The Science House develops and supports Place Based Learning projects on the school level all over the state. Learn more about some of these projects.
Strengthening Unique Community Connections to Engage Schools and Students, is the theme for a model program supporting mini-grants to local Northeastern North Carolina teachers to create opportunities for schools and communities to work together designing Place-Based Learning programs focused on the unique strengths of each community. Readiness for the workforce, providing students with 21st century skills, and need for higher student academic achievement has been the driving force to connect students and community together. To date, six schools have participated showcasing a variety of community projects. Some example PBL projects included rain garden construction and monitoring, enhancement of a river walk area, and using technology to capture history of area through citizen interviews.
To learn more about this project, contact Colleen Karl.
This work by The Science House is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
 Michelle Benigno prepares an explosive demonstration for S3 teachers. |
 Electrifying S3 Professional Development in Madison county. |
Sustained Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Support or S3 is a new professional development model for The Science House based on current research, which supports more frequent interactions among participants and learning sessions to maximize teacher and student success.
Madison County S3 combines all Madison County Schools middle and high school science teachers for this STEM community-building program. Goals of the initiative include: 1) Assist the district in building a professional STEM community, 2) Increase safety proficiency, 3) Increase student achievement and 4) Promote the use of inquiry based practices. Now in the third year, all teachers have been trained on inquiry, safety, technology, lesson planning and unit building. These areas were targeted based on our initial needs assessment with Madison County Schools.
 A salamander in the hand is worth two in the creek at a school in Transylvania county. |
Transylvania County S3 serves an select group of middle and high school teachers specifically interested in growing professionally to become more inquiry based in their practice. Our sessions have included learning the basics of inquiry instruction, shifting lessons toward inquiry, and implementation of inquiry. A smaller Professional Learning Community model was used for this S3 program.
Whether it is a large-scale district model or small-scale PLC model The Science House can tailor an S3 professional development program to suit your specific needs. As a Madison teacher emailed recently, “We are so happy to be doing this with you. I feel like I have more resources available and I am not alone.”
This work by The Science House is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
This work by The Science House is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
