Dallas Zoo¿s Inclusive Volunteer & Workforce Pathways

The STEM & Conservation Education Volunteer Training Curriculum Developer VISTA will build capacity within the Dallas Zoo Volunteer program. This role focuses on designing standardized, accessible STEM and conservation curriculum toolkits, bilingual family resources, and educator training frameworks. The ultimate goal is to expand informal STEM learning access for low-income and Title I school districts.
Key Responsibilities
¿Needs Assessment: Review existing educational assets, identify accessibility gaps, and align instructional frameworks with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards.
¿ Curriculum & Translation Design: Develop digital and physical STEM learning modules to train volunteers, featuring hands-on inquiry and visual supports. Produce bilingual (English/Spanish) educational resource packets and create a centralized digital repository for all finalized lesson plans.
¿ Educator Training & Community Pilots: Design a "train-the-trainer" toolkit to equip community educators to deliver the volunteer conservation ambassador training modules. Pilot the newly developed curriculum guides across partner classrooms in local Title I schools and refine the materials based on educator feedback.
¿ Evaluation & Sustainability: Develop a standardized evaluation matrix with pre- and post-module assessments to measure long-term STEM literacy and conservation attitudes. Build an automated reporting dashboard and conduct transition training with permanent Zoo staff to ensure a complete institutional handoff of all curriculum assets.
Community Impact: Operating under the primary focus area of Economic Opportunity, this project addresses resource shortages, language limitations, and accessibility barriers that impede underserved student volunteers from engaging with c