Frequently Asked Questions?

This program welcomes in-service middle school STEM teachers from districts in San Diego county, with a special emphasis on those from Catholic schools in San Diego or Imperial counties. The program also welcomes pre-service teachers currently enrolled in a teacher preparation program. Pre-service teacher applicants should be pursuing credentials to teach a STEM subject at the middle school level, preferably in San Diego County.

For the 2025-2026 Cohort, 60% of the spaces for in-service teachers will be reserved for teachers from Catholic schools in San Diego or Imperial counties. This program, however, seeks to provide opportunities for teachers to learn with and exchange ideas among fellow educators in other district systems. We strongly  encourage teachers applicants from other districts in San Diego to also apply and participate.

To apply for the 2025-2026 cohort, eligible participants must fill out an online form. The form requests background information on education and teaching experience, an indication of availability to engage in the program, a statement detailing one's interest in the program, and interest in advancing climate-change education during and beyond completion of the program. Additionally, for in-service teacher applicants, a letter of support from their principal will also need to be submitted, and  for pre-service teacher applicants, a letter of support from their academic advisor will need to be submitted. 

The application process will be open from March 14th until all spaces have been filled. Decision notifications will start being shared by April 18th. For the 2025-2026 cohort we aim to engage a total of 10 teachers. This cohort may consist of 6-8 in-service STEM teachers from San Diego and Imperial Valley Catholic Schools (SDIVCS) K-8 schools, 1-4 in-service STEM teachers from middle schools in other San Diego county districts and 1-4 pre-service teachers currently enrolled in a teacher preparation program, with the intention of obtaining credentials to teach a STEM subject at middle-school level, preferably in San Diego county.

The online form can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/USD_CCRET_APP

Selection criteria include availability to fully engage in the program, interest in advancing as a climate-change educator and leader in the district, and support from principal or advisor, to facilitate and encourage full participation.

Once accepted into the program, teacher applicants are referred to as teacher-scholars. The engagement period for teacher-scholar will formally be 1-year. This includes an orientation session in May, followed by 6 weeks from late June to late July, where the teacher-scholar will engage in a mentored research experience to address a defined challenge in one of the focus areas (i.e., sustainable energy, water justice or waste-upcycling) and start piloting potential lesson(s) for the middle-school level based on their research experience. From September to April the teacher-scholars will pilot the developed lesson(s) in their classroom(s), and refine the lesson(s) during 2 additional days and five 2-hr. virtual sessions of training/workshopping. The teacher-scholar will conclude the year in late April with a presentation and celebration session.

Orientation Session: Wednesday May 21, 2025 |9:00am - 3:00pm (Tentative)

6-Week Mentored Research Experience (Tentative): 

• June 23-June 26

• June 30-July 3 

• July 7-July 10

• July 14-July 17

• July 21-July 24

• July 28-July 31

July 19th is the Annual STEAM Youth and Community Conference which is held at USD. Teacher-Scholars will be encouraged to facilitate a workshop for students or other practitioners on climate-change education, based on their research experience.

Community of Praxis Kick-Off: September 10, 2025 |9:00am - 3:00pm

Curriculum Dissemination Workshop: December 3, 2025  |9:00am - 3:00pm

Culmination Celebration: April 29, 2026  |9:00am - 3:00pm

Virtual Zoom Sessions: 

October 15, 2025 from 3:30pm-5:30pm

Virtual Zoom Sessions (continued): 

November 19, 2025 from 3:30pm-5:30pm

January 14, 2026 from 3:30pm-5:30pm

February 18, 2026 from 3:30pm-5:30pm

March 18, 2026 from 3:30pm-5:30pm

During the summer, the expectation is for teacher-scholars to engage in research to address a roughly pre-defined challenge that will be further refined with input from the teacher-scholars at the beginning of the summer. The challenge will be related to one of the three focus areas (i.e., sustainable energy, water justice or waste-upcycling). The expectation is that approximately 25 hours of time will be needed each week to adequately address the research project and to support the translation of research experience into middle-school STEM lessons. During the week, teacher-scholars will work closely with their research advisor from Monday - Wednesday for about 20 - 21 hrs. The specific schedule will be set between the advisor and the teacher-scholar(s). There is room for flexibility, and it may be possible for some of the tasks to be done remotely, however we strongly encourage teacher-scholars to take full advantage of the campus environment and engage with the research community and participate in research seminars that will also be available during the summer. On Thursdays, teacher-scholars will meet with Bobbi Hansen and Odesma Dalrymple from 10am - 2pm, to engage in the following sessions: Curriculum Dissemination Workshopping (in Wk. 2), Data Analysis Workshop (in Wk. 3) Curriculum Development and Peer-to-Peer Curriculum Workshopping (Wks. 2 - 6) and Reflective Journaling Wks. 1 - 6). There will be no official research meetings on Fridays.

Most of the Summer Research Experience will occur on the USD campus. There may be a few trips to community- or industry-sites during the summer to support the research project and overall knowledge development in the climate-change focus areas. All the in-person workshops (i.e., the orientation and the post-summer in-person workshops) will occur on the USD campus.

The Eco Catalyzers RET leadership team, i.e., Bobbie Hansen, Marissa Forbes and Odesma Dalrymple, will work directly with teacher-scholars to support them in the translation of their summer research experience into middle-school level lessons. The first iteration of development will occur during the 6-week summer research experience and continue to be refined and piloted throughout the rest of the academic year in the follow-up workshop sessions.  The teacher-scholars will have autonomy in determining the extent of the lesson(s) developed and how it will be implemented in the classroom. The goal is for the developed lesson(s) to work within the existing STEM curriculum taught at the school and to be in alignment with the standards.

There is funding to support this program for 3 years, and we will be recruiting a different cohort of teachers each year. Since there is one more possible year in which a teacher can engage, we would advise that the team wait for next year when both teachers are available to engage.

In cases where a team of teachers from the same school is applying, which is preferred, at least one must be a STEM teacher. The other applicants may be from any non-STEM discipline. All participating teachers must be committed to ensuring that climate change concepts are taught within STEM classes and when possible, that it also extends to other subject areas, particularly in the social sciences. This model is particularly desirable because it reinforces the idea that climate change is a socio-technical issue requiring both socio-technical understanding and interdisciplinary solutions.

The ideal model involves teacher-scholars participating as a team from the same school. We encourage all interested teachers to apply. Successful models have included teams of two and three teachers from the same school, and we are open to replicating these approaches.

We encourage teacher applicants to still apply. In these circumstances the RET leadership team will work with the district to identify a potential partner from a neighboring school.