Here's a recap of the varied learning that our faculty engaged in over the summer:

High School science teacher Daniel Li participated in the StemTeachersNYC Modeling Biology and the Living Environment program, a two-week workshop designed to approach traditional biology concepts such as evolution, cell biology, and genetics and inheritance through a modeling lens!  While biology is often thought of as a memorization-heavy field, participants learned strategies to guide students in understanding key ideas through examination of real data and experiments.  Just as importantly, the curriculum aims to develop their skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and data analysis.  Daniel also learned how to use tools like C.E.R. (claims-evidence-reasoning), whiteboarding, and LOL energy diagrams to train students how to conceptualize (and create mental models!) of difficult ideas.

Daniel also attended with High School science teacher Kara Luce the ChemEd Conference that brought together high school and college teachers from across the country.  Over four days, they had the opportunity to partake in a number of different workshops hosted by many talented teachers from across the country, ranging from topics like 'Argument Driven Inquiry in Chem' to 'Making Students' Thinking Visible' to 'Copper Etching via 2 Methods'.  They also had the chance to hear keynote presentations from Deborah Blum (author of The Poisoner's Handbook) and Theodore Gray (author of the Elements)!  They plan to bring these tools and techniques back to the classroom for the coming year.

Middle and High School music teacher Susan Glass once again taught a summer program for NYU Grad students on the Kodály approach to music education. Kodály is a foundational part of the LREI music program. Pictured below is Susan with her students demonstrating the hand signs used for the notes of the scale in the Kodály approach to music education. This summer she taught solfege, conducting, and choir as part of an intensive three week course. As Susan commented, "Hard work, always very satisfying."