Educator Professional Development and Resources

Land Use Explorers - Activities for youth

Land Use Explorers is a series of lessons and activities that help students, teachers, and citizens of all ages to better understand and think critically about what we use our lands for and what we value most about them.

All activities, list of materials and a recording on how to use the program are available here.

The social, economic, and environmental benefits provided by our lands are innumerable--from food and energy production, to watersheds and wildlife habitats. But there are also trade-offs associated with any land use.

Land Use Explorers focuses on topics that are key to understanding these benefits and trade-offs: Land Use, Energy, Climate Change, Food Systems, Water, Agriculture and Soil, Biodiversity

Sensing for Science - Self-paced Training Program

Are you interested in Arduino coding and sensors? We have a free training program for Montana teachers. Learn how you can get a FREE kit for yourself! Visit Sensing for Science.

This program is supported by Montana NSF EPSCoR.

Datasets for Teachers - Self-paced Modules

Datasets for Teachers: Supercharge Your Classroom with Montana Field Science Data is a free, self-paced course for educators that consists of five modules. Through these modules, educators will learn to incorporate datasets from authentic Montana research projects into their own classroom. Visit Datasets for Teachers for more information.

This course was sponsored by Montana NSF EPSCoR and was originally taught by Montana Partnership with Regions for Excellence in STEM (MPRES) educators Chris Pavlovich and Bill Stockton through the Montana Office of Public Instruction's (OPI) Teacher Learning Hub.

Partner program: Montana PBS Films

Watch Montana PBS and PBS films Explore our menu of film options and pick the films that would help you build your content knowledge and inspire you to create engaging lessons for students. After watching the film you can complete a reflection activity for Montana PBS sharing your thoughts about the film and how you could use it with students. We have a catalog of films covering content areas such as Social Studies, Math, Science, English Language Arts, and IEFA. Find out more on the MTPBS Watch and Learn Catalog.

Leap Into Science (STEM and Literacy for youth aged 3-10 and their caregivers)

Leap into Science is a nationwide program developed by The Franklin Institute. It is funded by the National Science Foundation, and supported by The National Girls Collaborative Project. In Montana, the program is led by the Science Math Resource Center, spectrUM Discovery Area, Montana Afterschool Alliance and Missoula Public Library.

This high-quality program integrates open-ended science activities with children’s books, designed for children ages 3-10 and their families.

Educators who join the Leap Into Science cohort receive:

• Training on a high-quality science and literacy curriculum and facilitation strategies
• Ongoing support as a member of the Leap Into Science national network
• Access to the national Leap Into Science leadership team and online resources, plus quarterly support calls with other Montana educators
• Web-based training on new curricula themes in subsequent years

For information, contact Suzi Taylor at taylor@montana.edu