A Portal to Place-Based Outdoor Education on and about the Colorado Plateau

“Monticello could be to the night sky
what Cedar City is to Shakespeare!”

The Four Corners School of Outdoor Education will soon have a new campus, the Canyon Country Discovery Center.  Our home will be on 48 acres just north of Monticello, Utah, with Plateau-inspired LEED-certified buildings and a spectacular outdoor classroom. So far we have erected a yurt and roll-off roof observatory with a 14-inch telescope to view our nationally recognized dark skies. Along with this new campus will come new, place-based programs called:

 The Discovery Institute for Conservation Education programs that will include:

• Hands-on interactive exhibits (30) designed for multiple ages and diverse audiences, with all signs and other written literature in English, Navajo, and Spanish.
• Outdoor Classroom elements such as Constellation Circles, Analemma, Pond and Wetlands, Nature Playscape, Animal Tracks, a Colorado River model, stream table, geo-strata wall, Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, Ethnobotany Trails and Gardens, Solar Display Panel, Dendrochronology benches, and a Wildlife Puzzle.
• Onsite education programs for K-12 students and teachers within the Visitor Center that enhance and supplement a school’s core curriculum. Astronomy will be a special part of our outdoor classroom.
• Teacher education programs, offered both as onsite and outreach programs and ultimately lead to certification in place-based outdoor education.
• Education outreach, in which staff will travel to communities on the Colorado Plateau to provide programs to schools and other interested residents. 
• Research programs directed by a full time Ph.D. Research Director and run by short and long-term visiting researchers and their students, with a small field lab.
• Conference/community meeting hall and classroom The dividable area will be used for conference groups up to 150 people, local clubs and special events as well as regional groups and a “bouldering” wall will be used for after school activities.
• The “Discovery Theater” will be a small and complete theater space within the conference space that will host science programs, movies, and workshops. 
• After-school and evening programs, workshops, and lectures will be open to the public and focused on the Discovery Center’s content areas.
• Certification programs that will include outdoor leadership, range/recreation technician, archaeology technician, and place-based education certification.