Master Teachers Megan Beckam and Mandi Collins, with funding from Nevada Gold, will be facilitating the professional learning opportunity that has been offered to rural Nevada secondary teachers in Elko, Lander, and Humboldt counties.
The Nevada Gold PITS (Project-Based Inquiries for Teaching Science) professional development opportunity will support teachers in bringing project-based learning opportunities that are aligned with the Nevada Academic Content Standards (NVACS) in the Earth sciences to their classrooms. The goal of Nevada Gold PITS is to enrich teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge so they can be resources and advocates for the mining industry.
Through the PITS programme, Beckam and Collins will engage 6th-12th grade science teachers in professional learning on incorporating project-based lessons that are standards-based on the core ideas of mineral exploration, mining, natural hazards, human impact on Earth systems, and environmental sustainability and new technologies. The goal is to help young people understand the relevance of what they are learning to their communities and attract them into the mining industry and engineering fields in our state.
PITS targets teachers of 6th to 12th grade Earth science in Elko, Lander, and Humboldt counties. The participants will participate in a virtual book study during the Fall of 2021, with teachers reading and engaging in dialogue around Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences by Suzie Boss with John Larmer.
The teachers will attend the NSTA conference, this year in Portland, Oregon, with their registration and airfare covered by the grant. PITS will include a virtual week-long workshop, which will include a panel discussion with mining professionals. The participants will then develop a three- to five-week project-based unit with an Earth science and mining theme. They will implement the unit during the 2021-2022 academic year and meet again remotely in May 2022 for a follow-up meeting to reflect on their experiences, celebrate their successes, and troubleshoot challenges they experienced.
The partnership began in 2017 with NevadaTeach and then-Newmont Mines providing professional development through the DIGS (Deepening Inquiry in Geological Science) opportunity. Participants were 4th and 5th grade teachers from Elko, Lander, and Humboldt counties.
DIGS consisted of three one-day workshops (one each in September and October 2018 and April 2018) where the teachers received either a FOSS or Engineering is Elementary (EIE) kit for use in their classrooms.
Beckam and Collins hope the professional learning opportunities will enrich the teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge so they can be resources and advocates for the mining industry.
"The DIGS program was successful," Collins said, "because of its ability to increase the confidence in teachers to incorporate the Earth science units in their instruction. Science can be messy for teachers, as it is often presented with lots of materials and management. The kits are a huge support to the teachers as they provide standards-based curriculum that is full of hands-on opportunities for learning. The professional learning helped teachers navigate the curriculum and materials to best implement them in their own classrooms."
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