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We provide workshops in science
laboratory inquiry-based activities, introduction to the Internet,
integrating technology into science curriculum, and designing and
using problem-based learning scenarios.
Every Child A Scientist
A workshop on the scientific method and science process
skills for Atlanta Public Schools middle school teachers.
Evolution
at the High School Level
An active learning workshop for high school teachers
on the challenges of teaching evolution in the contemporary classroom.
Excellence in Curriculum Integration through
Teaching Epidemiology (EXCITE)
Expanding on the success of the EXCITE Workshop during
summer 2002, the workshop was offered during the summer of 2003
to enhance current science and math curricula in schools throughout
the Atlanta-Metro area.
Excellence
in Curriculum Integration through Teaching Epidemiology (EXCITE)
The Center for Science Education (CSE) at Emory,
along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
offered a 2-day workshop on the aspects of teaching epidemiology
in the classroom. The workshop included defining epidemiology and
biostatistics, outbreak investigations, a seminar at the CDC, along
with a Global Health Odyssey Tour. Participants were given the opportunity
to meet scientists employed by the CDC, as well as the chance to
ask questions related to this field.
Babies
& Birth Defects: A Mystery in Texas.
A Teaching Module for Middle and High School Teachers and Students
The Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
(NCBDDD) of the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in conjunction with the Emory
Center for
Science Education (CSE) were pleased to present a web-based module
called “Babies and
Birth Defects: A Mystery in Texas”, a module developed for
EXCITE (Excellence in
Curriculum Integration though Teaching Epidemiology).
Water Workshop
This summer we offered an inquiry-based
workshop entitled, "Water, Water, Everywhere: Is It Any Good
to Drink?" conducted by Atlanta Public School master teachers
Deneen McBean-Warner, Nikki Mouton, Rosa Roberts and Will Todd.
The workshop was been designed around the premises exposed by the
National Center for Improving Science Education and The Biological
Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS). Science should be exciting and
related to the students' real world experiences. Results of the
BSCS study indicated that teachers for a variety of reasons were
not designing lessons that addressed their students' "real
life" experiences. The framework of this professional development
workshop will allow teachers to:
· Explore and create curricula consisting of
hands-on activities that address a variety of learning styles
· Develop and enhance their scientific and technological
knowledge base
· Examine socially and meaningful scientific content that
could later be explored with their students
· Develop a constructivist approach to learning by designing
exciting activities in cooperative groups
The final product will be one that addresses National,
State and System curriculum objectives.
We collaborated with the Dr. Melissa Demetrikopoulos,
Center for Behavioral Neuroscience faculty, in organizing a teacher
workshop on Diversity and Adaptations in the Brain for middle school
teachers.
Neuroscience workshop for Teachers (co-sponsored
by the CBN)
The workshop, facilitated by Dr. Demetrikopoulos
and GIFT teacher David Parlier, used brain diversity as a way to
expand upon the external characteristics that are typically used
to study the Life Science curriculum objectives for the state of
Georgia. 18 participants attended the weeklong workshop and had
access to the various brain specimens and other resources used in
the workshop for their classroom.
JULY 10 - 13 BioQuest Workshop : Investigative case-based learning
Margaret A. Waterman, Ph.D., Southeast Missouri State University
Ethel D. Stanley, Ph.D., Beloit College
The investigative case based learning approach is a method of learning
and teaching that gives students opportunities to direct their own
learning as they explore the science underlying realistically complex
situations. Investigative case-based learning is student-centered.
Students identify issues and frame questions of interest to themselves
and in the process they also learn to: locate and manage information;
develop reasonable answers to the questions; provide support for
their conclusions, and; work on decision making abilities.
The cases serve as springboards to student-designed investigations.
Students structure their own learning, using the "story" of the
case as a focus. Although the case defines the general area of biology
under investigation, students generate the questions that will define
their own topic of study. These cases are useful for lifelong learning
because they are open-ended and draw from a broad range of situations
in which biology and scientific reasoning can be applied. Open-ended
cases necessarily shift the focus of student learning beyond the
facts of science to include using scientific knowledge to frame
questions and to answer them.
Investigative case-based approaches to biology encourage problem
posing, problem solving, and persuasion. Instructors as well as
the students are collaborators in this process. As students pose
problems, try to solve them, and present conclusions that represent
their own findings to others, both the instructor and other students
may serve as resources for methods and for aid in defining potential
strengths and weaknesses in the design of the problem statement
and the investigation. The resolution (or clarification) of the
problem and its presentation to other students as well as to the
instructor extend opportunities for student practice in utilizing
and evaluating scientific approaches to problem solving.
see learning
modules
JULY 17 - 21, 2000
Molecular Modeling:
Vincent Tolbert, Physics and Physical Science Teacher, Frederick
Douglass High School, Atlanta, GA
Participants learned how to use Rasmol, an interactive molecular
graphics program, to visualize proteins, nucleic acids and small
molecules. Rasmol can be used to display, teach and generate quality
research images. With this program students can see the new wave
of computer-based scientific research and can manipulate and construct
proteins and molecules three dimensionally.
JULY 24 - JULY 28
Neuroscience Workshop for Middle School Teachers:
Diversity and Adaptations in the Brain Melissa K. Demetrikopoulos,
Ph.D., Neuroscience Educator, Georgia State University
This workshop used brain diversity as a way to expand upon the external
characteristics that are typically used to study the following Georgia
QCCs for Life Science:
Zoology Grade 5: Compares different kinds of animals and their protective
adaptations
Grade 5: Compares similarities and differences in animals
Grade 7: Sorts members of the Chordata phylum into classes by observation
of characteristics
Classification Grade 7: Explains the method scientists use to classify
living things
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