Applicable to: Elementary and Middle School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 9:00AM to 3:00PM (All Day Workshop)

This workshop is designed to allow you to have all of the materials and tools necessary to create a Science Olympiad Event in your own school! Science Olympiads are interscholastic in-house competitions that allow students of all ability levels to succeed as they compete in science events at your own school that are geared directly toward your science curriculum. These events provide a hands on approach to teaching and learning science. The Olympiad helps promote differentiated instruction. It allows students who are not book learners to show their strengths in partnering and hands on tasks. It also helps teach students about science in a way that makes science attainable and not such a hard, abstract subject. Imagine your entire school or specific grade level(s) participating in fun, hands on stations such as Straw Tower, Pentathlon, Pasta Bridge, or Egg Drop. Turn a typical school day into a phenomenal science experience for your students.

We will work side by side with you to design a Science Olympiad that allows every child to be a winner at your school. An overview of an actual Science Olympiad will be presented with first hand examples, step by step organizational guides, jump drives with all aspects of the planning and preparation at your fingertips, and material grants enabling you to create a dynamic Science Olympiad for your own students in your building. Each participant will also receive a DVD that highlights an Olympiad in action to share with your school administration. Team Building strategies will also be reviewed and implemented.

Watch your Science PSSA scores soar as students have the opportunity to explore all strands of science based on current PA Assessment Anchor Content Standards.

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Applicable to: High School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

We all have connections to real-world issues that impact our lives every day. Introducing students to S.T.E.M. by making connections to real-world issues will help increase their understanding of scientific concepts while inspiring students to consider a S.T.E.M. career as part of their future plans.

As we continue to explore various renewable energy sources, solar energy proves to be a vast and inexhaustible resource. It represents a clean alternative to the fossil fuels. But there are other options to consider like hydrogen. It is useful as a compact energy source in fuel cells and batteries. Many companies are working to develop technologies that can efficiently exploit the potential of hydrogen energy. Introduce the options to your students and provide them with the knowledge they need to consider both alternatives.

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Applicable to: Elementary and Middle School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 9:00AM to 11:30AM

At the workshop, teachers will explore a wide variety of activities to assist their students in understanding important concepts about light and color. Using the materials provided, workshop participants will be able to project a large and very bright visible spectrum (rainbow?) in their own classrooms. They will use that spectrum together with other materials to demonstrate why colors appear the way they do in an exercise titled “Red Apples, Green Apples“.

Participants will view the beautiful colors and spectra of excited gases and use their observations to perform an experiment in qualitative chemical analysis appropriate for their grade level. To make science a little more interesting to students that profess little or no interest in science, workshop participants will be introduced to a new concept “spectroscopy as an art form“.

The teaching method used is that of the student-assistant lecture-demonstration approach with emphasis on deductive reasoning. All these activities correlate well with national science standards. Teachers attending will receive most of the materials needed to perform these activities in their own classrooms.

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Applicable to: Middle to High School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 9:00 – 11:30 AM

This workshop will focus on strategies for introduction inquiry instruction into your classes. Workshop participations will be introduced to activities that teachers who have completed the Target Inquiry program at Grand Valley State University have developed and tested with their students. Activities will cover topics such as elements, compounds, and mixtures, and physical and chemical change that are appropriate for middle school or high school physical science or chemistry classes. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to work through some of the Target Inquiry activities as well as learn strategies for incorporating more inquiry into their own classroom activities. Workshop participants will also be introduced the Target Inquiry web site where they will learn how to gain access to student and teacher guides for over 40 inquiry-based chemistry activities.

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Applicable to: Elementary/Middle School
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 12:30 – 3:00 PM

Your student’s future jobs will require many skills, but in order to be successful students will need to master problem solving skills, demonstrate the ability to take risks, make mistakes and more importantly, learn from them. The United States aims to have 123 million jobs requiring highly skilled workers. With only an estimated 50 million Americans qualified to fill them, the next generation of engineers are needed now more than ever. In this workshop, you will discover how to utilize hands-on learning as a way to encourage your student’s natural creativity, giving them the tools they need to become innovators of the future.

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Applicable to: Middle to High School Students
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 12:30 – 3:00 PM

Stoichiometry and limiting reactant are foundational concepts in chemical curriculum. Many times these concepts are presented thoroughly in lecture with background material, analogies and numerical problems, while less variety of experiences is provided in the laboratory. This workshop provides a variety of qualitative and quantitative experiments that explore and investigate reaction stoichiometry and the idea of limiting reagent. Both simple observations and data acquisition with Vernier LabQuests will be employed.

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Applicable to: Middle to High School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 12:30 PM – 3:00 PM

Let us show you how to incorporate exciting, engaging chemical demonstrations and hands-on activities into your chemistry curriculum. The demonstrations are guaranteed to grab your student’s attention, enhance their learning experience all while teaching fundamental science concepts. The hands-on activities are a great way to bring chemistry to life for your students.

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Applicable to: High School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 12:30 – 3:00 PM

Workshop participations will be introduced to activities that teachers who have completed the Target Inquiry program at Grand Valley State University have developed and tested with their students. Activities will cover advanced chemistry topics such as Acid-Base chemistry, Electrochemistry, and Equilibrium. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to work through some of the Target Inquiry activities as well as learn strategies for incorporating more inquiry into their own classroom activities. Workshop participants will also be introduced the Target Inquiry web site where they will learn how to gain access to student and teacher guides for over 40 inquiry-based chemistry activities.

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Applicable to: High School Teachers
Date / Time: Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 12:30 PM to 3:00PM

In today’s educational setting, technology plays an important role. This workshop will allow teachers to gain valuable insight to effectively utilize modern technology in their teaching. The topics that will be covered include, but are not limited to: data manipulation software, physics laboratory software, simulation and classroom programs, graphing of data, curve fitting, harmonic analysis, spectrophotometry, chemical and physical periodicity of the elements, tutorials, and a variety of chemistry laboratory simulations. All levels of computer literacy are invited to attend; however, some basic knowledge is preferred. Teachers will need to supply their own laptop with Microsoft PowerPoint installed to actively participate in the activities. A wireless Internet card is also encouraged to access the Internet. (Web access will be available for free during the workshop.) Participants will receive a complimentary Journal of Chemical Education subscription that allows them to download a variety of science education software for classroom use at no cost.

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Applicable to: Grades K-12 Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2013 from 9:00AM to 3:00PM (All Day Workshop)

Teachers will get hands-on experience with 16 units of basic chemistry and biochemistry concepts. Age-appropriate modifications are suggested. A workbook containing directions, safety tips and student worksheets (with teacher keys) is also provided. Facilitators will attempt to also provide extensions that may be useful. The full course requires about 6 hours.

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Applicable to: Grades K-6 Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2012 from 9:00AM to 3:00PM (All Day Workshop)

Too often science takes a back seat to language arts and/or reading in the elementary curriculum. To alleviate this problem and to make teaching more enjoyable for both the teacher and the children, science and reading can be integrated through the use of children’s literature books and associated science activities. Simple activities can also be expanded so that the children have their own experiences with inquiry, vital to their understanding of science and the fostering of their innate curiosity about the natural world around them. This all-day workshop is designed for teachers of K – 6. Teachers will be active participants. Books and activities for each grade level will be used and teachers will be provided with copies of the books and the science lessons.

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Applicable to: Middle/High School Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2013 from 9:00 to 11:30 AM

From the basics of DNA to introductory PCR procedures, this workshop will take you on a journey thought the fundamentals of teaching biotechnology to the more advanced concepts you need to know to help your students understand more complex concepts like PCR. You will see how simple it is to incorporate all of the tools and technology you need to transform your classroom into a biotechnology teaching lab. Hands-on activities and lesson plans will be provided so that you can use what you learn as soon as you return to class.

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Applicable to: Middle to High School Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2013 9:00 – 11:30 AM

With global population growth creating a rise in demand, access to clean water is becoming increasingly important. Learn how you can bring this real-world issue to life for your middle and high school students. You will gain hands-on experience in this technology-focused environmental workshop, led by Robert Marshall, a STEM Educator from Carnegie Science Center, one of the nation’s leading hands-on science museums. Handouts will be provided and door prizes will be awarded.

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Applicable to: Middle and High School Teachers preferred
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2013 from 9:00 – 11:30 AM

Have you ever wondered how you’re able to function every day, move around, see, smell, and taste? Have you ever thought about how you car’s battery or those flashlight batteries work? Or why iron rusts over time? Or why leaves change color in autumn? Or how plants make their food using sunlight? Or why we age with time? Or how we can measure how acidic acid rain is? These processes, and many, many more, are due to electrons being transferred between molecules in chemical reactions. In this workshop, we shall explore electrochemistry – the study of electron transfer in chemical reactions. We shall cover any one of a number of topics ranging from conductivity of solutions, to galvanic cells or batteries, to electrolysis cells and, in particular, the electrolysis of water (a means of producing hydrogen fuel gas), presented in an inquiry-based and hands-on manner. We shall do some fun experiments to give you some experience with electrochemistry – and perhaps give you some ideas on how to teach your students about how electrons really do “make their worlds go ‘round”(…or nearly so…)!

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Applicable to: High School Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2013 9:00 – 11:30 AM

The ongoing debate in the field of Forensic Science is whether the discipline is actually a science. Through a hands-on investigation of a mock crime scene, this workshop will cover various scientific and procedural methods used in the investigation of a scene and the analysis of evidence. You will step into the shoes of the Forensic Investigator and acquire a new perspective on what is truth and what is fabricated for entertainment purposes. Each participant will be provided with supplemental lesson plan materials including activities for their classrooms.

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Applicable to: High School Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2012 from 12:30 to 3:00PM

Now that you have mastered the basics, let’s take it to the next level. This workshop will walk you through more advanced biotechnology content – but don’t be intimidated. The equipment you will work with in this workshop is designed for teaching and the activities are simple to use, teacher tested and easily incorporated into any classroom. We will give you information you can use to help your students understand more complex biotechnology concepts and introduce you to the tools you need to transform your biotechnology classroom into a biotechnology lab of the future.

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Applicable to: K-12 Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2013 12:30 – 3:00 PM

This workshop gives teachers an opportunity to make observations involving “Fortune Teller Fish”, “Mystic Sand”, “Think Tube”, “Sailing Boats”, and Mystery of Milk”. The teachers then seek to answer questions by utilizing the five common steps of the Scientific Method. Related teaching strategies are presented, analyzed, and discussed. Additional activities will be demonstrated and given in the handout.

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Applicable to: Middle /High School Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2012 from 12:30 to 3:00PM

Let us show you how to incorporate exciting, engaging chemical demonstrations and hands-on activities into your chemistry curriculum. The demonstrations are guaranteed to grab your student’s attention, enhance their learning experience all while teaching fundamental science concepts. The hands-on activities are a great way to bring chemistry to life for your students. This workshop includes an overview of Innovating Science’s chemistry kits including sample activities highlighting topics like hydrogen fuel cell technology, electrochemical remediation of wastewater and several other topics. Door prizes will be awarded so sign up and see how cutting edge ideas from Innovating Science can help you teach science.

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Applicable to: Middle /High School Teachers
Date / Time: Sunday, March 17, 2012 from 12:30 to 3:00PM

Today, forensic scientists can choose from a variety of equipment to study evidence, but perhaps the most powerful tool is microscopy. Forensic microscopy encompasses the identification and classification of a wide range of materials, substances and other physical evidence, such as fingerprints, footprints, hairs, fibers, and handwriting. Use digital classroom solutions, including a comparison microscope, to provide side-by-side examination of evidence and try your hand at solving a crime using software that lets you compare, annotate, and make definitive conclusions! Join us for this interactive hands-on investigation and learn about the latest equipment and software applications available for teaching digital microscopy. Make learning about forensics fun for your students and provide them with information they need to consider a STEM career in Forensic Science.

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