Workshop gives teachers project-based learning

The University of North Georgia (UNG) will hold GeoEd, a unique professional development workshop for teachers of high school STEM and special education, this summer. It runs June 12-16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the UNG Gainesville Campus, Art & Technology building.

Registration is available on the GeoEd website.

Funding from the National Science Foundation is helping UNG host the project-based learning (PBL) experience through the captivating lens of geoscience that can awaken deeper student interest within the STEM fields.

After completion of this immersive five-day workshop, attendees will also receive a $1,000 stipend, a certificate of completion from UNG's College of Education and the Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis (IESA), and a year of assistance provided by UNG faculty for implementing PBL into the classroom.

Attendees take a tour of four outcrops across north Georgia, examining the environmental changes leading up to one of history's greatest extinction events. Other activities include detecting radioactive decay with Geiger counters; tracking mineral transformations to a depth of 15 km below the Earth's surface; calculating Georgia's oldest rocks to an age before plants and animals existed; and, visiting the Tellus Science Museum.

Space is limited to 12 and the application deadline is May 7. Decision letters will be sent on May 15.

"GeoEd Workshop is an excellent opportunity to both meet with fellow science educators along with presenting an Earth-centered perspective on a broad range of course topics," Hunter Oates, Jr., a physics and astronomy teacher at Flowery Branch High School in Flowery Branch, Georgia, said. "Connecting chemistry, biology and physics with the world students live in is another way of showing them how interconnected we truly are, bringing new opportunities to approach familiar lessons."

IESA promotes environmental education through interdisciplinary instruction and collaborative learning. IESA is designed for inquisitive minds craving to cast a brighter light upon Earth's many mysterious eon-spanning processes.