2006 SUMMER INSTITUTES
FOR PHILADELPHIA AREA K-12 TEACHERS

Sponsored by Bryn Mawr College
and the Bryn Mawr/Haverford K-16 Collaborations in Science and Mathematics Education
with support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Science and a Sense of Place:
Learning Where We are Located in the World

"Nothing happens nowhere."
(Elizabeth Bowen)

"What aspects of their world do our kids care about?"
(Randal Holly)

Program Outline: The songs we sing. The bodies we sing with. The buildings and parks in which we work and play. The neighborhoods where they are located. The rocks they stand on. The trees and air that surround them. How do your students make sense of this place (this body, this universe) in which they live? At what scale does it come most into focus for them? At the level of molecules and cells, of city blocks and neighborhoods, of drifting continents or shooting stars? How small a frame, how large a compass do students need for understanding? Could they locate themselves better using cellphones, or a global positioning system? Which of the different branches of science--geology, chemistry, biology, physics, computer science--would they find most helpful in their coming to know more fully the place where they are located in the world?

This Institute will provide selected K-12 teachers with an opportunity to explore ways of making sense of location as scientists do. College science faculty will present a series of exploratory activities each morning. In the afternoon sessions, K-16 teachers will work together to develop individualized curricula about the place in which their own students live. Attention will be given to the web as a valuable tool for both curriculum development and dissemination of information.

The Institute Directors are Wilfred Franklin, Laboratory Instructor and Coordinator in Biology, and Anne Dalke, Senior Lecturer in English and Co-ordinator of Program in Gender and Sexuality at Bryn Mawr. Franklin teaches the major and non-major biology laboratories. He is collaborating with other faculty to develop a new inquiry-based curriculum for the Biology Department at Bryn Mawr. Dalke is interested in what the intersection of science and literature means both for interdisciplinary teaching and for understanding life. The Institute directors will be assisted by Paul Grobstein, Professor of Biology and organizer of the Summer Institute program, and by colleagues in a number of other College science departments.

Institute Requirements and Follow-up: Fellows will be expected to play an active role in the Institute: to attend all of the sessions, participate daily in a public on-line discussion, prepare a curriculum for use in their own classrooms, and put together a written proposal for educational supplies and materials to put that curriculum into practice.

Institute Schedules and Location: This Institute will take place at Bryn Mawr College from 24 July to 4 August. Sessions will be held from 9 am. to 4 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. Lunch will be provided.

Eligibility: High school, middle school and elementary school teachers, including department heads and school administrators are eligible. Participants may teach science and/or other subject areas. Preference will be given to teams of teachers from schools that serve overlapping student populations. Please indicate team memberships on the applications forms. Enrollment will be limited to eighteen.

Incentives: Each participant will receive 60 hours of Act 48 credit, and a $500 stipend. An additional $200 per participant to purchase educational supplies and materials will be available to teachers submitting cogent curriculum proposals and agreeing to provide a written report on their experiences.

Principal's Commitment: Institute participation requires signature of principal.

Application procedures: Information and application forms are available on line at http://serendipstudio.org/local/suminst/application.html. See http://serendipstudio.org/local/suminst/ for information about the general program and other available Institutes.

For more information: Anne Dalke, Department of English, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010, 610 526-5308, adalke@brynmawr.edu or Wil Franklin, Department of Biology, Bryn Mawr college, Bryn Mawr PA 19010, 610 526-5090, wfrankli@brynmawr.edu.