Space Across the Curriculum Courses Provide Professional Development to Educators in Colorado and Maryland

The Space Foundation education team has been busy this summer delivering Space Across the Curriculum teacher professional development courses. The first course offered in July was “Space Technologies in the Classroom: Imagery and High-Tech Science.” This course exposed the educators to activities that can be used in the classroom centered around optics, telescopes, how we observe the universe and robotics.

The courses continued at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo. Two courses specifically for a cadre of teachers from all over the state of Colorado participating in an ELL (English Language Learner) education grant. Sace Foundation courses for the teachers included “Astronomy Principles for the Classroom: Kinesthetic Astronomy” and “Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed.”

Both courses featured special off-site activities. In astronomy, the teachers experienced a night of stargazing at the new Adams State University observatory. During the Earth Systems Science course, the teachers explored Great Sand Dunes National Park and Medano Creek to study the geologic history of the Front Range in Southwestern Colorado.

The Space Foundation education team will finish the summer teaching schedule by conducting four, week-long courses with partner school district Charles County Public Schools in Maryland for the eighth consecutive year. The courses being covered for the district’s teachers include “Meteorology and Space Weather;” “PreK-2 Early Childhood Space Exploration;” “Biological and Physical Research: Long-Term Space Travel;” and “Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed.”

Click here for more information about the Space Foundation’s education programs and professional development for teachers.

This article is part of Space Watch: August 2014 (Volume: 13, Issue: 8).