Join hosts Dr. Rachael Arens, Associate Researcher at NAU PLANETS & Luke Henke, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at NASA on Thursday, April 6th at 7pm CT/ 8pm ET as they welcome Dr. Duncan and Dr. Keller who will discuss solar eclipses--from their first, seen from a rural village in remote Mexico, to the one that proved Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity that space can be bent, to the upcoming eclipses.  They will also explore their invented “Solar Snap,” which allows anyone to take photos of the sun using a smartphone camera and share the first of the Fiske Planetarium’s videos of the “Ring-of-Fire” October annular eclipse and the total solar eclipse.  

Access registration here!

Also, we are pleased to share our past episodes with you from our updated NASA Community Page. Feel free to watch former episodes and reach out to the guests for further resource information.

We hope to see you all on April 6th!

Teachers! Learning – and teaching – to code is accessible and fun! Join us for six virtual sessions with a cohort of like-minded peers. You'll earn PDPs as you learn javascript, and every lesson, exercise, and project from the sessions can be reused in your classroom. Find out more at: creativecodingteacher.org

Wade Institute for Science Education

2023 MA DESE OAPL Approved Professional Learning Workshop

This professional learning opportunity is an Approved Course for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning. It is free for eligible Massachusetts educators! Check your eligibility to attend for free and learn more about the MA DESE OAPL program:https://www.doe.mass.edu/instruction/ela/oapl

Building the Storyline

A professional workshop for grades 9-12 educators

An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning

Explore how to use storyline routines and anchoring phenomena to shift your curriculum to student-centered science learning as you explore the relationship between humans and the natural environment. Follow a storyline unit focused on sustainability, management of natural resources, ecosystems health, design solutions, and more. Engage in lessons from the unit as a learner, including the anchoring phenomenon routine and student-driven inquiry investigations, then reflect on those experiences as a teacher. Construct a storyline unit, incorporate relevant phenomena, and utilize best practices for DEI in the STEM classroom. Bring back to your classroom an outline of a storyline unit, inquiry investigations, and resources for developing your own storyline unit using culturally relevant phenomena.

 

Registration Information

Dates and Times: Monday, April 3rd and Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)
Collaborating partner & Location: Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Cost: $200 per educator or free for eligible MA educators

Credit: 14 PDPs or 1 graduate credit and 22.5 PDPs for an additional fee

Sign up today at https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/oapl!

Chemistry PD Series:  Help Teaching Chem--From Cognitive Science

When:  Wednesday March 15, 2023, 7-8 pm EST

Where:  online

Do you teach a course (including Honors HS, AP, or college general chemistry) aimed at helping students prepare for college STEM majors? 

Scientists who study how the brain works have recently made surprising discoveries about ways students most easily learn to solve calculations in the sciences.   Based on those findings, they recommend specific problem-solving strategies that have proven to improve success in challenging college first-year chemistry and science courses that follow.  This interactive workshop will include both the theory – working memory limits and how to work around them – and easy and practical tips to help solve calculations ranging from simple conversions to stoichiometry, gas laws, buffers, and kinetics.  Join in the fun of applying cognitive science to improve student success!

Presenter Eric (Rick) Nelson is a career chemistry instructor, host of the popular ChemReview blog, and recent co-author of the paper “Improving student success in chemistry through cognitive science,” accessed by instructors in the past year over 10,000 times (and available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10698-022-09427-w

 RSVP online at https://neact.org/event-5142564  by 3/13/2023 to be sent the meeting link.

NEACT Central Division Meeting:  Fostering student self-efficacy and science identity

When:  Saturday, March 11, 2023, 9 am- 12 noon (EST)

Where:  The Bromfield School, 14 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard MA

Join NEACT for an in-person discussion of strategies to foster student accountability and science identity of underrepresented groups in STEM by leveraging student involvement.  Please register by Thursday 3/9.   

Registration check-in and continental breakfast that morning will open at 9:00 am. The session will start at 9:30 am.  

Presenters:  Erin McQuaid and Leslie Bishop, Regis College (Weston, MA)

Increasing Student Accountability by Fostering Self-Efficacy Through Student Involvement

According to Bandura’s (1977) Self Efficacy Theory, a person with low self-efficacy does not believe that they have the ability to accomplish a task and, therefore, is not willing to pursue the task. A person with high self-efficacy does believe that they have the ability to accomplish a task and will persist to complete the task. Erin McQuaid and Leslie Bishop, members of the Spring 2022 Regis College Faculty Learning Community on equity-mindedness, will present the results of their research of fostering science self-efficacy through student involvement in the lecture and laboratory settings with the goal to increase student accountability. Afterwards they will open up a discussion of self-efficacy pertaining to the experiences of our attendees.     

Fostering Science Identity of Underrepresented Groups in STEM through Student Involvement

An analysis of the perceptions of the undergraduate female STEM majors’ experiences serving as mentors, presented a reinforcement of individual science identities fostered in a supportive community of women in STEM. The goal of Erin McQuaid’s presentation is to initiate a dialogue where other opportunities of student involvement in STEM programs, such as pedagogies, research and internships, have fostered science identity of underrepresented groups in STEM. Questions to structure this discussion are:

1) What other methods of student involvement are effective in fostering science identity of underrepresented groups in STEM?

2)How do student involvement opportunities foster science identity of underrepresented groups? and

3) How can schools, including higher education institutions, initiate involvement opportunities that foster science identity for its underrepresented students?

RSVP online at https://neact.org/event-5179728  

March ChemChat

When:  Thursday March 9, 2023 4-5 pm (EST)

Where:  Online

ChemChats are monthly open roundtable discussions on Zoom facilitated by NEACT.  ChemChats are aimed at high school and college chemistry teachers but are open to all STEM teachers. Come to share ideas, come to ask questions, or just come for the collegiality.

The  topic for the March ChemChat is "THERMOCHEMISTRY". From the basic differences between heat and temperature to AP problems, this is a topic where teachers have a lot of give one another. You are welcome to share documents in this folder. Host Sue Klemmer is starting a new feature: an open google.doc inside the folder where you can post questions ("What are the consequences if my students think heat is a fluid?") and needs ("I'm looking for a lab on Gibbs Free Energy that gives good numerical results.")

ChemChats are hosted by NEACT Northern Division Chair Sue Klemmer who is ZOOMING from the coast of Maine.   The ChemChat is scheduled from  4:00-5:00 pm EST.

RSVP online at https://neact.org/event-5163670 to be sent the meeting link.

Looking for fun, meaningful PD for your pre-service science educators? Schedule a free workshop with Population Education (PopEd)! The PopEd program has been producing teaching resources for over 40 years and offering professional development workshops that allow educators to experience the many hands-on, inquiry-based activities that have become part of tens of thousands of teachers’ K-12 classrooms. In both online and in-person workshops, pre-service students participate in lessons that explore a range of environmental topics. Educators walk-away inspired to teach about eco-issues, and with over 40 standards-aligned and classroom-ready lessons that will make it easy to bring environmental topics to life! To schedule an online or in-person workshop, click here. 

Engaging Students in the Engineering Process Using Sensors

A professional workshop for grades 6-12 educators

An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning

Build your skills and confidence to incorporate digital technology and computational thinking into engineering design portions of your curriculum, even with no prior coding experience! Explore coding and engineering design concepts through fun, engaging, hands-on projects using the Arduino Electronics Platform! 

Delve into a variety of investigations that you can use to explore using Arduino Sensors with your students. Model how to engage students with hands-on lessons that develop an understanding of the engineering design process, including using engineering design drawings and bread boards, as we explore the concepts of current, voltage, and digital logic as well as the fundamentals of programming. Participate in a design challenge you would like to incorporate into your own curriculum. Receive an Arduino kit to start using these materials and investigations in your classroom!

This professional learning opportunity is designed for Arduino beginners and intermediate users. Other sensors can be used along with the products that can be created with the kits.

Registration Information

Dates and Times: Thursday, April 27th and Friday, April 28th, 2023 (8:30 AM  – 3:30 PM ET)

Location: Massasoit Community College (Canton Campus)

Cost: $200 per educator or free for eligible MA educators

Credit: 14 PDPs or 1 graduate credit and 22.5 PDPs for an additional fee

Find out if you qualify to attend for free and register online:https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/oapl

 

Learn more about the MA DESE OAPL program:https://www.doe.mass.edu/instruction/ela/oapl

Building a Storyline

A professional workshop for grades 9-12 educators

An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning

Explore the relationship between humans and the natural environment all while refreshing your curriculum with storyline teaching and phenomena! Follow a storyline unit focused on sustainability, management of natural resources, ecosystems health, design solutions, and more. Engage in lessons from the unit as a learner, including the anchoring phenomenon routine and student-driven inquiry investigations, then reflect on those experiences as a teacher. Construct a storyline unit, incorporate relevant phenomena, and utilize best practices for DEI in the STEM classroom. Bring back to your classroom an outline of a storyline unit, inquiry investigations, and resources for developing your own storyline unit using culturally relevant phenomena. Register online today at https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/oapl!

This professional learning opportunity is an Approved Course for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning and is free for eligible Massachusetts educators.  

 

Registration Information

Dates and Times: Monday, April 3rd and Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)
Collaborating partner & Location: Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Cost: $200 per educator or free for eligible MA educators

Credit: 14 PDPs or 1 graduate credit and 22.5 PDPs for an additional fee

Find out if you qualify to attend for free and register online:https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/oapl

Wade Institute for Science Education

2023 Professional Learning Workshops

Building a Storyline

A professional workshop for grades 3-5 educators

An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning

Whether you are a botany expert or you are new to the world of plants, refresh your curriculum with storyline teaching and phenomena! Follow a storyline unit focused on plant parts, basic needs, life cycles, adaptations, and more. Engage in lessons from the unit as a learner, including the anchoring phenomenon routine and student-driven inquiry investigations, then reflect on those experiences as a teacher. Construct a storyline unit, incorporate relevant phenomena, and utilize best practices for DEI in the STEM classroom. Bring back to your classroom an outline of a storyline unit, inquiry investigations, and resources for developing your own storyline unit using culturally relevant phenomena. Register online today at https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/oapl!

This professional learning opportunity is an Approved Course for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning and is free for eligible Massachusetts educators.  

 

Registration Information

Dates and Times: Monday, March 6th and Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)

Collaborating Partner & Location: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill

Cost: $200 per educator or free for eligible MA educators

Credit: 14 PDPs or 1 graduate credit and 22.5 PDPs for an additional fee

Find out if you qualify to attend for free and register online:https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/oapl