PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COHORTS
Student benefit gained through the depth and breadth of a teacher's knowledge is nearly incalculable. West Sound STEM offers ongoing Professional Learning Cohorts (PLC) where a group of teachers can immerse themselves in a particular subject over an extended period of time. While designed to increase teacher knowledge, skills and subject integration into core content areas, teachers also create connections between cohort members both within and between districts. The group's activities, many designed and delivered by WSSN members and partners, increase subject relevance via engaging and real-world problems, examine equity and opportunity in each field and link students to careers.
Northwest Earth & Space Sciences Pathway
The NESSP three-year long Professional Learning Cohort, conducted by WSSN, offers science teachers a chance to more deeply explore scientific topics in their field of study, sharply honing their expertise, and allows them to develop new knowledge and skill-sets in additional fields. Currently the teachers are in their third year and have been engaged with one of the Network’s newest partner-members, Slooh.
COSTAR
With an OSPI-awarded grant, teachers across the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas work in partnership with district administrators, industry, the Suquamish Tribe, WWU, UW, Olympic College, and MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions to ensure that Computer Science Opportunities Across the Region (COSTAR) are available to all students. The group creates localized, coherent and streamlined computer science pathways for students, teachers partner with professionals to increase their computer science skills and partners explore strategies for introducing and engaging students from historically underrepresented groups throughout the year.
Ocean Observatories Initiative
Through a National Science Foundation grant, West Sound STEM Network is offering a new professional learning cohort for teachers beginning Fall 2021. The K12 Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Workshop Series brings together “a professional learning community of K12 teacher leaders from northwest Washington school districts, and private and Tribal schools, in partnership with University of Washington, School of Oceanography scientists to learn marine science using data from the OOI Regional Cabled Array (RCA). Read more
