Forty teachers from across the state worked together last summer in K-12 InVenture Prize professional development workshops that have been reimagined with a new focus on peer led-learning, immersive, hands-on experiences, inspirational tours, and high-tech tools and skills.
For the first time, some of K-12 InVenture Prize’s veteran teacher partners worked as workshop facilitators and mentors to newer teachers who are discovering the curriculum and competition for the first time.
“In the same way that our students keep working to refine and improve their inventions, we have reimagined our professional development for this year, and we have made improvements that our teachers really seemed to like,” said K-12 InVenture Prize Director Danyelle Larkin with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). “One of the biggest shifts was to embrace the idea of peer learning and putting our tried and true, tested teachers in charge. They really stepped up and showed their mastery of this curriculum and were able to connect to their fellow teachers in a very meaningful way.”