The Professional Development team, as in its current form, emerged as a result of decades of collaborations between the SMTC and school districts, community organizations, and other entities around the state and region. We seek to support science education pre K-20 through collaborative endeavors that honor the expertise of all stakeholders, and are rooted in the research on science teaching and learning.
Fall 2023
Science Assessment Repository. Science teachers from around Wyoming (Albany, Fremont, Johnson, Laramie, Natrona, Platte, Sublette, and Sweetwater Counties) have worked for 2.5 years on a repository for Wyoming science assessments. This work was supported by WDE ESSER fund grants, and was sponsored by Platte County School District #2 and the SMTC. Email smtcpd@uwyo.edu or steven.priest@wyo.gov for access to the WDE Canvas course called "K-12 Science Assessment Repository." You will need a WDE Canvas login, as these resources are only available to current Wyoming public school science teachers. You can view webinars recordings to orient you to the repository resources here:
Fall 2023 webinar recording coming soon!
Come back soon for updates on how the repository has evolved.
Guide to Creating Digital Science Labs. Science teachers in Carbon County School District #2, a videographer, and the SMTC collaborated to develop resources and a tool, Guide to Creating Digital Science Labs. With the support of a Wyoming Department of Education grant, this multi-year project focused on supporting students in experiencing productive, rich science lab experiences despite absence from class. Click the image below to open this guide for tips on how to create your own digital science labs.
Fall 2022
We were honored to work with University of Wyoming's Laughlin Lab on their Global Vegetation Project. Supported by graduate assistant Matt Bisk, there are now a set of standards-aligned resources for educators to connect the Global Vegetation Project into their K-12 classrooms! We're particularly excited that Data Nuggets recently published some related resources to make this work available to even more teachers around the country. Let us know if you use these resources - we'd love to hear how they work for you!
When: Fall 2023 - Spring 2024 (annual cohorts will kick off summer/fall 2024, 2025, and
2026, too!)
Where: Grand Teton National Park (fall kickoff) and Zoom (year-long follow-up)
Partners: Wyoming Anticipating Climate Transitions EPSCoR grant, Grand Teton National Park,
Teton Science Schools, and the SMTC
Application: Closed, but join our contact list for future cohorts.
More Information: 2023-2024 Flyer
Our PD work in school districts responds to teacher and district needs. The sustained PD we do with districts continues over time and takes different forms from group to group. Our supports range from multi-day workshops, to single days, and even to several hour targeted topic workshops. While we typically work in person with teachers in their districts, we've also expanded into virtual workshops that range from multi-day to several hour sessions. We have loved working with preK-12 teachers, instructional facilitators/coaches, and administrators across Wyoming; check out our district map (above) to see where we've been.
If you're interested in having the SMTC work with your science teachers, reach out to smtcpd@uwyo.edu
