Almost 90% of students who complete »ªÌå»á’s Teaching and Research in Environmental Education (TREE) Semester remain in a teaching field or an environmentally motivated career. The reason? Students enrolled in the TREE Semester design and teach their own curriculum, complete almost 100 hours of experiential teaching, and conclude the semester with a professional portfolio, says Howard Drossman P’23, TREE Semester program director and professor of environmental education.
The TREE Semester is a 16-week residential semester, similar to a traditional study abroad experience, where students live and learn at the , in the montane forest near Woodland Park. While the program is open to all CC students, it was especially designed for students interested in environmental and educational fields. Unlike typical teaching programs that provide a limited number of teaching opportunities, TREE students have almost 100 hours of experiential teaching, where participants teach and research how K-12 students develop.
The Catamount Center for Environmental Science & Education is a field school and outdoor education center. TREE students work alongside the Catamount Center staff to inspire excitement and passion for outdoor learning in local K-12 students.
“Our educational research informs our teaching, and our teaching informs our research in a virtuous cycle of learning,” says Drossman.
Drossman founded TREE in 2015 with his wife, Julie Francis P’23, a former visiting lecturer in the Education Department and executive director for the Catamount Center. Drossman and Francis piloted the program with elementary school students and four fellows in 2014, but CC students didn’t participate until the following year. Drossman and Francis received some funding for the pilot by placing third in the Big Idea contest.
CC students can only participate in TREE once, but Drossman often hires TREE alumni to return as fellows. Fellows are residents who assist students with their science and education assignments, run the community, and take lead roles on the early teaching.
While students in TREE Semester take four classes and receive credit for four blocks; the four classes are taught together over the duration of the semester. All TREE students take the same three required education classes and one of two electives or an independent study. Drossman and Juan Miguel Arias ’12, visiting instructor at TREE for the past three years and newly-confirmed assistant professor of education, each teach two of the four classes.
By the end of the semester, each student has developed a professional portfolio that they submit to the Colorado Alliance for