Saturday

Workshop Program

Note: This workshop has already taken place. All workshop activities were held in the Gehl-Mulva Science (GMS) building on the St. Norbert College campus, room 1052, unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, April 7

Dinner will be available at the Michels Commons (the student cafeteria, with "embarrassingly good food"). We'll have an optional, informal get-together in the evening, for anyone who is arriving on Thursday.

Friday, April 8

Breakfast: Enjoy a continental breakfast at the Kress Inn or a full breakfast at the Michels Commons

Today's focus: What are the components of a strong K-8 science teacher preparation program?

9:00 Welcome, Workshop Goals and Overview - Tim Flood and Scott Kirst, St. Norbert College

9:15-9:30 Quick Introductions

9:30-10:30 Keynote address: What's Different This Time?NGSS and Why Science Education Reform Fails (and considerations for preventing another failure) - Don Duggan-Haas, Director of Teacher Programs, Paleontological Research Institution

Related resources:

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-12:00 Transforming Geoscience Preparation for K-8 Pre-Service Teachers at St. Norbert College (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 5.4MB Apr8 16) - Tim Flood and Scott Kirst, St. Norbert College

Tim and Scott will provide an overview of their NSF-funded project, the motivation for it, successes and challenges. Related resources:

12:00-1:30 Lunch at the Michels Commons

1:30-2:20 SNC Pre-service Teacher Q&A - moderated by Don Duggan-Haas

Students from SNC describe their experiences with the program and answer questions

2:20-3:10 In-service teacher panel - moderated by Scott Kirst

Workshop participants who are in-service science teachers offer their perspectives on what is most needed in teacher preparation programs

3:10-3:30 Break and set-up for the share fair

3:30-4:30 Share Fair

Workshop participants who wish to do so share a teaching activity or poster.

4:30-5:00 Individual Reflection

Participants think about what changes they would like to make in their own teacher preparation programs and the challenges to adoption.

5:00 "Roadcheck"

5:15 Dinner at the Michels Commons

Saturday, April 9

Breakfast: Continental breakfast at the Kress Inn

Today's focus: Making it happen

9:00-10:00 Making Programmatic Changes While Collaborating Across Disciplinary Boundaries (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 6.8MB Apr11 16) - Tim Flood and Scott Kirst, St. Norbert College

Tim and Scott will talk about

  • Changes to course content, driven by student needs and NGSS
  • Collaboration across disciplinary boundaries
  • Administrative issues/roadblocks and solutions

Related resources:

10:10-10:30 Break

10:30-11:20 Disciplinary sub-groups

Participants meet by group (science faculty, education faculty, in-service and pre-service teachers) to discuss key learning goals, how to integrate science content with methods, and other topics related to implementing these kinds of programmatic changes.

Links to private workspace pages for each group: science faculty | education faculty | K-12 teachers

11:20-11:40 Discussion in interdisciplinary small groups

Institutional teams or other small mixed teams discuss learning goals and the integration of science and methods

11:40-12:00 Whole Group Discussion: Where do our goals/plans overlap or converge? Where do they diverge?

Private workspace page with discussion summary notes

12:00-1:30 Lunch at the Michels Commons

1:30-2:30 Action planning

Participants (institutional teams, other small mixed teams, or individuals) develop action plans. Find an action planning page with your name on it in the private workspace.

2:30-3:15 Recommendations and Next Steps

Workshop participants, collectively, draft a set of recommendations for strengthening science teacher preparation (in our private workspace)

3:15-3:30 Wrap-Up and Workshop Evaluation