Earn PDPs this winter at a free virtual professional development workshop covering microbiomes, nutrition, photosynthesis & climate change
August, 15-19 2022 | 9AM to 3PM
Medford High School
REGISTER
Science teachers nationwide are challenged to engage all learners in inquiry-based approaches. Join AceraEI’s Life Science Change Agent Teacher program this summer for a week of complimentary sessions focused on a) integrating hands-on labs to support student understanding of “doing science” and b) transitioning to storyline curricula to foster conceptual understanding of NGSS’s core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science practices.
This FREE five-day professional development is targeted towards 9th grade biology and middle school science teachers. Teachers have the option to attend part of the week; a minimum of 2 days is recommended. Teachers are eligible to earn 10-35 professional development points for Science and Technology/Engineering.
Questions? Email us at aceraei@aceraschool.org.
Workshop Schedule
-
Monday, August 15 – The Human Microbiome (Part I)
Focus on students authentically planning and carrying out investigations and analyzing and interpreting data. Learn how to tie emergent science on microbiomics to natural selection and body systems, using students’ own skin microbiomes as sources of evidence! Boost your skills in microbiology techniques and how to facilitate these novel lab activities in your classroom.
-
Tuesday, August 16 – The Secret Life of Plants
Develop students’ efficacy developing and using models. Learn two low-cost labs – the floating leaf disc and light reactions experiment – to aid student understanding of photosynthesis. Stretch students to design solutions to climate change.
-
Wednesday, August 17 – What Should We Eat?
Fine tune your approaches to asking questions to drive student inquiry. Support students in engaging in argument from evidence using curated data sources. Practice a macromolecule identification lab that is truly inquiry-driven, along with a yeast lab to drive home concepts of cellular respiration. In this workshop, teachers will collaborate with our team of curriculum writers to unpack how best practices in anti-racist education have been applied and how we drafted this storyline curriculum.
-
Thursday, August 18 – Curriculum Workshop (Part I)
By Thursday, you’ll have learned about three pilot-tested AceraEI curricular units, including five implementable labs. Today, you’ll identify a unit in your own curriculum that could use a boost. Perhaps the storyline curriculum you piloted last year could use more hands-on labs for your Honors students. Perhaps you want to extend our What Should We Eat? unit on biochemistry and nutrition to link to metabolic disease. Maybe the narrative arc of a unit needs clarification or more coherence. Our facilitators – and your peers! – will support groups in this collaborative process.
-
Friday, August 19 – The Human Microbiome (Part II) + Curriculum Workshop (Part II)
Expand your toolkit to support students’ close reading of scientific texts. Record results on colony morphologies and interpret your microbiome data. Continue developing your curriculum boost – so that you are prepared for the 2022-2023 school year!
