Professional Teachers of Science
Summer Institute in Biology Teaching

Dates:
June 23 - June 27 MTWThF 8:30am - 3:30pm
June 30 – July 3 MTWTh 8:30am - 3:30pm

Instructors:
Dr. René Fester Kratz, Biology Instructor, Everett Community College
Jevin West, Huckabay Fellow, University of Washington, Department of Biology
Jen Fox, High School Science Coach, Seattle Public Schools

Location: 218 Hitchcock Hall, UW Campus

Credits: 4 - 5 credits of 400-level biology from UW

Pay: Approximately $1500 for successful completion of the course

Participant Expectations
By participating, teachers can expect to build their:
Biology content knowledge: Teachers will develop a clear understanding of fundamental ideas in energy, matter and evolution. The content teachers learn will
be relevant to their students’ learning by focusing on going “deeper into” rather than ‘beyond’ what their students need to learn.
Curricular knowledge: Teachers will become more familiar with pieces of real research-based curriculum such as North Cascades Olympic Science:
Investigating Flow of Matter and Energy in Living Systems, BSCS: An Inquiry Approach and BSCS: A Human Approach. Some of this material, when adapted thoughtfully, can be used with high school students in the 2008-09 school year.
Pedagogical content knowledge: Teachers will learn about effective instructional strategies as identified by research on student learning of energy/matter transformations and evolution.
Knowledge of national standards: Teachers will identify the big ideas and how each detailed idea is connected to the big ideas.
Knowledge of research on student ideas in biology: Teachers will consult basic research summaries and go deeper into original research papers on student learning of biology.
Formative assessment knowledge and skills: Teachers will identify students’ ideas about biology and respond to them with instruction designed to develop each student’s understanding, starting from his/her current thinking. Also, teachers will design their own formative assessment probes into specific student ideas using the standards and research.
Working with students of diverse backgrounds and learning needs: Teachers will learn to use and refine “culturally competent” instructional strategies that support science learning for students of a wide range of academic backgrounds.

Application: Participants will be selected through an application process. The application is now available at: CLICK HERE. Applications are due April 11th. Teachers will be notified of their acceptance by April 16th

All high school science teachers in Seattle Public Schools are invited to apply. Teachers of 10th grade biology are especially encouraged to apply.

Academic year “follow-up” sessions: Follow-up courses throughout the academic year will focus on examining student thinking in their responses to formative assessments and other classroom work. Participating teachers should plan to attend about 50 hours of follow-up sessions throughout the course of the academic year.

Contact us: Please direct any questions about this institute to Jen Fox (jbfox@seattleschools.org), Susan Swan (smswan@seattleschools.org) or Elaine Woo (ewoo@seattleschools.org).