Teacher Training By Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski

Just back from conducting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teacher training workshops at the 2011 21st Century 4th Annual Institute hosted by Washington State Department of Education. I conducted two separate teacher training sessions during the conference. The first session titled :STEM On A Shoestring Budget. During this session teachers were introduced to low-cost inquiry-based STEM explorations that can be conducted with ease during their after school science programs and/or in the regular classroom setting. The second session was a three hour workshop titled: Developing Critical Thinking Skills via Exploring STEM Concepts.” During both workshops teachers were actively engaged in exploring hands-on-minds-on inquiry-based STEM explorations. Many of the STEM explorations introduced during the sessions can be expanded into project-based explorations such as designing, building and testing of parachutes, and building structures with simple materials. I enjoyed meeting all the teachers who attended my teacher training workshops, as well as the staff members responsible for organizing the conference. Great group of individuals who will share their knowledge with the students of Washington.

Back from conducting teacher training in the state of Colorado. Forty K-8 teachers from two Colorado magnet schools attended the training entitled “Integrating Science and Children’s Literature”. Teachers were introduced to over 60 children’s K-8 books that can be used to introduce and reinforce K-8 science concepts. Teachers were actively engaged in conducting hands-on-minds-on inquiry-based explorations to investigate K-8 science concepts. The Colorado Department of Education has revised the science standards from 5 to 3 to include Physical, Life and Earth Systems Science. The largest change to the science standards is acknowledging that scientific inquiry, science process skills, and content can’t be taught separately. These important aspects of science were integrated into the three science content standards. This change makes total sense. Teachers must integrate the nature of science, science process skills within all science explorations students undertake, as opposed to covering the nature of science in isolation in the first nine weeks of the school year. The following sample photos were taken from the Integrating Science and Children’s Literature K-8 teacher training workshop held in Colorado. Once again it was a great group of teachers.