Success Stories
Using Public Health Data to Study Climate Change Impacts
Exposing students to real data connected to their lives and their communities is a hallmark of the NGSS science and engineering practices. In the spring of 2021, DOH epidemiologists partnered with a professional development provider from Puget Sound ESD to produce...
Science Storylines for Elementary Teachers
On March 6, 2021, and again on March 13, IslandWood staff and elementary teachers came together on Zoom to explore two science storylines related to local phenological phenomena (say that five times fast!). Teachers of K-2 students explored a storyline related to...
Community Science
On January 16, 2021, and again on May 15, 2021, IslandWood staff, teacher participants, and collaborative partners gathered on Zoom to discuss community-centered science storylines at the secondary level. With support from a high school science teacher/co-facilitator...
Science in Your Neighborhood
On August 18, 2020, and again with a second cohort on September 19, 2020, IslandWood staff and K-8 teachers came together on Zoom to consider how to make science engaging and meaningful for students in a year when the school communities were turned upside-down. Over...
Climate Change and Data Visualizations
12 amazing teachers spent the week of June 21-25 engaged in a teacher/scientist partnership. The goal of the TSP program is to have scientists share their expertise to deepen the teacher's understanding of the content and learn a little more about how scientists at...
Using Shellfish to Teach Climate Change
Shellfish are an important traditional food source with cultural significance for coastal Native people and the foundation of an iconic industry for Washington state. The shellfish industry here generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year and employs thousands...
Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Wetlands workshop
In late June 2021, 33 teachers from 16 Coastal and West Sound school districts attended a three-day hybrid workshop, Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Wetlands, with Pacific Education Institute’s FieldSTEM Coordinators Karen Lippy and Julie Tennis and PEI...
Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Regenerative Agriculture (Western Washington) writing workshop
During June 2021, 12 educators and Pacific Education Institute (PEI) staff worked together to adapt Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines on the topic of Regenerative Agriculture. The current Regenerative Agriculture storylines were created for eastern Washington...
Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Fire for Secondary Teachers
During May 2021, 25 middle and high school educators from across Eastern and Central Washington attended a three-day online workshop, Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Fire for Secondary Educators, with Pacific Education Institute’s (PEI) FieldSTEM Coordinator...
Land Acknowledgement – a call to action!
By now, many know that the colonization myth we learned in school doesn’t tell the whole story of how the Americas were settled. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but what he discovered was not a “New World” — it was once inhabited by millions of...