Focus Workshops are multi-day professional learning opportunities that provide a deep dive into content and inquiry investigations focusing on one STEM discipline. Browse through information about our previous Focus Workshops below!
Previous workshops have included…
This course was offered as part of Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses for Massachusetts educators. Eligible Massachusetts educators were able to take this course for free with $150 substitute pay. Learn more by visiting our OAPL page.
A Focus Workshop for Grades 6-12 Educators
An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning
Join the Wade Institute for Science Education for a two-day professional learning experience as we explore coding and engineering design concepts through fun, engaging, hands-on projects using the Arduino Electronics Platform. Engaging Students in the Engineering Design Process Using Sensors is designed for middle and high school teachers who are interested in incorporating digital technology and computational thinking into engineering design portions of their curriculum, but who lack the skills or confidence to get started on their own.
Delve into a variety of investigations that explore using Arduino Sensors with your students. Build a control panel for your Starship, create a Love-O-Meter, design a Color Mixing Lamp, experiment with a Motorized Pinwheel and make your own Light Theremin (a musical instrument you play by waving your hands). Then create another device of your own choosing with guidance from our instructors. We will model how to engage students with hands-on lessons that develop an understanding of the engineering design process, including using engineering design drawings and bread boards, as we explore the concepts of current, voltage, and digital logic as well as the fundamentals of programming. Experience how to guide student driven learning through critical thinking and collaborative learning activities as your students work to solve problems. We will share how the technology is used in real world applications in a wide range of industries that affect our lives as well as how this technology is used in scientific studies. As the final component of the workshop, you will be asked to select a design challenge you would like to incorporate into your own curriculum and brainstorm with your peers to identify opportunities for students to embed sensors into their projects.
You will leave the workshop with an Arduino kit to start using these materials and investigations in your classroom.
This sensor workshop is designed for Arduino beginners and intermediate users. Other sensors can be used along with the products that can be created with the kits.
Workshop Highlights:
Examine and design engineering drawings to create your own device.- Identify how Arduino can be used to address Problem-Based Learning in any science course.
- Walk away with your own sensors kit and lessons to use in your classroom.
- Gain access to on-line program software for students to use to create projects.
- Make connections with industry partners as a classroom resource.
- Gain hands-on practice with sensors as you work with middle and high school teachers who use these devices in their classrooms.
This course is FREE for eligible MA educators through MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses.
Registration Information:
Dates and Times: Thursday, April 27th and Friday, April 28th, 2023 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)
Location: Massasoit Community College, Canton, MA.
Cost: FREE for eligible MA educators that qualify through MA DESE’s OAPL program and includes $150 substitute pay. $250 per educator from non-qualifying schools.
PDPs and Optional Graduate Credit: 14 PDPs available without graduate credit. 22.5 PDPs and 1 graduate credit from Cambridge College available for $75. Additional work is required for graduate credit.
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
This course was offered as part of Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses for Massachusetts educators. Eligible Massachusetts educators were able to take this course for free with $150 substitute pay. Learn more by visiting our OAPL page.
A Focus Workshop for Grades 9-12 Educators
An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning
Explore how to use storyline routines and anchoring phenomena to shift your curriculum to student-centered science learning as you explore the relationship between humans and the natural environment. In this workshop, you’ll follow a storyline unit focused on sustainability, management of natural resources, ecosystems health, design solutions, and more. You’ll engage in a few lessons from the unit as a learner, including the anchoring phenomenon routine and student-driven inquiry investigations, then reflect on those experiences as a teacher. During the workshop, you will learn how to construct a storyline unit, incorporate relevant phenomena, and utilize best practices for DEI in the STEM classroom, including establishing classroom norms and processes that value all student resources. You will leave the program with an outline of a storyline unit, inquiry investigations to use in your classroom, and resources for developing your own storyline unit using culturally relevant phenomena.
Using the storyline approach we will:
- Explore an anchoring phenomenon that sparks wonder at the start of the unit
- Identify phenomena relevant to your local community
- Demonstrate the importance of biodiversity in an ecosystem
- Evaluate competing design solutions for minimizing impacts to the natural environment
- Observe the relationship between humans and nature in the Blackstone River Valley
- Participate in place-based learning experiences
- Complete a culminating activity for the unit
This course is FREE for eligible MA educators through MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses.
Registration Information:
Dates and Times: Monday, April 3rd and Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)
Location: Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Center, Worcester, MA.
Cost: FREE for eligible MA educators that qualify through MA DESE’s OAPL program and includes $150 substitute pay. $200 per educator from non-qualifying schools.
PDPs and Optional Graduate Credit: 14 PDPs available without graduate credit. 22.5 PDPs and 1 graduate credit from Cambridge College available for $75. Additional work is required for graduate credit.
Collaborating Partner: Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
This course was offered as part of Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses for Massachusetts educators. Eligible Massachusetts educators were able to take this course for free with a $150 stipend. Learn more by visiting our OAPL page.
A Hybrid Focus Workshop for Grades 4-6 Educators
An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning
Dive into an exploration of space as you explore Earth’s systems and the Earth’s place in the universe. Using current research and recent discoveries in the field of astronomy, including images from NASA space exploration and telescopes, participate in phenomena and inquiry-based investigations that will bring creativity to astronomy through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math). During the remote sessions the elements and principles of art will help guide our exploration of space and planetary bodies, and help us make sense of landscape scale processes on Earth. During an in-person session at the Springfield Science Museum, we will have the opportunity to use telescopes to expand our understanding of the scale and relationship of the planets, sun and other stars to the Earth. You will leave the program with inquiry-based STEAM investigations to share with your students, as well as connections to a community of learners and informal science institutions.
Using the lens of STEAM we will:
- use images from space exploration to develop an anchoring phenomenon
- explore commonalities between Earth’s geological features and those on other planet/planetary bodies
- identify patterns in motion within our solar system, galaxies and the universe.
- apply examples of, and resources for, place-based and phenomena-based unit planning to create a storyline driven unit outline
- use physical models and digital interactives to make sense of the Earth-Sun-Moon system
- explore how drawing forms are connected to geological land forms through review and interpretation of telescopic and space exploration images
- create “stories” for planetary bodies using common drawing forms
- explore the lunar surface using telescopes and digital images using elements of art to aid interpretation
This course was FREE for eligible MA educators through MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses.
Registration Information:
Dates and Times:
Remote Sessions: Wednesday, January 18th and Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 (3:30 PM – 6:30 PM ET)
On-Site Planetarium Session: Saturday, January 28th (2:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET)
Location: Springfield Science Museum
Cost: FREE for eligible MA educators that qualify through MA DESE’s OAPL program and includes a $150 stipend. $200 per educator from non-qualifying schools.
PDPs and Optional Graduate Credit: 12 PDPs are available without graduate credit. 22.5 PDPs and 1 graduate credit are available for $75.
Collaborating Partners: Springfield Science Museum; Bassett Planetarium (part of the Beneski Museum at Amherst College)
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
This course was offered as part of Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses for Massachusetts educators. Eligible Massachusetts educators were able to take this course for free with $150 substitute pay.
A Focus Workshop for Grades 3-5 Educators
An Approved Course for MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning
Whether you are a botany expert or you are new to the world of plants, refresh your curriculum with storyline teaching and phenomena. In this workshop, you’ll follow a storyline unit focused on plant parts, basic needs, life cycles, adaptations, and more. You’ll engage in a few lessons from the unit as a learner, including the anchoring phenomenon routine and student-driven inquiry investigations, then reflect on those experiences as a teacher. During the workshop, you will learn how to construct a storyline unit, incorporate relevant phenomena, and utilize best practices for DEI in the STEM classroom, including establishing classroom norms and processes that value all student resources. You will leave the program with an outline of a storyline unit, inquiry investigations to use in your classroom, and resources for developing your own storyline unit using culturally relevant phenomena.
Using the storyline approach we will:
- Explore an anchoring phenomenon that sparks wonder at the start of the unit
- Identify phenomena relevant to your local community
- Dissect a flower and learn about the reproductive parts of a plant
- Investigate plant adaptations specialized for life in different environments
- Utilize a nature journal to document our learning
- Observe plants and pollinators in some of the New England Botanic Garden’s 19 formal gardens
- Participate in place-based learning experiences
- Complete a culminating activity for the unit
This course was FREE for eligible MA educators through MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses.
Registration Information:
Dates and Times: Monday, March 6th and Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)
Location: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, MA.
Cost: FREE for eligible MA educators that qualify through MA DESE’s OAPL program and includes $150 substitute pay. $200 per educator from non-qualifying schools.
PDPs and Optional Graduate Credit: 14 PDPs available without graduate credit. 22.5 PDPs and 1 graduate credit from Cambridge College available for $75. Additional work is required for graduate credit.
Collaborating Partner: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
Investigating Climate Change: Exploring Resources and Data for the Classroom
A 2-day workshop for grades 6-12 educators
Friday, December 2nd and Saturday, December 3rd, 2022
Explore how you can prepare your students to engage with climate change data and deepen their understanding of the key principles of climate change. Participants will investigate climate change phenomena, work with scientists, and take part in inquiry-based learning experiences. Instructors from the Wade Institute and our collaborating partner, Salem Sound Coastwatch will immerse you in experiments and investigations to collect and interpret data, demonstrate climate systems, and investigate locally relevant phenomena. Work with teaching resources including Data Nuggets, En-Roads, CLEAN Net, and the GLOBE Program. Northeastern University Professor Brian Helmuth will highlight the importance of local environmental data and solutions inland and on the coastline from both human and non-human perspectives. He will share information about ocean temperature data collection using robomussels and guide participants in using a storymap of urban heat island data. Then gain a deeper understanding of the climate system with UMASS Boston Professor Bob Chen, linking it to the carbon and water cycles and the flow of energy in Earth systems. Participate in a systems thinking activity that you can use with your students. You’ll leave the workshop with tools and resources for integrating climate change into your instruction and the confidence to engage your students in data collection and analysis, systems thinking, and problem solving around challenging and dynamic topics of climate change.
If you opt to take this workshop for graduate credit, additional homework and a final project are required, to be due before December 16th.
Registration Information:
Dates: Friday, December 2nd and Saturday, December 3rd, 2022 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET)
Cost: $165 per participant. $150 per participant for 3 or more teachers from the same school attending as a team.
Location: Salem Sound Coastwatch, Salem, MA
PDPs: 13 PDPs will be awarded for participation.
Optional Graduate Credit: 1 graduate credit and 22.5 PDPs are available from Cambridge College for $75.
Lunch will be provided on both workshop days. All participants will receive a materials kit to use in their classroom.
Partially funded by Cell Signaling Technology and the Vanderbilt Family Foundation.
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
Connecting Science and Literacy in the Elementary Classroom
A virtual professional learning opportunity for Grades 3-5 educators
Join the Wade Institute and the EcoTarium as we explore the use of picture and trade books, as well as other tools for integrating science and literacy skills in the classroom. Discover the amazing world of squirrels as we engage in phenomena-based science instruction exploring animal behavior, like the physical and behavioral adaptations that make squirrels part gymnast, part economist, part bandit, and completely irresistible. Get a squirrel’s-eye view of engineering and life science topics such as feeder building challenges, and skull morphology, and find fun ways to teach students about the symbiotic relationship between oak trees and the nut-loving critters with whom they co-exist. Gain strategies for finding and using quality picture books and other texts. We will investigate using “Notice and Wonder” protocol, science journals, probing questions, and other pedagogical strategies as we learn about these dynamic creatures you can observe in your schoolyard. You’ll leave the workshop with science investigations that incorporate the concepts explored throughout the workshop, meet 3rd-5th grade science education standards, and model using the Science and Engineering Practices in the
classroom. Participants will be provided with a materials kit for the inquiry-based, hands-on investigations during
the course and four books for use with your students
Workshop Highlights:
Participate in hands-on, inquiry science investigations that integrate science and literacy skills- Explore using books, productive talk, and science writing in your classroom
- Learn strategies for integrating science, literacy, and discussion in ways that foster critical thinking, academic language, and sensemaking
- Shift your practice to teach your grade-specific science content by using story and trade books to spark minds-on, hands-on investigations as you implement the Science and Engineering Practices
- Discover the amazing world of squirrels as you explore animal behavior in these and other backyard animals
- Receive a tool kit with 4 books and hands-on materials to use with your students
Participate in hands-on, inquiry science investigations that integrate science and literacy skillsArrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
Songbirds and Stewardship: Engaging Your Students with the Science of Migration Through Place-Based Learning and Citizen Science
A hybrid professional learning opportunity for Grades 5-8 educators
Learn how to engage your students in citizen science through a place-based approach. In this hybrid online and in-person workshop you’ll get an introduction to the fundamentals of place-based learning, participate in citizen science projects at Manomet, and learn about how songbird populations are changing in response to human development. Develop guidelines, strategies and a lesson plan to support all students as you establish citizen science environmental monitoring projects relevant to your school community.
Manomet Observatory is an outdoor laboratory and demonstration property for science and education. During our in-person day at Manomet you will target MA STE MS-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics by participating in one or more of Manomet’s ongoing environmental monitoring programs. Manomet’s research on the phenomenon of bird migration is one of the longest-running in North America, and you’ll explore Science and Engineering Practices as you use models to understand the process of bird banding, and conduct inquiry investigations and evaluate data to see how songbird populations are changing in response to human activities. The experience will culminate with a chance to interact with live birds and see the banding process first hand! Participants will also be provided with a curriculum packet to use in their classrooms.
Workshop Highlights:
- Explore how place-based learning can generate an inclusive science learning environment for all students
- Create a lesson plan to engage your students with citizen science and environmental monitoring in their community
- Investigate the phenomenon of bird migration
- Learn directly from scientists and education professionals
- Receive a curriculum packet to use in your classroom
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
Remote Learning Program
Science Inquiry During Remote Learning:
Engaging Students in the Science and Engineering Practices
for Grades 3-8 Educators
Join the Wade Institute staff to explore grade-specific, minds-on, hands-on investigations that meet the MA Science, Technology and Engineering Standards. Explore what the Science and Engineering Practices look like in the remote classroom. Investigate strategies, tools and methodology for teaching science in combined remote/virtual settings as well as hybrid (virtual and classroom combined). Develop a toolkit of resources and lesson plans to use with your students. Participants will receive a materials kit for the workshop.
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
SeaPerch Program
Underwater Robotics Workshop for Middle & High School Educators: Build a SeaPerch!
Bring along up to 2 students to help build!
• Build your own model remotely-operated vehicle (ROV)
• Become a pilot and take it to the bottom of the pool and estuary
• Discover how to “hack” your SeaPerch and to modify it for exciting science projects
• Take back lots of STEM resources for your classroom
• Explore resources from the national SeaPerch program
• Learn how to apply for a classroom set of SeaPerch kits
• Earn 13 PDPs
The SeaPerch program brings hands-on, minds-on engineering design concepts and scientific principles into the middle and high school classroom. Students build model ROVs from kits using PVC pipe and other easily obtainable materials. During the SeaPerch workshop, teachers and students build and test a SeaPerch. Students who participate in SeaPerch programs become engaged in engineering concepts, problem-solving, teamwork, and technical applications. Engineering and science investigations using the ROV are explored, as well as citizen monitoring programs.
Curriculum resource materials are provided which support the Science and Technology/Engineering Standards, bringing together basic engineering design skills and the science practices. Concepts incorporated into the curriculum resource materials include marine science, oceanography, biomimicry, ocean engineering, physics, robotics, mathematics, and marine-related careers.
Bring along up to 2 students to become student leaders for a SeaPerch team at your school!
Check back to see when we’re offering our next SeaPerch program!
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
Sustainable Energy Workshops
2 Day Workshop for Middle and High School Educators
Lighting the Way with Wind and Solar: Pathways to a Sustainable Energy Future
Connect with scientists and educators from the Wade Institute for Science Education and Mass Audubon, gain an understanding of the power of inquiry-based learning to inspire a passion for science in students, and come away energized!
Hands-on, Minds-on Learning:
During this two-day professional development workshop, experiment with renewable energy technologies to understand how they can be used to produce sustainable electricity and reduce human impacts on the climate. Engage in hands-on, minds-on activities as you build a solar-powered fountain, design the best blades to catch the wind, and compete to fill an electrical grid with the most effective energy sources. Discover first-hand how wind turbines and solar panels generate power, and why communities are relying increasingly on these systems to meet their energy needs.
Practical Tools to Meet MA Standards:
Lighting the Way with Wind and Solar: Pathways to a Sustainable Energy Future will integrate science content with the Science and Engineering Practices. Find out more about how energy, climate change, and sustainable solutions connect to the 2016 MA Science and Technology/Engineering standards. Walk away with inquiry-based activities and a kit of equipment you can use to get started with your own students.
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
Marine Environments Workshop
2 Day Workshop for Grades 4-12 Educators
Marine Environments ‘Make & Take’: Exploring the Coastal Environment in the Field and Classroom
During this two-day professional development workshop, engage with scientists in the field to explore the diversity of life in dynamic, ever changing coastal environments and discover how technology can be used to enhance the study of aquatic ecosystems.
Get hands-on experience conducting a marsh transect and a beach profile, learn about techniques used to monitor marine biodiversity, test water quality, and identify wildlife population shifts in local habitats, Build your own collection of sampling tools to use with your students. Your tool kit will include transect tools, a water sampler, dip nets, plankton nets, beach profiling tools, and more.
Marine Environments ‘Make and Take’ will integrate science content with hands-on, minds-on inquiry investigations. Explore using the Science and Engineering Practices as you make connections to the 2016 MA Science and Technology/Engineering standards.
Gain experiences and ideas that will help you build your curriculum around inquiry-based science investigations and take home a collection of teaching resources, lesson plans, and easy-to-make marine sampling equipment.
Arrange for this workshop for your school or school district:
Contact the Wade Institute at 617-328-1515 or wadeinstitute@wadeinstitutema.org.
STE Standards Program
Building a Foundation for Implementing the 2016 MA Science and Technology/Engineering Standards
A one-day workshop for curriculum and school leaders offered by the Massachusetts Science Education Leadership Association (MSELA) and the Wade Institute for Science Education.
Compare the 2016 Standards with the 2006 Standards and discuss classroom implications
Examine the K-12 progressions of content and science/engineering practices that are central to the 2016 STE Framework
Explore the progression of the Disciplinary Core Ideas from K-12 and how this impacts implementing the revised STE Standards into your school district’s curriculum
Investigate Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Cross-Cutting Concepts in the MA STE Standards
Examine aspects of the Frameworks that are essential to a smooth and effective transition to the new STE standards!
