It’s all about the kids experiencing Shaver’s Creek — it makes them better citizens of the world.
Shaver’s Creek School Partnerships
Shaver’s Creek school outreach programming works directly with Mifflin County School District and Juniata Valley School District to provide hands-on, inquiry-based lessons focused on science and the environment. We have worked with these local school districts to develop topics and program formats that build upon each other from year to year, in order to create a multi-visit progression for students throughout their K–12 school experience.
Grade-level programming provided by Shaver’s Creek is aligned with the Pennsylvania Common Core and the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Academic Standards for Science and Technology and Engineering Education and Environment and Ecology. In addition, the overall K–12 program goals are guided by the Tbilisi Declaration’s five main objectives for quality environmental education in a stepwise trend: awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills, and participation.
School Outreach Programming Availability
Because our curriculum-based school outreach programming is focused on a multi-visit progression for more than 10 schools and close to 3,000 students across Mifflin County School District and Juniata Valley School District, we are unable to accommodate schools outside of these school districts at this time.
Grade K–4
Tbilisi Goal: Awareness
Shaver’s Creek Program Overview: STEM-, science standards–, and inquiry-based programming
Annual Programming: K–2: one day at school; 3–4: one day at SCEC
Grade 5
Tbilisi Goal: Knowledge
Shaver’s Creek Program Overview: Outdoor School
Annual Programming:4-day/3-night residential, outdoor education experience
Middle School
Tbilisi Goal: Attitude and Skills
Shaver’s Creek Program Overview: STEM-, citizen science–, and inquiry-based programming
Annual Programming: One day at school
High School
Tbilisi Goal: Participation
Shaver’s Creek Program Overview: Project-based and citizen science–oriented programming
Annual Programming: 2 days: one day at school and one day at SCEC
School Outreach Programming Education Staff
Shaver’s Creek Educators include a mix of young professionals and Penn State students that are trained in the fields of natural history, interpretation, inquiry-based science, and environmental education. Our overall goal is to facilitate positive outdoor experiences for students of all ages.
All Educators are in compliance with Penn State’s background-check requirements, which include completing protocol trainings and obtaining three publicly available clearances: (1) Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Background Check, (2) Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance, and (3) Federal (FBI) Fingerprint Background Check.
