These stories are a collection of educator professional learning experiences and opportunities provided by ESD, CBO and Tribal School partners.
Puget Sound ESD works with school district science leaders and regional community-based organizations (CBOs) to bring climate science concepts through NGSS-aligned, phenomena-based teaching to students across the region. Our greatest area of leverage is the science leaders and teacher leaders in our local school districts who can engage greater numbers of colleagues in racially just, solutions-oriented climate science learning and teaching.
Over the course of the 2024-25 school year, more than 60 teachers from across Western Washington connected Amplify Science units to their students’ funds of knowledge, experiences, and communities. They were introduced to a unit-specific “localizing guide” that...
On May 28th, teachers from across the Puget Sound region came together with district leads, developers, and IslandWood staff to share and celebrate the work they did this year on eight new “localizing guides” for OpenSciEd and Amplify Science units. Each localizing...
Guided by teachers participating in IslandWood’s “Community-Centered Climate Action” teacher professional learning course, students make a change in their school community. At Emerald Heights Elementary, Karrie Coombe and Chantal Fleck’s students took on a global...
From February through May this spring, 25 teachers from Pierce, King, and Snohomish counties met virtually to discuss the principles and practices of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s seminal book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Wisdom of...
In its 4th year of iteration, the Winds & Waters Learning Project continues to partner with the Muckleshoot Tribal members and Coast Salish environments, land, and sea to cultivate curiosity and interest through Indigenous epistemology. During this year-long, five...
“We need to stop thinking, ‘Is this student good enough for my science class?’ and start asking, ‘Is my science class good enough to engage all students?’” This was the question posed by Jamie Yoos, a chemistry teacher and OpenSciEd facilitator from Bellingham,...
The OpenSciEd Elementary Field Test launched this August on the beautiful Washington State University, Vancouver campus. Over seventy elementary teachers from across the state participated in this three-day project launch learning about the high-quality OpenSciEd...
On August 7th, science educators from the Puget Sound region gathered for a two-day Localizing Amplify Science Teacher Institute at IslandWood’s Bainbridge Island campus. The educators were excited to collaborate on curriculum adaptations towards incorporating student...
In the spring of 2023, 18 educators and administrators from community early learning centers in the Puget Sound area and the Issaquah School District participated in the I am a Scientist! ClimeTime Early Learning Workshop Series, impacting 150-200 students and their...