One of the advantages of a K-12 teaching career is having the summers off. However, while many teachers pursue family and personal interests in the warm season, others return to college, honing their skills for the fall by taking teacher-training programs provided year-round at Cornell University.

The programs are part of Cornell's responsibility as a land-grant university, which requires the institution to dedicate itself to basic and applied research and, in the tradition of public service, be equally dedicated to passing that knowledge on in meaningful and relevant ways throughout the state.

"Universities have a resource that is precious to teachers and educators in the K-12 system, and that is deep knowledge both about the content and the ways of teaching," said Stephen Hamilton, Cornell's associate provost for outreach. "This is one way of sharing that resource."

For example, the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers will offer lectures by university experts this summer for kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers on topics ranging from plant biology and entomology to mammals, paleontology and molecular biology. Similarly, the Center for Nanoscale Systems at Cornell will offer its Institute for Physics Teachers in two sessions for teachers to bone-up on their physics for graduate credit.

Similar workshops are offered throughout the year. For example, Cornell hosted an Educator Professional Development Day in March. Some 1,200 educators from Tompkins, Seneca and Tioga counties chose from among 124 workshops, including My Students Won't Read: Overcoming Obstacles to Reading Comprehension, Buddhism Around the World and Introduction to Nanotechnology. Some workshops focused on subject matter while others offered activities and lessons to use in class, and still others discussed child development and teaching, and learning strategies and philosophies.

An exit survey of teachers at this year's Development Day indicated that 94 percent of educators found their time on campus was professional time well spent; 92 percent said they gained important knowledge and skills; 88 percent said their class or school would benefit from the two workshops they attended.

"We had many comments that referred to the stimulation of being able to be in a class with a first-rate professor," said Hamilton, noting that participants also reported that they felt appreciated and respected by Cornell.

"Teaching is not a highly respected profession in this country," said Hamilton. "So, participants felt honored that Cornell staff and professors would voluntarily spend time with them, share their knowledge and treat them as thinking people."

The workshops were so well received by the educators in attendance that area superintendents have strongly endorsed continuing the event each year. Cornell has already planned with the school districts to hold next year's event on March 23, a conference day when schools are closed.

Other ways that Cornell takes on the challenge to strengthen K-12 education include active outreach programs for teachers in such units as the Cornell Center for Materials Research and the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Hamilton noted that all of the challenges the United States faces -- terrorism, environmental degradation, new technologies and a rapidly changing world -- require a highly educated population.

"It's no longer all right for Cornell to say we'll just take the best students that the K-12 education system puts out. We need to put our resources into helping the whole system improve," said Hamilton.