2020 Summer Professional Development Institutes
This summer, recharge your enthusiasm for science education by participating in a dynamic virtual professional development learning opportunity! Spend time in a virtual classroom, participate in small group investigations and complete some of your work remotely. Walk away with tools, resources, and investigations to effectively engage your students in STEM in your remote or on-site classroom.
Making Place-Based Learning Phenomenal
Virtual Institute for Grades 4-12 Educators
Dates: July 14, 16, 21, 23, 2020
Use phenomena to take place-based education to a new level! Whether remotely or in the classroom, blending phenomena with place-based learning allows you to leverage student curiosity and life experiences as they investigate questions and problems right in their own communities. Join us remotely to investigate phenomena you can explore with your students and collaborate with your course peers to identify relevant phenomena in your own community.
Partners & Collaborators: New England Aquarium; Hitchcock Center for the Environment
Science, Technology, and a Changing Environment: Measuring Change to Predict the Future
Virtual Institute for Grades 6-12 Educators
Dates: July 27-31, 2020
Join engineers, scientists, and naturalists this summer and discover how new technologies with diverse sensory capabilities can transform data collection and data visualization and empower us to understand their impacts more fully as we model these changes and predict how they may affect our quality of life, from our homes to our parks to our workplaces.
Partners & Collaborators: Mass Audubon’s Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary; Manomet, Inc.; Sensata Technologies
Nature and Design: Connections Between Science, Engineering, and the Marine Environment
Virtual Institute for Grades 4-8 Educators
Dates: August 3-7, 2020
Explore themes of biomimicry as you investigate how nature’s innovations can help inform solutions to real-world design problems. Virtually visit field sites to make wildlife observations, tour engineering labs to see examples of marine engineering inspired by adaptations of marine life, connect with research scientists who both inform and rely on technological innovation, and develop standards-aligned, inquiry-based investigations to share with your students.
Partners & Collaborators: National Marine Life Center; Atlantic White Shark Conservancy; Lloyd Center for the Environment; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Integrating Inquiry and Literacy in the Elementary Science Classroom
Virtual Institute for Grades K-2 Educators
Dates: July 28-30, 2020
How can you integrate science and literacy learning through inquiry-based learning remotely or in the classroom? Join us for a dynamic remote institute and explore how to use inquiry and the Science and Engineering Practices to deepen students’ understanding of both science concepts and literacy strategies. Practice using books, productive talk, and science writing to spark deep learning in science in both the classroom and remote settings.
Partners & Collaborators: Flying Cloud Institute; Jeff Winokur, Education Consultant; Karen Worth, Education Consultant