Rural Educators Program. We seek applications from middle and high school science teachers.  This program helps solve the agriculture workforce shortage by training teachers to connect existing science lessons to real-world agriculture needs, so that students will begin to make connections between classroom content and future careers.

The Ohio Rural Educators Program will engage 25 middle and high school science teachers from rural schools in a year-long professional learning cohort. The program combines problem-based learning (PBL) training with agriculture-specific content knowledge and tools to implement effective and meaningful PBL lessons in the classroom. The program seeks to fully equip teachers with the training, resources, and ongoing support necessary to transition a current classroom lesson into a hands-on, problem based lesson with a focus on agriculture.

The program will meet in-person and virtually throughout the 2022- 2023 school year. Here’s an overview of the anticipated program schedule:

The program is limited to 25 Ohio science teachers, with a preference for teachers in rural middle and high schools. Selected teachers will receive a travel stipend, classroom supplies and a materials stipend to complete your PBL lesson in your classroom.

Apply here