MITS and ASTC Team up to Launch Energy Education Initiative - Wade Institute for Science Education | Inquiry-based, hands-on, minds-on, science, technology and engineering professional development for K-12 teachers and informal educators.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016
For Immediate Release

MITS and ASTC Team up to Launch Energy Education Initiative

The Museum Institute for Teaching Science and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) are excited to announce the launch of a new energy literacy project, Energy Education Initiative (EEI). Sponsored by BP America, the goals of the initiative are:

to increase young people’s energy literacy
to strengthen the role informal science institutions play in the role of providing professional
to identify best practices for Professional Development programs for K-12 teachers run by informal institutions
to provide Energy Literacy Professional Development programs for K-12 teachers

The initiative also seeks to support educators as states across the US adopt and adapt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

MITS and ASTC called upon leading teacher professional development providers in the informal science education field to aid in developing this project.

Together, the organizations determined the following objectives for the Energy Education Initiative:

provide workshops across the United States to informal educators to strengthen their professional development services and practices and model best practices
assemble energy-focused teacher training modules that address the essential knowledge and skills museum-based informal science educators need to provide training to educators
launch an online platform that will provide easy access to all the materials curated by this project, including digital guides, curricula, and related energy teaching resources

Currently, the Museum Institute for Teaching Science and ASTC are gearing up for the Northeast workshops which will be hosted by the Connecticut Science Center in early March. Shelburne Farms (Shelburne,VT) will also be a collaborator for presenting these workshops. The first workshop is a two-day session (March 7-8, 2016) which is designed for informal educators and will explore effective models of teacher professional development in informal science education settings. The second workshop (March 8, 2016) is for formal teachers, grades 4-8 and also provides a model of an energy literacy workshop for the informal educators. During the March 8th workshop, both the formal and informal educators will explore hands-on energy activities, examine how energy literacy fits within NGSS standards, and develop a plan for implementing these activities and resources into the classroom. Future workshops will be held in Anchorage Alaska, Houston Texas, and Charlotte North Carolina.

To learn more and register for the two-day Connecticut workshop for informal educators visit: https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/index.php?eventid=158006&.

To learn more and register for the one-day Connecticut workshop for formal educators visit: https://tickets.ctsciencecenter.org/public/default.asp.

MITS is a not-for-profit corporation that collaborates with formal and informal education institutions to provide STEM professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers and non-profit organizations across Massachusetts. Program offerings include week-long graduate level Summer Professional Development Institutes, day-long Professional Development Seminars and Customized School Services. For more information, visit www.mits.org.

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