Join the ISB team to learn, at your own pace, about all climate-themed Systems Education Experiences (SEE) modules. ISB will provide guidance as you prepare to implement one or more modules. Weaving authentic, hands-on STEM and climate science into your science course will help you teach 3D NGSS and prepare your students to deeply consider their environment and to take action.  Learn and do the unit with students in-real-time!

The purpose of this 12-hour asynchronous course is to provide the content, the time and the flexibly-scheduled guidance for teachers to learn about all six available Systems Education Experiences (SEE) Modules (listed below) from Institute for Systems Biology that are climate-themed. The purpose of learning about the modules is to give teachers the ability to implement the pertinent lessons, pedagogical strategies, and/or entire modules in your classroom.

PLEASE NOTE: Clock hour claims will not be accepted until June 20th when the asynchronous work is due.

The structure is an asynchronous Canvas-based workshop.  The workshop builds over 3 steps:

1. STEP 1: Teacher participants expand their knowledge about the modules which includes the content and pedagogical strategies. Participants create and iterate a plan in the style of a lab notebook that helps them consider module themes, standards and content in order to choose one or more modules to use for their students and courses.

2. STEP 2: Teachers delve into at least one module and will create a plan for implementing it with their students in their classroom. Teachers will also consider the STEM careers that are connected to this work and will integrate this learning into their teaching plan.

3. STEP 3: Teachers share their implementation of the module; i.e. what they tried, how it went, and student work. They reflect on what they learned and how they might share their experience with their colleagues and/or administrative leadership. The prompts teachers will answer are aligned with  those provided by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and can be used in part to prepare for National Board Teacher Certification.

Modules available to implement are found on https://see.isbscience.org/modules/ and include:  

1. Bioengineering a Sustainable World

2. Carbon’s Fate: Tracing Paths through Air, Sea and Ice

3. Ecological Networks

4. Invisible Forest: What’s in a Drop of Seawater?

5. Microplastics in the Arctic: Mega-Problem?

6. Modeling Sustainable Food Systems: Food Security

7. Ocean Acidification: A Systems Approach to a Global Problem

All modules include detailed lesson plans for implementing them with your students and require very basic lab materials. Each is either problem-based, project-based, and/or phenomenon-based and are written to guide students through 3D learning around environmental topics. Modules provide 1 week to 5 weeks of hands-on experiences for students depending on the topic and depth of student exploration.

This Canvas-based workshop will have 12 STEM clock hours available for purchase June 20, 2025, upon the completion of all work. Partial clock hours will not be offered. 

February 28, 2025 to June 20, 2025 - 12 STEM Clock Hours will be available for purchase at the end of the course, June 20, 2025.

Additional mentoring timeslots will be posted on a shared calendar and can be rescheduled for teachers to enable participation and “just in time” guidance during preps and after school as lessons are implemented.