The GEMS education team hosted a science teaching professional development event on June 17-20, 2024. This event marked a week of learning for local and regional K-12 science teachers, science and education university faculty, and GEMS graduate and undergraduate students. Over 25 people gathered at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus to discuss topics in biology and develop curriculum materials based on current GEMS research.
Chloe Yates, a graduate student in education, shared her experience of the event:
The GEMS summer PD was such a helpful experience for me. I really enjoyed working on high school science curriculum with current science teachers and science graduate students because mixing these perspectives allowed for exciting and useful conversation. There was also guidance from the facilitators on how to incorporate Sustainability and Multiple Ways of Knowing when creating curriculum materials that attend to GEMS science. The unit my PD group started working on is about soil health and the soil microbiome, and we will continue working on this unit throughout the fall until it is completed.
