Summary
Middle School teachers in the Monterrey Bay area participated in a three-day Polar Workshop designed to enlighten teachers regarding marine polar science and exploration through the use of remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs. The workshop was organized by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) and provided training for teachers alongside polar scientists and teacher mentors. The overall purpose of the workshop was to teach teachers about marine polar science and technology that could be used with students in classrooms. Teachers were teamed with a polar scientist and with a teacher-mentor for the three-day project.
The goals of the Polar Workshop were:
- to increase the teachers’ content knowledge about the Polar Regions, specifically related to how to teach polar science to their students;
- to improve the knowledge and skills related to best practices for K-12 science education for both teacher and scientist participants;
- to increase collaborations between teachers and scientists by fostering new relationships and by mentoring teachers not familiar with Polar Regions;
- to engage participants in hands-on activities and increase their knowledge of Polar Regions;
- to increase the contributions of scientists to the broader impacts of their research;
- to complete a portfolio of STEM related lessons and/or products that can be utilized by classrooms nationwide (e.g. robotics built by students and get tested by polar researchers; post-workshop webinar to share with other teachers, etc.)
Video of the workshop activities and results
Workshop Evaluation Report
This report presents results from a follow-up evaluation of the workshop to determine if the goals of the project were achieved. Workshop evaluations were completed by all fourteen teacher-participants.
Teach the Teacher! Building ROV’s to Teach Polar Science
In 2013, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) a non-profit corporation consisting of institutions organized and operated for educational, professional, or scientific purposes, received funding from Lockheed Martin to design and host a workshop for teachers.
Middle School teachers participated in a three-day Polar Workshop designed to enlighten teachers regarding marine polar science and exploration through the use of remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs. The Polar Workshop was offered as part of a teacher professional development activity that took at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The workshop provided training for teachers alongside polar scientists and teacher mentors. The overall purpose of the workshop was to teach teachers about marine polar science and technology that could be used with students in classrooms. Teachers were teamed with a polar scientist and with a teacher mentor for the three-day project.
Results from the evaluation of the Polar Workshop indicate this workshop was an excellent opportunity for the teachers who participated as well as for the scientists. In this presentation, we will share the evaluation data, best practices of the workshop model, and how teacher mentors, scientists, and graduate students can help teach teachers successfully.
Poster authors - Janet Warburton and Sarah Bartholow