Join Wade Institute, Berkshire Community College (BCC), BEAT, and the City of Pittsfield’s Engineering Division this summer for a 5-day professional development course that focuses on watersheds and how engineering supports natural systems and habitats in Berkshire County. During this course, you will explore methods and resources to bring this locally relevant science to your students and help them recognize the range of career opportunities that engineering can offer.

We will engage in engineering design challenges with BCC faculty that take an interdisciplinary, hands-on approach to understanding how engineering and creativity combine to generate designed solutions that support the local ecosystem.

We’ll head into the field with BEAT to explore local forests, rivers, and streams to understand first-hand how important watersheds are and to investigate methods in use to protect them. We’ll also participate in water quality monitoring, gaining an understanding of how it provides important information to the state as they manage the watershed – and experience ways to scale this testing to be used in your classroom as you engage your students with citizen science projects.

With the City of Pittsfield Engineering Division, we’ll identify how engineering and infrastructure work to manage watersheds – with a focus on drinking water quality and stormwater runoff. Learn how water quality, engineering mitigation, and remediation measures are used to address stream erosion and stormwater treatment.

You’ll leave this course with connections to local facilities and educators and with classroom resources to engage your students in inquiry investigations and engineering design projects with real-world local applications!

This course is FREE for eligible MA educators through MA DESE’s Accelerating Science: Open Access Professional Learning Courses.

DATES AND TIMES: July 10 – 14, 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM

LOCATION: Berkshire Science Commons at Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA

COST:
FREE for eligible MA educators that qualify through MA DESE’s OAPL program and includes $450 stipend.
$450 for non-OAPL-qualifying educators.
$425/educator for non-OAPL-qualifying-educators attending in a team with 1 or more teachers from their school or district.

PDPS AND OPTIONAL GRADUATE CREDIT: 40 PDPs available without graduate credit. 67.5 PDPs and 3 graduate credits from Cambridge College or Framingham State University available for $225. Additional work is required for graduate credit.

COLLABORATING PARTNERS: Berkshire Environmental Action Team; Berkshire Science Commons at Berkshire Community College; City of Pittsfield Engineering Division

Click here to learn more.