2025 Philadelphia Institute: Teaching Students to Evaluate Sources and Claims

Join us June 25-June 28, 2025 for a three and a half day Institute for middle and high school teachers. The Institute will explore and connect two types of curricular materials that deepen students' understanding of how to evaluate socioscientific issues, such as the climate crisis, energy use, and food security, using instructional scaffolds called Lateral Reading and Model-Evidence Link Diagrams.

We are looking for school-based pairs of teachers who have overlapping student populations to apply as a team. Our vision is to partner one science teacher (particularly in Earth or environmental sciences) with either a social studies or English language arts teacher so the same student population experiences both types of curricular materials. Solo applicants from any of the three content areas will also be considered.

There will be two pre-Institute webinars (May 5 and May 19, both 7-8 p.m. EDT) and a 3.5-day Institute June 25-June 28 at Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, Philadelphia, PA. Complete participation in the webinars and the Institute will result in a stipend of $900 per teacher. Up to two additional webinars will be offered during the 2025-2026 school year for an additional $100 stipend. That is a total of $1,000 in stipend funding.

Application Deadline: April 4, 2025. Applicants will be notified of a decision by April 21.

Questions can be directed to mel2institutes@gmail.com. We hope to see your application soon!