Professional Development Program

Teaching science as inquiry, engineering as design

Through the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators (ISEE), the AWI offers the Professional Development Program (PDP), a flexible, multi-year program for scientists and engineers at the early stages of their careers, with a primary focus on graduate students.

The PDP includes workshops and facilitated design time, organized into two 3-day institutes. Participants form teams of 2-4 participants and work together during the institutes to design their own activity. After the institutes, teams continue working together, attend a half-day workshop, teach, and then reflect.

Workshop topics include:

Comparing Approaches: Three Kinds of Hands-On Science
Science of Learning and Teaching: The How People Learn Framework
Light & Shadow Inquiry Activity - 1st year participants' engage as learners
Digital Images Inquiry Activity - Returning participants' engage as learners
Comparing Inquiry Design Elements - intentionally designing your inquiry
Designing Engineering Activities
Preparing to Lead a Teaching Team
Improving Learners' Inquiry Process Skills
Demographics of STEM and why we should care
Stereotype threat and malleable mindset
Introduction to PDP Diversity & Equity Focus Area
Addressing diversity & equity in the learning environment
Assessing learning through students' explanations
Facilitating learners engaged in inquiry - assessing, guiding, and managing social dynamics

Facilitated design time:

During the institutes (mostly during the "Design Institute") teams work together to design an inquiry activity, and specifically design elements that will create an inclusive learning environment. Teams are facilitated by PDP instructors who guide them through a series of activities that help them think through aspects of their design, such as:

Getting learners started in an inquiry
Setting the context for inquiry learning
Creating a design in which learners improve inquiry process skills (not just do)
Reviewing design for diversity and equity considerations
Using a "proof of concept" to review first draft of an inquiry design

View the AWI calendar for information on program dates and deadlines.

More information on the AWI PDP can be found at: http://isee.ucsc.edu/participants/programs/pdp.php

2011 PDP Teaching Teams - Hawaii
Activity	Venue	Team Leader	Other Team Members	Teaching Date
Computer Science Inquiry	Akamai SC	Garrett Elliott	Hamed Dehnavi Geoff Mathews Brooks Thomas	mid- June
AO Demonstrator Inquiry	Akamai SC	Ryan Swindle	Richard Ordonez Reid Yamura	mid-June
Project Management Inquiry	Akamai Big Island follow-up workshop	Jerome Shaw	Craig Nance Isabelle Scholl Josh Kaakua	August
Instrumentation Inquiry (Image Conjugation)	Akamai Alumni workshop	Andy Norton	Austin Barnes Zachary Lee-Ho	Fall 2011
Electronics Inquiry (Wheatstone Bridge)	UHMC Intro Electronics course	Oscar Azucena	Erin Miller Kurtis Nishimura	Fall 2011
Color, Light, Spectra	UH Astro lab course	Mike Nassir	Thomas Dixon Keita Fukushima Marco Micheli	Fall 2011

Past PDP Teaching Teams - Hawaii:

2011 Design Teams
2010 Design Teams