Professional Development Workshop for Teachers

MRSEC postdoc, Dr. Kermin Martínez-Hernández; Visiting Scholar, Sandy Sine; and former MRSEC RET participant, Troy Dassler organized a workshop “Integrating cutting-edge nanotechnology into the inquiry-based learning experience.” This was part of the professional development workshop prepared for Middle Year’s Science Teachers and organized by CESA 6 Science Center: Meeting Demand for 21st Century Learning and UW-Madison Wisconsin Leads in Math and Science Initiative in Heidel House, Green Lake, WI.

CESA 6 Science Center Goal: To support content expertise and high quality pedagogical practices in middle year’s science classrooms, grades 5-9. The CESA 6 Science Center has been designed through a partnership between CESA 6 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Leads in Math and Science initiative.

This center is a component of CESA 6’s partnership with the Wisconsin Leads Project and is intended to be implemented as a 2-year sustained professional development opportunity to support teacher capacity to promote deep understanding of essential science concepts.   This professional development is designed to be an ongoing process to improve science instruction at the middle year’s classroom level by:

• Increase the content knowledge of science educators
• Expand the ability of science educators to implement an inquiry-based instructional model
• Increase the capacity of science educators to engage in reflective practice as a vehicle to improve instruction (through the deployment of instructional coaching)
• Increase the capacity of science educators to differentiate science instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners
• Increase the capacity of science educators to integrate cutting-edge technology into the inquiry-based learning experience
• Develop an on-line resource portal to support teachers and students in inquiry–based science