Boot Camp Tour 2009 Learn How to Make Science Even More Meaningful and Fun!

Steve Spangler's Hands-on Science Secrets™ training is guaranteed to provide you with a whole new perspective on teaching science. It is complete with techniques that will move the effectiveness of your teaching to a whole new level. You'll leave with all the tools you need to make you the best science teacher possible.

More than just cute ideas... we need solutions!

When Steve Spangler asked primary teachers what would be the best way to teach science, teachers responded with a no nonsense approach. "Give us easy science activities that help our students build critical thinking skills... use the scientific method... and make them so engaging that kids want to learn more on their own." Let's face it, science is already fun, but it also has to be relevant to the curriculum and to the real world. And teachers need science lessons that can be easily integrated into all areas of the curriculum. "The days of trying to squeeze science in at the last minute are over... we need something new and easy." Steve Spangler's Hands-on Science Secrets is different than any other workshop you have ever experienced.

Bottom line... Steve Spangler will help you take the fear out of teaching science and become a more effective science teacher using simple and inexpensive materials... guaranteed!

About the Hands-on Science Curriculum

This seminar is designed to meet the practical needs of busy elementary school teachers who want to make science more exciting, stimulating and meaningful. The curriculum covers themes such as air, color, light, magnets, weather, states of matter, chemistry, force and motion and Steve's ooey, gooey supermarket science. You'll participate in more than 30 eye-catching demonstrations and hands-on activities that help children pursue the why-factor of wonder, discovery, and exploration. Explore a number of great science ideas that encourage children to "play with a purpose." By the end of the day, your head will be filled with creative ideas that you can put to use immediately. You'll leave this seminar with the knowledge, presentation skills, and tools to make science the favorite part of your teaching day.

Mission Control... We Have a Serious Problem

Dr. Joanne Vasquez, member of the National Science Board, recently delivered the bad news in an open letter to the education community.

"The recently released Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMS)-an international student assessment conducted in 15 countries and released on December 14, 2004-tells us that American fourth-graders are doing no better in science than they did in 1995. Ten years later, and still no progress has been made with our youngest learners. But why should we care if six-year olds take science or not? The answer is simple: because future innovations in science, technology, engineering, defense, national security, and a whole lot more could be at stake.

Science instruction has come to a dismal halt or been severely curtailed in far too many elementary classrooms across the United States. While we do not argue that these subjects are also important, science, like all subjects, requires a developmental building of conceptual understanding that must start in kindergarten. Yet many students reach the intermediate and middle grades with little or no science instruction, and if they receive any, it happened when the teacher could squeeze it in.

To effectively improve elementary science, schools and administrators need to value the science education they offer, and they must provide quality professional development, mentoring, and resources to our elementary teachers. This will be vital if as a nation we want to truly see students achieve in science."

The theme for teacher training workshops 20 years ago was, "Science is Fun!" Dozens of professional development workshops and institutes did everything possible to get teachers turned on to teaching science. Steve Spangler refers to this as the "arts & crafts" period of science education training. A survey of principals in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado revealed that students were having fun doing lots of hands-on activities, but the translation from 'real fun' to 'real learning' didn't happen in most instances. "Just because kids are doing a hands-on activity doesn't mean they're learning," according to Steve Spangler. "We as teachers need to learn how to effectively use inquiry-based activities to teach our students how to better use the scientific method and to stimulate their problem-solving skills."

Yes, science is fun, but now we need creative ideas and strategies for integrating science into our curriculum. The goal of this Boot Camp is to show early childhood educators (pre-K to 3) how to use proven best practices and teaching strategies to make science more exciting, more engaging, more interactive and more meaningful in their classroom.

Earn Graduate Level Credit

K-12 teachers may earn "graduate level credit," also known as professional development units through our partnership with Chapman University. These credits are not part of a degree program, but instead are primarily used for professional advancement (such as salary increment steps and recertification). One semester credit is equivalent to 15 hours.

You can register for the credits while attending the workshop.