|
Teachers' Domain Professional Development courses
are produced by WGBH Educational Foundation,
Boston's PBS station, and developed by educators
and advisors specializing in science teaching
and curriculum.
Each research-based course builds upon what
participants already know and enables them
to take an active role in their learning. In
addition to readings, assignments, online
discussions (about the topics and teaching
and learning strategies), and videos of
actual classroom practice, all courses
include multimedia resources — video clips
and interactive activities — from public
broadcasting sources such as NOVA, ZOOM, and
Building Big. These multimedia resources
are also available in the Teachers' Domain
collections for teachers to use with their
students.
All course content corresponds to the National Science
Education Standards and the McREL Compendium
of K-12 Standards.
Courses are available in two formats to best meet
specific science learning needs.
Course Modules (15 contact hours)
These are a quick immersion into teaching a
particular topic. The courses focus on science
content in the context of teaching strategies and
inquiry. Online discussions build a community
of learners. Courses also include readings,
writings, and other assignments, and conclude
with an assignment related to classroom practice.
Prerequisites:
These 2-session courses are
modules derived from the Full Survey Courses,
adapted to stand on their own and extended with
a special final assignment. If taking two or
more of these courses in a particular subject, we
recommend taking them in order, as each serves as
a prerequisite for the next one in the series.
However, if starting with one of the later
courses, we suggest reading the syllabi of
preceding courses to confirm existing knowledge.
Full Survey Courses (45 contact hours)
These provide a comprehensive understanding of
a subject and of the inquiry method, leading
to a systemic change in approach to curriculum
design and teaching strategies. Through online
discussions that occur over several months, a
collaborative community of learners develops.
These full survey courses include readings,
writings, and other assignments, and an
ongoing hands-on project that is worked on throughout
the course. Full survey courses are the
equivalent of 3 graduate level credits.
|
