FAIRMONT — A $31,000 grant from the West Virginia Department of Education aims to improve science literacy in north central West Virginia.
This grant awarded to Fairmont State University will fund an Elementary Earth and Space Science Literacy Workshop for the professional development of elementary school teachers.
The five-day workshop is held in conjunction with the NASA Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Educational Resource Center. The goal is to strengthen the literacy instruction needed by educators from kindergarten through fifth grade by incorporating science into lessons.
Workshops include both grade-based breakout group instruction and whole group sessions.
Teachers will be provided with a classroom set of Earth and Space Science materials, including open educational resources) and specialized books, English and language arts activities, writing activities, and science activities. Participating educators will receive stipends for each day of the workshop.
“Elementary school teachers have to allocate time each day to teaching ELA and math, leaving little time for subjects like science and social studies,” said Fairmont Department of Natural Sciences Chair Deb Hemler. Ta. “This workshop will provide teachers with grade-level technical books and science activities to help them read and write about science so that ELA is not taught at the expense of science but instead takes a more holistic approach.”
This workshop will be held for the second consecutive year.
“First-year participants said in their evaluations that they needed more time to plan a high-quality integrated unit,” Hemler said. “We have changed this year's schedule to improve the quality of our product. Last year we had 34 teachers and this year we have 36 teachers implementing the unit, which would have been 70 points that might not have been possible without the grant. The week of science instruction has come true, and the teachers are meeting the ELA and math time requirements from a science perspective. Looks like they all beat me!”
Learn more about how to get involved here https://www.nasaivverc.org/educators.
