Forty teachers from across the state worked together this summer in K-12 InVenture Prize professional development workshops that have been reimagined with a new focus on peer led-learning, immersive, hands-on experiences, inspirational tours, and high-tech tools and skills. For the first time, some of K-12 InVenture Prize’s veteran teacher partners worked as workshop facilitators and mentors to newer teachers who are discovering the curriculum and competition for the first time.

“In the same way that our students keep working to refine and improve their inventions, we have reimagined our professional development for this year, and we have made improvements that our teachers really seemed to like,” said K-12 InVenture Prize Director Danyelle Larkin with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). “One of the biggest shifts was to embrace the idea of peer learning and putting our tried and true, tested teachers in charge. They really stepped up and showed their mastery of this curriculum and were able to connect to their fellow teachers in a very meaningful way.”

Workshops for middle school and high school teachers were held June 10-11 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and were led by longtime teacher facilitators Heather Bell and Michelle Crose. Participating teachers took a deep dive into the innovation process with hands-on IronCAD instruction and received major inspiration from touring The Hive: Interdisciplinary Makerspace at Georgia Tech, a 5,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art accessible engineering creation studio.

Workshops for elementary school teachers were held June 17-18 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and were led by veteran K-12 InVenture Prize teachers Julia Varnedoe and Nancy Ernstes. Highlights included a hands-on paper-making workshop with artist/educator Jaz McBride from the Cali Rose Co.

K-12 InVenture Prize also held teacher workshops in Southwest Georgia at Southern Regional Technical College on June 24– 25, which were also led by Michelle Crose. And in Savannah, K-12 Inventure Prize teacher training workshops were held July 17-18 and were led by K-12 InVenture Prize teacher Austin Russell. All of the workshops were open to past, current, and new K-12 educators. Key topics included engaging in the innovation process; learning how the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum aligns with Georgia standards; and building teacher innovation networks.

— Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications