Professional Development

Early Learner with Father

Early childhood science education provides the foundation for a lifetime of science learning, both in and out of school.

As a teacher, you play a crucial role in helping your young students discover how the world works. The Hall can help you introduce science in a way that is meaningful for young minds, building on children's natural curiosity, developing their scientific thinking, and laying the foundation for later learning.

Get ideas for integrating science with language, drama, movement, and play in relevant and motivating ways.
Explore activities that emphasize science process skills and practices that can be easily incorporated into your current program.
Grow your confidence in facilitating developmentally appropriate science experiences for young children.

Workshop duration and topics can be customized to meet your school's particular needs and interests. We can present single workshops or conduct a series of workshops.

Theme: Backyard Science
Workshop Titles:

Tree Homes
Investigating Insects
Terrarium Habitats

Theme: Animals and Their Young
Workshop Titles:

Elephants and Their Young
Penguins and Their Young

Theme: Physics and Engineering Design
Workshop Titles:

Water Explorations
Bubble-ology
Simple Circuits
Simple Hydraulics

Theme: Little Hands Chemistry
Workshop Titles:

Investigating Solids and Liquids
Making Mixtures

doing engineering activities for young children

Workshops can be held at the Hall or at your site. An additional fee is charged for travel.

Contact Emily Weiss, School Program Director, or call her at 510-643-6350 to book a workshop or get more information.

Professional development provides you with the skills and the tools you need to meet today's most compelling needs in science education.

We have many opportunities for districts, schools, teachers and students to engage in high-quality science teaching and learning. We offer assistance to districts, schools, leaders and teachers through customized support, professional learning experiences, and strategic planning for K-12 science. Our professional learning specialists design experiences and workshops that assist districts, schools, and teachers in planning for and implementing high-quality science in the classroom.

For support, please contact: Vanessa Lujan.

BaySci is aimed at improving the capacity of school districts within a national and state context surrounding the preparation, adoption and implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The program is open to teachers, schools, and districts in the Bay Area and beyond. A key feature of BaySci is that it addresses the specific individual needs expressed by district partners by taking strategic advantage of the programs, resources and expertise of the involved informal science education institutions. For more information on BaySci and becoming involved, contact Vanessa Lujan, Ph.D., Program Director.

Visit the BaySci website to learn more.

The Bay Area Science Project, one of 18 California Science Projects across the state, is a professional development network for K–8 science teacher leaders. BASP is committed to quality, standards-based science education that is equitable and accessible for all students. The project is designed to meet the needs of low-performing districts by building partnerships with teachers, schools, and districts; and by strengthening the professional community of science educators in the San Francisco Bay Area. BASP hosts Science/ELD Academies and week-long Content & Curriculum Institutes during the summer focusing on different science content areas each year, and Saturday Seminars and school-site support throughout the year. The overarching goal of this effort is to increase all students’ access, learning, and achievement in science.

Check out the current offering of Saturday Seminars.

Visit our curriculum page to find out about available professional development specific to each program.

Our workshops, summer institutes, and Saturday seminars help you deepen your own understanding of mathematics, learn proven strategies for teaching key mathematical concepts, reflect about your practice, and get families more involved in the mathematics education of their children.

Bay Area Mathematics Project (BAMP)

Explore professional growth opportunities available to mathematics teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area. We offer support to teachers of students in grades K-9, including summer institutes and Saturday seminars during the academic year. Since 1983, the Bay Area Mathematics Project (BAMP) has offered inspiring professional learning opportunities for K-12 mathematics teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma, Solano, and Napa counties. Specializing in support for Common Core implementation and preparation for the new Smarter Balanced assessments, BAMP has a particular focus on equity and supporting English learners. As one of the 19 California Mathematics Project (CMP) sites supported by the State of California and administered by the University of California Office of the President. BAMP increasingly draws strength from increased collaboration with county offices and other CMP sites around the state.

BAMP professional learning opportunities include:

One week summer institutes focusing on a particular math topic and including information on effective classroom implementation.
Themed Saturday seminars in collaboration with the Bay Area Science Project and the Bay Area Writing Project
Common Core Seminar presentations on Saturday Mornings in collaboration with the Alameda Contra Costa Council of Mathematics Educators (AC3ME)
Contract work with public, private, and parochial schools and districts
Site-based, customized professional development and coaching for teachers of mathematics
Technical assistance for teachers, schools, and districts

For more information, contact Harold Asturias.

Current Professional Development Opportunities

We will be offering three Saturday Seminars for the 2018-2019 academic year. These are high-quality, free, PD on Saturdays with focuses on mathematics, science, and writing.

EQUALS

Learn teaching strategies that increase equity in the mathematics classroom. The program helps you examine the way your own mathematical identity drives your instructional decisions and learn how to reflect on your practice. Our EQUALS professional development workshops deepen your understanding of mathematics, pedagogy, and complex equity issues to improve your effectiveness as a mathematics teacher or educator. Also, we help you understand how your instructional decisions increase or limit students’ access to mathematics.

EQUALS was founded in 1977 to develop techniques for keeping young girls interested in mathematics. Over the years this focus has expanded to include people of all colors, socio-economic classes, and diverse language backgrounds.

We can help you make math education equally accessible to all of your students. We can also help you get families involved in their children’s mathematics education. Topics we cover include:

• Common Core State Standards
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Changing practices for diverse classrooms
• Cooperative learning and problem-solving strategies
• English language development and mathematics content
• FAMILY MATH for young children, elementary, and middle school
• FAMILY MATH Leader workshops

For more information, visit the Visit the EQUALS web site or email equals@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-1823.

Family Math

Learn how to engage parents on doing mathematics with their children. This helps them become an effective partner in ensuring their children's success in mathematics. Every member of the family, child and adult, can succeed in mathematics when it is presented in a meaningful, enjoyable, and cooperative way. This is at the heart of the FAMILY MATH program.

FAMILY MATH shows adults and children that mathematics is understandable and relevant to their lives. It achieves this through a hands-on, problem-solving approach that emphasizes rich mathematical concepts. The program offers curriculum designed so an adult and child can work together on math at home.

Program staff conduct workshops to prepare parents, teachers, and interested members of the community to organize and offer classes for families in their community. The program has been successfully implemented with:

inner-city community groups on the east coast,
in rural southern communities,
with Spanish-speaking families in the southwest,
and with national reform movements in other countries.

Visit the Family Math website for more information.

Since 1968, our professional development programs have inspired teachers and school administrators, offering them new skills and innovative approaches to science and math education.

Our most effective past programs, noted here, can give you ideas about how to work with the Hall in the future. If you are interested in launching a new program based on any of those described below, please let us know.

Alliance for Collaborative Change in School Systems (ACCESS)

ACCESS worked in partnership with Northern California school districts to strengthen the capacity of schools to prepare students, particularly those from historically underrepresented groups, for college.

ACCESS offered regularly scheduled, site-based mathematics professional development, coaching, and planning services for teachers and administrative staff, primarily at grades 6-12. We also assisted in developing high-quality mathematics curricula and assessment materials. The program focused on increasing teachers' ability to teach a standards-based mathematics curriculum and enhancing their use of a wide range of instructional strategies and resources that address the academic learning needs of a diverse student group.

The program goal was to help students develop the motivation, mathematical knowledge, and problem-solving skills they need in order to become academically competitive and successfully prepare for four-year colleges and careers. Additionally, ACCESS activities contributed to the knowledge base of effective teaching, learning, and assessment practices.

This program was developed primarily for grades 6-12.

Bridges to Excellence: Achievement in Mathematics (BEAM)

BEAM is a three-year staff development project being implemented throughout California. BEAM is creating an exemplary staff development model to better prepare elementary school teachers to deliver high-quality mathematics education with equally high outcomes for English language learning students. The project combines effective staff development practice, research and theory on second-language acquisition, mathematics standards, and structures for discussing equity issues. Other components of BEAM include an innovative online assessment module and a family learning model, based on the highly successful Family Math program.

Center for Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning, The (CAESL)

The Center for Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning (CAESL) is a national center funded by the National Science Foundation in partnership with WestEd, the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education, UCLA, and Stanford University.

The objectives of this national center are:

development of graduate programs for assessment and evaluation professionals,
professional development and preservice programs in assessment for science teachers,
applied research, and public understanding.

English Language Development Initiatives in Mathematics Content

ELDI-MC presents institutes focusing on three areas:

increasing participants’ knowledge and proficiency in application of the English Language Development (ELD) standards,
providing access to high-quality mathematics for English language learning (ELL) students, and
deepening participants’ understanding of mathematics content knowledge in the area of algebra and algebraic thinking.

The ELD standards will form the foundation for the institutes. Algebra content aligned with the California Mathematics Content Standards will be embedded in lessons employing ELD strategies, forming a cohesive and coherent program addressing both ELD standards and access to deeper understanding of mathematics content.

This program was developed for grades K-12.

Family Health

Family Health, an award-winning collaboration of UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and School of Public Health, presents exciting health science activities for students and families and supports health education efforts in schools and community based organizations. The activities are related to:

nutrition,
physical activity,
respiratory health,
healthy behaviors,
and disease prevention.

The program is designed to support health education and to build partnerships between health professionals, teachers and community groups.

Program components include:

family workshops;
a Medical Mystery Festival;
the Food and Fitness Festival, Youth Theatre with teens presenting skits about health issues to students and families;
and Leadership Training Workshops for teachers, parents, volunteer health professionals, youth, and community educators.

This program was developed for grades 6–12.

The Saturday Seminar series for 2020 are being redesigned. When information is available we will post it here and send out an email communication to all of you who are a part of this professional learning community. If you would like to share your email address, please contact Adilene, adilene.p@berkeley.edu.

Past Workshops

Ruth Cossey teaches pre-service mathematics methods, Equity Leadership, and master degree research courses in the Mills College School of Education in Oakland, California, where she has taught over 20 years. Her most recent research focuses on the establishment of the Oakland Urban Teacher Residency which supports the career development of excellent mathematics and science teachers in Oakland. Before holding an endowed Chair at Mills College, Professor Cossey was a mathematics teacher in elementary and secondary schools in Oakland, Washington DC, and Richmond, California. Cossey is the co-author of Family Math.

Pirette McKamey has been an educator since 1989 and is now an Assistant Principal at Mission High. An educator for thirty years, Robert Roth teaches both History and Ethnic Studies at Mission High. Kristina Rizga is the author of Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph. Bita Nazarian directs 826 Valencia, a nonproﬁt dedicated to supporting under-resourced students with their creative and expository writing skills. Roth, McKamey, and Nazarian are all Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP) Teacher Consultants. Come hear these educators and journalist discuss their experiences in the panel: Students Are Thinkers: Developing a Dynamic Approach to Teaching in our Schools.

Derrick Smith Dr. Darrick Smith is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of San Francisco and Co-Director of the School of Education’s new Transformative School Leadership (TSL) program. His research interests include culturally responsive discipline practices; critical pedagogy; social justice leadership, and equity issues in higher education. Dr. Smith is the founder and former Director of the TryUMF (pronounced "triumph") program in Oakland, CA and formerly served as the Co-Director/Principal of the June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco. As a result of his work with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, he currently serves as a recommended consultant for the system’s Professional Learning Network. Dr. Smith also currently serves as a national consultant for the Now is the Time Technical Assistance (NITT-TA) Center funded through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).