Want to stay in the know about upcoming teacher professional development opportunities? Sign up for our mailing list here!
Want to stay in the know about upcoming teacher professional development opportunities? Sign up for our mailing list here!
Introduction to Localizing National Science Units
Workshop for K-8 Grade Teachers | March 6
Introduction to Localizing OpenSciEd for Secondary Teachers
Workshop for 6-12 Grade Teachers | March 18
Localizing Your OpenSciEd Secondary Science Unit
Workshop for 6–12 Grade Teachers | April 27
IslandWood’s free professional development courses provide science teaching strategies to increase equity, student engagement, and student understanding needed to address climate change.
Courses are eligible for STEM clock hours and are free thanks to funding through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s (OSPI) ClimeTime initiative.
STEM Clock Hours are available for all teachers upon successful completion of each course and must be claimed and paid for through pdEnroller. Please contact Brad Street at [email protected] for any questions about claiming your clock hours.
We provide professional development opportunities for K – 8th grade teachers.
All of our courses include:
Learn a bit more about the impact of our professional development courses from teachers themselves here.
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)* call for students to use the practices, concepts and content of science and engineering to understand phenomena and solve problems that are relevant to their lives. Starting from a student’s own experiences and community makes the science meaningful and increases engagement while helping students understand how global issues like climate change are present and addressable in their lives. In our courses and workshops, we examine how you can use the new science standards and your community to understand and address real world environmental problems and explore together how to integrate NGSS into your district’s classroom science units.
– Professional Development Course Participant
IslandWood has been working with the developers of Amplify Science, OpenSciEd, Educational Service Districts, teachers, and Seattle Public School’s science department to localize science units. The courses are designed to help your students make meaningful and authentic connections between the science they are doing in the classroom to their region and community.
If you are teaching a national science unit in your classroom, we have professional development designed to help you localize it.
Localizing Amplify Science
IslandWood, Puget Sound ESD, and Olympic ESD have put together experienced K-8 teachers, TOSAs and District Science Leads to be a part of a year-long working group that will develop materials to support local connections in national Amplify Science Units.
On August 7th, 2023 we began the second year of our working group to plan to build on the appendices that were created and piloted in 2022 and create a few new ones.
We’re leading a cohort for the Summer Institute for Climate Change Education! Join us, and educators from across North America, for an impactful 3-day online training July 15th – 16th with one regional cohort day on July 18th at IslandWood.
– Chantal F., Teacher, Emerald Heights Elementary School
Our work with teachers is critical in broadening our reach in the region. Teachers share how IslandWood teacher professional development courses are impacting their teaching, and their students!
91% of teachers reported feeling more prepared to incorporate climate science into their teaching after participating in our professional development, up from just 41% prior to participation.
96% of teachers reported increased confidence in their ability to support equitable and just science education, up from 46%.
After participating in our professional development workshops, 96% percent of teachers reported an increased ability to connect to their students’ interests and identities, up from just 56% before. Learning that connects to students’ lives fosters deeper engagement, honors multiple ways of knowing, and helps students synthesize information better.
Each year, our teacher professional development courses create an exponential ripple of positive change and care for the environment.
Our teacher professional development opportunities are made possible thanks to generous support from King County and a grant from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
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IslandWood acknowledges that we live and work on the ancestral land of the Coast Salish people, who have been stewards of this region's land and waters since time immemorial, and who continue to protect these lands and waters for future generations, as promised by the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, the Treaty of Point No Point of 1855, and the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854.
While the majority of our work takes place on Suquamish (suq̀ʷabš) and Duwamish (dxʷdɐwʔabʃ) land, we also conduct programs on the land of the Snohomish (sduhúbʃ), Puyallup (spuyaləpabš), Muckleshoot (buklshuhls), Skokomish (sqoqc’bes), and S’Klallam (nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm) peoples.
IslandWood is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our tax ID number is 31-1654076.
4450 Blakely Ave. NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206.855.4300
When you give $150 or more over twelve months, you become a Friend of IslandWood. You’re supporting our environmental education programs throughout the region AND you’ll have special access to our Bainbridge trails. Learn more!