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ASHEBORO -- The North Carolina Zoo has an ideal laboratory for science teachers to hone their classroom techniques and engage their students to learn more about wetlands.

A three-day workshop, Wetlands Across America, got under way Monday at the soon-to-be opened zoo wetland exhibit. Maryland-based Environmental Concern is conducting the workshop. Besides providing teachers with valuable resources and materials, it's encouraging them to take the learning experience out of the classroom.

"Taking people out into the wetland or out into the zoo or into the area to actually show them what I'm talking about really helps to foster that learning process instead of just talking about it from a textbook," said Environmental Concern's Mikayla Gilbert.

Heather Soja teaches at Asheboro High School's Zoo School, which is a short walk from the zoo's wetland.

"I'm learning about how wetlands are used, how they benefit humans, how they help the ecosystems and how our students can learn a great deal in a wide range of classes from wetlands," said Soja.

Teachers said they're always looking for a way to motivate their students.

"Opportunities like this help us take what we learned in the natural world, take it into the classroom, not just teach the science but get the kids motivated for other things," said Russ Kozerski, a third grade teacher at Virginia Cross Elementary School in Siler City. "We can integrate writing. We can integrate reading. We can integrate social studies."

Teacher Terry Brown said there's no substitute for hands-on learning.

"This shows them which species live in a wetland like this and which species indicate whether the wetland is healthy or not healthy," said Brown.

Gilbert said despite their newness, the wetlands at the North Carolina Zoo provide a wide variety of species for teachers to study.

"We've been blown away from what we've found," said Gilbert. "We found baby leopard frogs. We've already found dragonfly nymphs. We found a lot."

Four other teacher workshops will be held at the zoo over the summer.

Changing Climate; Changing Planet will be held July 21, Gorillas in the Glade on July 28.

Two half-day workshops, Sharing a Small World and Our World; Our Future will be held August 4.