Delaware teachers branch out with STEM lessons
The Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory (ISE Lab) was buzzing with activity this summer, including a program for high school teachers and students. More than 60 students from throughout the state launched foam gliders along the hallways, mopped up miniature oil spills in basins of water and used the learning labs to investigate the effects of acid rain.
The students were learning, but so were their teachers — a dozen teams of science and math teachers from as many high schools, all testing out model lesson plans they had developed over the past several months. The professional development program is supported by a state Department of Education Mathematics and Science Partnership grant.
In presenting the lessons at ISE Lab, the teachers had the opportunity to assess the hands-on activities they developed and to observe one another’s work, says Jon Manon, associate director in the Delaware Center for Teacher Education and co-director for the grant. The other co-director is John Jungck, professor and director of the DuPont Science Learning Laboratories in ISE Lab.
“These teachers all came in with one, 90-minute laboratory-integrated experience for their students, and they all get to go home with 11 more,” Manon says. “We expect that they’ll continue to share these lessons with other teachers at their schools.”
