Sign up today for the Wade Institute's Fall 2022 Professional Learning Opportunities!
Amanda Noble
Wade Institute for Science Education
Fall 2022 Professional Learning Opportunities
Extreme Zoo Makeover: A STEM Approach to Habitat Design
2022 Mass STEM Week Design Challenge
Help your students rise to the MA STEM Week theme “See Yourself in STEM” as they use their STEM skills and creativity to meet the “Extreme Zoo Makeover” Challenge. Participation is FREE!
Join the Wade Institute for Science Education and our collaborating partners, the Lloyd Center for the Environment and Buttonwood Park Zoo, for our 2022 STEM Challenge “Extreme Zoo Makeover: A STEM Approach to Habitat Design.” The Challenge will engage students in grades 5-8 in a unique experience that integrates science and engineering concepts in a series of inquiry-based investigations that lead up to a student-driven challenge. Elementary and high schools are welcome to participate in the challenge.
Students will be given the following challenge: “Your local Zoo needs a makeover! As we learn more about animals’ needs, we’ve realized the Zoo’s old habitats are no longer adequate and it’s up to you and your engineering team to redesign them. You must find a way to 1) design habitats that meet the specific needs of the animals for which you are designing them, 2) engineer an enrichment item for your animal species that will stimulate natural behaviors, and 3) create an interpretive sign and interactive features that will engage the public in your animal habitat.”
The Challenge will include:
A Professional Development session for educators planning to implement the challenge in their classrooms. Pre-Challenge Professional Development Sessions will be held on Wednesdays, September 21st and 28th, 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM ET (virtual session) OR Saturday, September 17, 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM ET (in-person session at Buttonwood Park Zoo).
A curriculum guide providing background information and inquiry-based investigations that can be used to lead up to the Challenge.
A materials kit for implementing the challenge in your classroom.
Save your spot! Sign up today at https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/massachusetts-stem-week-challenges!
The Massachusetts STEM Week is sponsored by the Executive Office of Education and the MA STEM Advisory Council. Our STEM Challenge is funded by a grant from the MA STEM Advisory Council. For more information about STEM Week, visit https://www.mass.gov/service-details/stem-week.
Our Climate, Our Communities: Science, Systems, and Solutions
A Hybrid Professional Development Institute for Middle and High School Educators
Explore examples of best practices in climate change education with the Wade Institute for Science Education and our collaborating partner Salem Sound Coastwatch through the broad phenomena-based theme of, “Our Climate, Our Communities: Science, Systems, and Solutions." Experience a hybrid format of on-site sessions combined with online learning as you engage in climate and energy investigations, talk directly with scientists and engineers, explore your own local resources, and develop units and investigations you can use in your classroom. Leave the course with tools and resources for integrating climate change concepts into your instruction and the confidence to engage your students in active discussion, sense-making, and problem solving around challenging and dynamic topics of climate change. Take back to school a materials kit for the inquiry-based, hands on investigations you explore during the course.
Guest Speakers:
Dr. Bob Chen, Dean of the School for the Environment and Professor of Environmental, Earth and Ocean Sciences, UMass Boston
Richard Rys, Chemical Engineer, Principal of R2 Controls
Dan Kittredge, Executive Director, Bionutrient Food Association
Dr. Tamara Ledley, STEM Education Consultant, En-Roads
Dr. Brian Helmuth, Professor, Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University Marine Science Center
Registration Information
Online Sessions: September 23 – December 11, 2022
On-Site Sessions: Saturdays, October 1 & 22, November 12, and December 3 (8:30 AM – 2:30 PM) at Salem Sound Coastwatch in Salem, MA
Cost: $450 per participant with discounts available for teacher teams
PDPs and Optional Graduate Credit available
Register online: https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/academic-year-professional-development-institutes
Engaging Students in the Engineering Design Process Using Sensors
A 2-day Workshop for Grades 6-12 Educators
Are you interested in incorporating digital technology and computational thinking into engineering design portions of their curriculum, but are uncertain how to get started on your own? Join the Wade Institute for Science Education for a two-day professional learning experience as we explore coding and electronics through fun, engaging, hands-on projects using the Arduino Open Source Electronics Platform.
This sensor workshop is designed for Arduino beginners and intermediate users. Other sensors can be used along with the products that can be created with the kits. You will leave the workshop with an Arduino kit to start using these materials and investigations in your classroom!
Registration Information
Dates: Friday, October 14th and Saturday, October 15th, 2022 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM)
Location: Bristol Community College
Cost: $225 per participant with discounts available for teacher teams
12 PDPs
Register online: https://www.wadeinstitutema.org/focus-workshops