Biotechnology-Focused Professional Development for Teachers

Some of Our Favorite Biotechnology Websites

• Georgia Intern Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) Program at Georgia Tech.  Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) places between 70 and 100 teachers annually in summer internships, many of which are bioscience-focused.  Many other educational institutions collaborate with GT in this program, including Valdosta State University, the University of Georgia and its National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL), and the Emory College Center for Science Education.  Many of the intern positions are based in industry. 

• Emory College Center for Science Education also offers the PRISM/CFNM Teacher Fellowship in which teachers complete a six-week nanoscience research experience at Clark Atlanta’s Center for Functional Nanoscale Materials and develop problem-based learning units to translate their nanoscience research into the classroom. Many of these units are bioscience oriented.

• Georgia State University participates in the American Chemical Society’s Project Seed, in which students and their teachers in work university labs for the summer.
• UGA Marine Education Center & Aquarium provides classroom teachers with an intensive week-long marine & coastal ecosystems study at the on Skidaway Island, followed by a second week of working alongside L.T.E.R. (Long Term Ecological Research) scientists at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island.
  

Biotechnology-Focused Professional Development for Teachers

• Georgia Bioscience Technology Institute (www.gabioscience.org), a joint program of Athens and Gwinnett Technical Colleges, offers summer week-long teacher institutes for basic and advanced levels at several sites, outreach to teachers and students during the year, equipment kits/loans throughout the year, a teacher newsletter and online resources. This activity is part of a $2 million U.S. Department of Labor grant to the technical colleges to establish degree and certificate programs.
• Fort Valley State University Center for Biotechnology offers summer workshops and training during the year.
• Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience offers Biotechnology Toolbox summer training for teachers who wish to utilize equipment loans.
  • The Center for Education Integrating Science Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) also conducts bioscience professional development in partnership with local school districts, Georgia Bio, and others.
• The Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (Georgia State, Emory University, Georgia Tech, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University) offers a Teacher Professional Development Workshop one-week program designed to improve neuroscience literacy and teaching methods for metro Atlanta high school educators.
• Emory College Center for Science Education offers PRISM Teacher Fellowship in which teachers partner with science/math doctoral students to develop and implement problem-based learning lessons. It also offers summer professional development experiences in curriculum development, workshops on evolution and student assessment.
• University of Georgia
  • The National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL) is a unit of the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences provides a 1-week workshop designed to update middle and high school teachers on genomics and biotechnology and to train teachers how to conduct DNA-related classroom activities. Teachers are then eligible to check out equipment kits for the classroom activities.
  • STARS Program: The University of Georgia's Tifton Campus K-12 educational outreach program is designed to enrich the science, math, and technology experiences of K-12 teachers and students by providing a real-world application of classroom textbook science and exposing them to real issues in scientific research.
• UGA’s College of Education is leading a 3D Animated Biology Lesson project for high school teachers and students as part of its Math and Science Education program.
• Georgia State BioBus program offers a workshop annually for teachers related to its modules.
• Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is a participating site of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) provides curricula, supporting materials and teacher professional development workshops in order to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) education mission to provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational opportunities for students and teachers.
• Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, a unit of the University System of Georgia, offers bioscience professional development for teachers.
• Georgia Southern Molecular Biology Initiative provides training and classroom implementation assistance for high school teachers. 
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The CDC has an extensive education outreach program. It has developed numerous curricula for teachers to help them integrate bioscience and health topics into the curriculum. It also offers a Science Ambassador program where teachers collaborate with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists on epidemiologic-based lesson plans. The CDC also offers a Global Health Odyssey Museum for middle school and older students, a “Disease Detectives” Science Olympiad Event, and a Disease Detectives summer camp for students. The CDC also coordinates a program called EXCITE- Excellence in Curriculum Innovation through Teaching Epidemiology and the Science of Public Health, a collection of teaching and reference materials developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to introduce and excite youth from kindergarten through 12th grade about the knowledge and skills utilized by public health professionals.
• Area Health Education Centers.  The Georgia Statewide AHEC Network is a partnership coordinated between the Medical College of Georgia and Mercer University School of Medicine. The six AHECs work with elementary, middle and high school youth through programs including career materials such as the Explore the Opportunities: Health Careers in Georgia manual, web sites, and classroom resources, and also offer health career camps and clubs, as well as academies designed for middle and high school math and science teachers.

Some of Our Favorite Biotechnology Websites