On February 23, CIERA hosted a day of professional development for middle school science and astronomy teachers. Twelve teachers from Evanston, Skokie, and Libertyville participated. CIERA Data Science Scholar Ben Nelson joined Physics & Astronomy graduate students Cody Dirks, Katie Breivik, Zach Hafen, and Mike Zevin in stopping by throughout the day to talk about their research and answer the teachers’ questions.
Evanston Township High School Astronomy teachers Andy Miner and Gion Matthias Schelbert attended, sharing many useful resources. The response from the teachers was fantastic. One said, “This is the kind of collaboration that is most productive. One that is more organic. Letting teachers talk and share ideas and resources about teaching is the purest form of professional development I can think of. The discussions and meeting people was outstanding.”