2010/2011 Course Offerings!!!

For Further information, please go to the Courses page. For an application, please go to Applying.

2010 Summer Content Courses:

Geology/ Inorganic Chemistry – May 21, 22nd, July 12-16, July 19 – 23, and one fall 2010 Friday/Saturday follow-up
Nature in and out of Balance / Forest Ecology. Lyndon State College Alan Giese June 24 - 30
Hands on a Watershed. UVM with Paul Bierman. From 1 pm on Sunday, July 25 through noon on Thursday, July 29.
Reading the Landscape. S.E. VT Learning Collaborative, Dummerston, VT. Matt Kolan and guest, Tom Wessels August 2 - 6
Physics of Motion. Middlebury College with Bob Prigo and Gregg Humphrey August 2 – 6
Physics of Fluids. Middlebury College with Bob Prigo and Gregg Humphrey August 9- 13
Physics related course. Lyndon State College. To be determined – TBA

Spring 2010 – Spring 2011 VSI Pedagogy Courses:

Action Research – June 4, & one fall 2010 Friday/Saturday session
Issues in Science Education –LAPDA, Montpelier. July 19-23 plus one fall follow up date TBD. Register at lapdavt.org.
Best Practices in Science Education Chittenden South Supervisory Union-2010-2011 school year, June 28,-30, July 1 plus 3 after school follow up sessions. Part of the Tier II program.
Best Practices in Science Education. Southeast Vermont Learning Collaborative / Springfield School District-August 26, 27, September 29, October 21, 2010 and January 24, 20
Issues in Science Education – December 2010, & January, and February 2011 Friday/Saturday sessions
Teacher Leadership – March, April, and May 2011 Friday/Saturday sessions

The Vermont Science Initiative: Building Capacity for Literacy in K-12 Science

The overarching goal of the Vermont Science Initiative (VSI) is to achieve scientific literacy among all of our children through improved instruction in science. Scientists and science educators from several of the state's higher education and K-12 institutions, the Vermont Department of Education, and Learning Innovations at WestEd have developed and implemented a series of intensive science learning experiences for K-8 teachers.

The VSI involves teachers in high quality coursework that has a direct impact on their content knowledge and their ability to deliver that content via sound, research-based content-pedagogy and to evaluate student learning through valid local assessments.

Participants in the VSI have four options

VSI Tier I: For K-8 teachers, a well-established three-year curriculum leading to a Master of Arts in Science Education. Cohort IV in progress. For more information, contact Project Directors. (Tier 1).
VSI Leaderhip Academy: For K-8 teachers of science in Vermont a 13-15 credit program focusing in science pedagogy, science content, and leadership skills. Applications accepted on an on-going basis. Course series begins again December 2010 with Issues in Science Education.
VSI Tier II: For K-8 teachers of science in Vermont, a one-year program of professional development that focuses on mastering science-related content, acquiring science-teaching skills, and improving general teaching practice (Tier 2 ).

Individual Course Offerings: Need a specific content or pedagogy course? Want to see what VSI is all about? VSI courses are also open for enrollment for any K-8 teacher as space allows.