In July of 2016, we held our first POD Facilitation Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona. We are pleased to report that this outstanding group of Facilitators helped make the Academy a great success. Their combined experience teaching, leading professional development and utilizing GIS made for enthusiastic collaboration.
We engaged in an example Geospatial Inquiry around natural hazards and risk, explored pedagogical moves that can support Geospatial Inquiry, considered benefits and challenges to implementation of Geospatial Inquiry in secondary classrooms, supports for teachers to overcome barriers. Finally, we explored ways to enhance a myriad of lessons in multiple subject areas using Geospatial Inquiry.
POD Facilitators are currently planning their first POD Teacher Workshops across the country. To find a POD Teacher Workshop near you, join our mailing list.
Since this is a design based research project with the goal of seeing how the POD professional development model transfers to new contexts, we will engage in multiple improvement cycles. We are currently revising our POD Guides and Academy based on Facilitator feedback and developing and validating the research instruments.
We will soon be recruiting 15 exceptional professional development coordinators, science/STEM curriculum coordinators, college faculty, and any individuals who support teachers on a regular basis to apply to attend our new and improved POD Facilitation Academy to learn to replicate POD Teacher Workshops across the nation. It will be held in Flagstaff, Arizona, June 19-23, 2017. Sign up to be notified when the application goes live.
Please email podstemnau@gmail.com with any questions!