Through a workshop on May 31, Cochise County educators will have the opportunity to earn certification to teach and use the wildlife conservation supplemental curriculum, Project Wild. The workshop is hosted by the Cochise County Superintendent’s Office in Sierra Vista.

The curriculum has been around since the 1970s, said Kal Mannis, senior director of Rural Liaisons at the Arizona Science Center. In his 3-hour workshop on Terrestrial Curriculum, teachers learn how to incorporate an activity-based curriculum into their classrooms.

“Through interactive activities, data collection, observations and case studies, all of this is incorporated into different activities,” says Manis.

Noting the diversity of Cochise County’s landscape and overall ecosystem, Mannis said it’s important for future generations to gain a concrete understanding of the environment and the factors that affect it.

“We are surrounded by some of the most beautiful regions in the world, and the biology and environmental impacts, or environmental science, in these places really depend on people’s choices,” Mannis said. “Thus, providing opportunities for both educators to learn about these tools and pass that knowledge on to their students is of great value…”

“So what are the effects of changing seasons, and why do we care about soil, water and air?” Mannis continued. “All of this is seeding our students and young people so that they can make more informed decisions when making future decisions.”

As a county resident, Mannis said he wants to make the training available to county teachers. Mannis, the workshop instructor, added that teachers in the county hadn’t had the opportunity to qualify locally for more than a decade.

Workshop registration fee is $15. Mannis said teachers will eventually receive Project Wild Ground Curriculum Books, certificates and continuing education credits.

Mannis said he applied for and received several thousand dollars in grants to fund the purchase of curriculum books.

Cochise County Superintendent Outreach Coordinator Cynthia Myers said the superintendent’s office would like to further support the development of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) projects in the county.

“We thought it would be a great opportunity for our office to provide a space for teachers to come outside the regular classroom and receive training that they probably wouldn’t be able to get in school, because it’s a real lesson. “It’s a regular curriculum,” Myers said.