Workshops host area teachers

By Eric Rangus erangus@emory.edu

Two upcoming workshops for Atlanta-area teachers will focus on strategies and processes in teaching various aspects of science.

On July 16–20, the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) will co-sponsor “Diversity and Adaptations in Brain” with Georgia State University, which will host the event. The workshop will include a primer on basic brain anatomy and physiology, a review of vertebrate classification, a discussion of species-specific adaptations of the brain and a review of web content for classroom use.

Closer to home, CBN and the Emory College Center for Science Education (ECSE) will host “Water, Water Everywhere: Is It Any Good To Drink,” which will take place at Woodruff Library, July 16–18. The workshop will present an inquiry-based, hands-on, constructivist approach to teaching science with water as the catalyst for study.

“Diversity and Adaptations of the Brain” is a true collaboration among several Atlanta universities. Emory is one of eight metro-area institutions involved in the CBN. The others are Georgia Tech, Georgia State and the five schools that make up the Atlanta University Center.

The course content was developed by Melissa Demetrikopoulos of Morehouse College, and the workshop will be led by Georgia State’s Heather Caldwell.

“We have models and different specimens from fish to sheep and everything in between.” said Jordan Rose, CBN outreach coordinator. “They’ll explain how we go through the evolutionary scale and the changes that take place in the brain, how it adapts to different environments.”
The event will play host to 18 middle-school teachers from Atlanta and DeKalb County public schools. The course content is contained within the Georgia Quality Care Curriculum, to which all middle schools in the state must adhere.

“We want to provide new and exciting ways to integrate science education into Atlanta public schools,” Rose said.

“Water, Water Everywhere” will bring together 15 middle- and high-school teachers and give them instruction in innovative ways to teach science—primarily biology. Water and water quality will be the focal point of the workshop, and an Environmental Protection Agency publication, the Water Source Book, will be the textbook.

“This will be hands-on learning,” said ECCSE program associate Stacy Hillock. “For instance, this will be a good way for students to learn how to use microscopes to look at micro-organisms.