Professional learning

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Virtual Lunch & Learn: Moving Through Climate Anxiety

Join the Rhode Island Environmental Education Association (RIEEA) for our bimonthly virtual lunch & learn on Wednesday, September 28th at 11:30 am. This month, we will be joined by Kate Schapira, a writer and teacher with over eight years of experience listening to people talk about climate change. Since 2014, she’s staffed the Climate Anxiety Counseling booth, mainly in Providence, RI, where she’s lived for 20 years and is involved with local efforts toward environmental justice, climate justice, and peer mental health support. She teaches nonfiction writing at Brown University and leads guest workshops on building climate and community emotional intelligence, and turning climate anxiety into connection and action. These workshops form the backbone of a book called Next Morning on Earth, forthcoming in 2024 with Hachette Go. The exercises for our lunch & learn are from those workshops, and were chosen to be useful both for educators and students. Learn more and register here.

Introducing Tinkering Labs from Lab-Aids: A Fun STEM Kit for Grades K-5! Calling all K-5 Educators! Join us on Thursday, October 27 from 4-6 pm at the East Bay Educational Collaborative (317 Market St., Warren RI) for a hands-on fun FREE Introduction to Tinkering Labs. Stephanie Wallace, Lab-Aids NGSS Science Expert, will lead teachers through creating their own Tinkering Lab machine. PD Science training hours are available for MA and RI participants. To enter a raffle for fun STEM-Themed prizes, register at https://ebecri.libcal.com/calendar/STEAM/tinker22 by Monday, October 17. Questions? Contact Kathy Eller (kathryn.eller@ebecri.org) and Linda Audette (linda.audette@ebecri.org).

I am STEM – STEM I am, FREE PD from the STEM Education Center at WPI

Variety of Dates / Times available, Sept. 22 – Oct. 13; virtual offerings. Bring STEM to your classroom during STEM Week 2022! The I am STEM – STEM I am lesson library engages students, grades PK-6, in solving problems in books and is designed to empower students to become problem solvers. With continued support from the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council, the library has been expanded to include more lessons and incorporate culturally and linguistically responsive teaching strategies. The lesson library is housed on a new website. All the lessons are aligned with grade-level ELA and math or STE standards, can be done in the classroom or remotely, and use everyday and recyclable materials. Whether you're new to the library or if you've used it with students in the past, join us for this PD to see what's new and get inspired to solve problems with your students!

The I am STEM PD is FREE and open to any PK-6 educator (in and out of school) interested in implementing a challenge with their students. This interactive and engaging 90-minute session will introduce you to the problem-solving process, show you how to navigate the library, allow you to briefly explore grade-level lessons, as well as try out an activity with colleagues. All participants will receive a certificate for 1.5 hours of PD.

Registration is NOW OPEN at wpi.edu. https://www.wpi.edu/academics/stem-education-center/professional-development/at-wpi. Contact Donna at dtaylor@wpi.edu with questions.

New STEM Teaching Tool Resource & Workshop: Attending to Student interests and Community Priorities in Phenomena (ACESSE Resource H)

In this workshop, we will build our capacity to identify a variety of meaningful phenomena of different types that connect to specific science and engineering learning standards. We will first explore what makes a phenomenon compelling to students and how we can ensure this happens in our classrooms. Then, we will focus on different classes of phenomena, and how using them can promote goals for equity. This resource can also be used by individuals wanting to learn how to allow students to take meaningful action to solve problems associated with real-world phenomena related to science and engineering. Get more information at https://stemteachingtools.org/pd/SessionH.

Be a Rhode Island Teacher at Sea!

The University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) is announcing an opportunity for Rhode Island formal and informal educators to experience ocean science research at sea aboard the research vessel Endeavor. For three days beginning on the evening of Friday, October 7 and ending on Sunday, October 9, 2022, chosen educators will work alongside GSO scientists using oceanographic research instruments and conducting experiments in the vessel’s wet and dry labs, learning various research techniques for studying the biology, physics, chemistry, and geology of the sea. The Rhode Island Teacher At Sea (RITAS) program, funded by the State of Rhode Island, is open to all Rhode Island educators formal and informal of all disciplines; participants do not need to be science teachers. General information about the RITAS program and an application form can be found at https://web.uri.edu/gso/outreach/ocean-classroom/rhode-island-teachers-at-sea-program/.

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