PARIS — KIDS (kids involved doing service-learning) Consortium will offer a free Project Citizen workshop for grades five to 12 educators from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, March 17, hosted by Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

Training will take place at Western Maine Community College Center, 232 Main St., South Paris. Preregistration is required at www.kidsconsortium.org.

Educators will discover how to engage students in a cooperative learning process as they identify and research solutions to a public policy issue in their communities. They will understand how Project Citizen meets state standards using literacy, data collection analysis and applications of social studies processes.

KIDS Consortium hosts and plans an annual State Showcase Day for students to share their project work with teams from other schools. They have an opportunity to hone their presentation skills as they share their work with policy-makers during formal presentations. The gathering takes place every spring at the Hall of Flags, Maine State House, Augusta.

Matt Robinson, education consultant at KIDS, coordinates Project Citizen in Maine with the National Center for Civic Education. Project Citizen is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and co-sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

KIDS Consortium, based in Auburn, is a nonprofit organization that promotes hands-on learning by offering service-learning professional development for educators and community organizations. For more information, contact 784.0956 or kap@kidsconsortium.org.