Attention Rural Middle &
High School Science Teachers
Our team of researchers from CU Boulder and BSCS Science Learning invite you to participate in a study to investigate the effectiveness of an online professional learning course. The course aims to support rural middle and high school science teachers in building classroom assessments that are engaging to students and align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or your state’s 3D science standards. Our researchers will use information from the class to study how educators learn about implementing science standards in rural areas. This study is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
What is involved?
  • Attend a weekly Zoom class with other rural science teachers.
  • Learn to elicit and use knowledge about students’ interests to design engaging standards-aligned assessment tasks.
  • Develop a supportive community of rural science educators from Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
  • Attend approximately 25 hours of online class time on Tuesday evenings from August 30 to December 13, 2022.
  • Complete some asynchronous work in between sessions.
  • Complete interviews and surveys about your experience taking the course.
  • Engage in data collection activities during Spring 2022 & Spring 2023 semesters.
  • Receive $1,600 for your participation, certificate of completion, and the opportunity to obtain two non-degree, teacher education graduate credits from CU Boulder.
Why participate?
  • Through this course, you’ll meet colleagues who face similar issues and will have the opportunity to work together.
  • You will learn how to apply what you are learning to science classes you are teaching while taking the course.  
  • The course will be facilitated by experienced researchers and science educators from the University of Colorado, Boulder and BSCS Science Learning.
What participants are saying
I love that I got really great PD and I didn’t have to drive anywhere.

I have over 50% of all of my kids actually start to see themselves as scientists and engineers, versus the traditional approach. [...] It did my heart good.

I would say that my excitement was when I did the student survey results, most of them scored high. Talk about a reassuring piece to send to yourself  on all the work and effort we put into making those assessments.
How to learn more
  • For more detailed information, please click here.
  • To complete our interest form, please click here.
  • Watch this video to learn more about what you’ll experience as a study participant.
Questions? Please contact Lisa Carey at lcarey@bscs.org