Workshop participants will use state-of-the-art Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to construct their own contour map of the Normal Hill drumlin, home of Framingham State College.

Teachers will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of hands-on experiences, including the construction of three-dimensional models they may use in their classrooms.

The concepts addressed in this workshop are fully aligned with the Massachusetts Science and Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks.

3 days: June 28 - 30
45 PDPs: $300
45 PDPs and 2 FSC Credits: $430

Download Registration Form

How do you get your students excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? Two words - ROBOTS and SPACE!

The McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College is offering a week-long professional development workshop to upper elementary and middle school teachers, designed to turn your students into NASA aerospace engineers.

McAuliffe staff will prepare you to engage your class in a space-themed program of iterative design utilizing LEGO’s state-of-the-art Mindstorms NXT robotics building system. By designing, building, and testing robotic solutions to the real problems associated with planetary exploration, your students will gain confidence in STEM subject areas, experience the thrill of the creative process, and discover a range of new potential career paths.

Like all of the McAuliffe Center’s education programs, “STEM Explorations: Living in Space” is standards-based, and presents hand-on science education in a way that is both content rich and thoroughly engaging.

The first session workshop begins on Tuesday July 6, 2010, and concludes on Friday, July 9. A second session (repeat of the first session) will begin on July 12, 2010 and conclude on July 16. A stipend will be awarded to all teachers who complete the program.

“STEM Explorations: Living in Space” is funded in part by a grant from the NASA Summer of Innovation program.

4 days: July 6-9

Call the McAuliffe Center at 508.626.4050 to register.

What happens to the motion of a marble as it rolls down an incline? How can you use a weight to make a cart move?

Participants apply engineering design and construction skills as they investigate various forces and their resultant motions through air pucks, balls and tracks, and fan carts.

This module employs 18 explorations to “uncover” forces (push and pull) and motions, inertia and friction, Newton’s model of gravity, speed and acceleration, motions on horizontal surfaces and inclined planes, and falling, sliding, rolling and wheeled motions.

3 days: July 12 - 14
45 PDPs: $300
45 PDPs and 2 FSC Credits: $430

Download Registration Form

Observation of shadows can provide evidence for the changing orientation of the Earth and Sun, which causes the seasons and differences in the length of each day.

Direct observation of the Moon’s apparent shape and movement can yield inferences about the Moon’s orbital and axial motions. Observation makes it possible to predict how the stars move across the night sky and how the night sky changes from season to season.

This module employs 17 explorations to “uncover” the reason for the seasons, to track the Moon in the sky, and to understand the night sky.

3 days: July 21 - 23
45 PDPs: $300
45 PDPs and 2 FSC Credits: $430

Download Registration Form