Teacher Workshop Goal to Improve Science Classes
Contact: Michael Wittmann, (207) 581-1237
In an effort to improve and strengthen science teaching in Maine middle and high schools, the University of Maine is organizing the first Summer Academy of the Maine Physical Sciences Partnership June 27-July 1.
The academy is supported by a National Science Foundation grant enabling the partnership, and takes place at the Schoodic Education and Research Center on Schoodic Peninsula on the Maine coast.
It provides a weeklong opportunity for middle and high school teachers to get together with resource coordinators, teaching partners from the University of Maine and others to learn new ways to make science interesting and meaningful for students, says Michael Wittmann, associate professor of physics and the main planner for the event.
“Next year, a group of middle school science teachers in Penobscot, Waldo and Hancock counties will be teaching with high quality materials that improve students’ understanding of science,” Wittmann says. “We’ll mostly be helping participants work through new materials. We’ll also talk about how to integrate teaching and learning activities across grades 6-9. We’re working toward a professional teacher community bound together by common experiences and interests.”
More than 70 people, including curriculum developers and trainers from publishers whose work will be used, are registered.