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Boston, MA --- September, 2004 --- Picture a classroom of students,
led by an enthusiastic teacher, actively exploring how bird beak
structures affect diets or replicating Galileo's gravity experiments,
assisted by video clips from award-winning science documentaries and
interactive online activities. Teachers' Domain Professional Development
(www.teachersdomain.org/courseinfo/), a series of online courses for K-12
educators, provides teachers with exciting multimedia resources for their
classrooms, enhances their knowledge of science concepts, and presents
effective methodologies and strategies for inspiring students.
Teachers' Domain Professional Development courses integrate inquiry
learning with streaming video and interactive experiences from
award-winning public television science programs and Web sites, including
NOVA, ZOOM, and A Science Odyssey. Using this model,
teachers discover
first-hand how stimulating learning with multimedia can be. The media,
coupled with thought-provoking activities and opportunities to enter
online discussions with peers, were designed to increase teachers'
breadth and depth of content knowledge in science and, by extension,
improve student achievement in science.
The first three courses available are Teaching Elementary Life Science,
Teaching Elementary Physical Science, and Teaching Middle School Life
Science. Additional courses, including those for high school teachers, are
expected to launch in 2005. All course content corresponds to the National
Science Education Standards and the MCREL Compendium of K-12 Standards.
"The courses are designed to assist teachers in two ways --- to expand
their knowledge of science concepts and to provide a range of effective
strategies for use in teaching those concepts," explains Ted Sicker,
Executive Producer. "And the multimedia format of Teachers' Domain
Professional Development provides the optimal model for scientific
exploration --- using a range of resources beyond the textbook."
Teachers who completed the Teaching Elementary Life Science course
described the curriculum as fully developed, well-organized, and
thought-provoking. "This online science course has been the most
beneficial professional course I have ever taken!" exclaimed one
participant. "The course design gives teachers a great background on
the concepts and outstanding multimedia resources to use for introducing
these concepts to students." Another participant added, "The videos made
me rethink what a scientist does."
Information about the courses, licensing opportunities, and technical
requirements is available at http://www.teachersdomain.org/courseinfo/.
Teachers' Domain Professional Development builds upon
Teachers' Domain
(http://www.teachersdomain.org/), an online multimedia library of K-12
science resources correlated to national and state standards. Funded
by the National Science Foundation as part of National Science Digital
Library, Teachers' Domain includes lesson plans, background essays,
and customization features for introducing multimedia resources into
the classroom.
WGBH is the leading producer of PBS prime-time programs and online
content, a major producer for public radio, and a pioneer in educational
multimedia (including the Web, broadband, and interactive television)
and in technologies and services that make media accessible for people
with disabilities. WGBH is also recognized as one of the nation's
leading producers of media-based resources to support teacher training
and student learning. Focusing on both content and methodology at all
grade levels, these products represent effective standards-based teaching
in classrooms across the country, and address a wide variety of subject
areas and educational challenges.
Press contact:
Lisa Cerqueira
Senior Publicist
WGBH Boston
617-300-5334
lisa_cerqueira@wgbh.org
For additional information:
Deborah W. Burns
Director of Marketing and Sales, Educational Productions
WGBH Boston
617-300-3625
deb_burns@wgbh.org
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