Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Northeast Front Range Math/Science Partnership

2007 Institutes:

Integrating Earth & Space Science with Physical Science

Teachers in all five partner districts are eligible for this institute.

This class addresses Earth and space science standards from the high school and middle school levels, seeking to help teachers articulate these concepts across grades 6-12 and to provide a variety of teaching strategies to help teachers engage students and enhance learning. Key content area include:

• Evidence used to organize the geologic time scale and support the theory of plate tectonics.
• Physical science concepts that drive weather and climate
• Light reflection, refraction, and spectroscopy as tools for studying the universe.

Teaching strategies that will be modeled and discussed include:

• Pre-assessing students in order to build science concepts from K-12
• Reworking traditional science labs to make them more inquiry-oriented
• Using reading strategies to keep students active and engaged
• Adding appropriate technology, such as computer simulations, to help in learning
• Maximising learning on well-planned and engaging field trips
• Writing and/or choosing high-quality assessments that tell you what students really understand

Instructors: Sandra Laursen, CU Boulder, and Marsha Barber, Jeffco (retired, marshabarber@mywdo.com)

Location: North Arvada Middle School / Jeffco Schools
June 25-29, July 2, 3, 30, 31, and August 1, 2007 (10 days)
(Map to the school, PDF)

Some class sessions will be held at: CU Boulder campus, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and/or Jeffco Schools Mt. Evans Outdoor Lab (specific dates at each location to be announced).

Draft 2007 syllabus (PDF)

To apply, download this flier and contact your district science coordinator. Applications are due March 15th, 2007, to your district science coordinator.

High school teacher Jonna Gentry points out contact between ancient granite and much younger sandstone at Red Rocks Park.

Teachers study granodiorite outcrops in view of the Continental Divide