Exploring the Past: Archaeology in the Upper Mississippi River Valley
The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse will offer a three-week NEH Summer Institute on July 9–27, 2012. This dynamic learning experience for K-12 teachers will explore how Native Americans and Euro-Americans have adapted to the Upper Mississippi River Valley over the past 13,500 years, and how archaeology leads to an understanding of how human cultures change and adapt through time.

The Institute will feature a one-day excavation experience, field trips to archaeological sites, hands-on laboratory and workshop activities, demonstrations, and classroom activities. Individual projects will help participants tailor the content to their own teaching areas. NEH Summer Scholars receive a $2,700 stipend to help offset their expenses.

Application and other information on the Institute will be available online at http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/neh.htm. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2012.

The window for submitting AP Fellows applications (grants for the summer training) is now open. Teachers must submit their applications and supporting documents by the Feb. 15th deadline. The application can only be submitted online, and both a principal's formal recommendation and teacher written essay are required. Eligible schools must have at least 50% of its student population meet the low income requirement or a majority of its population must consist of traditionally underrepresented students of color. You can find more information by using the link at: http://fs18.formsite.com/EquityAccess/form11/index.html

Episcopal High School has posted the registration information for summer 2012 AP course training www.ehsbr.org/apsi. Katy Riley is the contactrileyk@ehsbr.org .

Are you interested in how you can incorporate engineering principles and practices in your classrooms? Registration is now open for the Marathon High School Teacher Engineering Awareness Program, June 4-8, 8am-5pm, ($1,000 stipend plus $200 materials). Teacher pairs, one science teacher and one mathematics teacher, from the same school will be chosen to participate in this series of mini-workshops that provide all the information needed to help your students become aware of the various career opportunities and better understand the design process. In addition to attending all five days of the seminar, your team will develop an engineering lesson plan that can then be incorporated in each of the math, science and physics courses at your school.

For additional information, contact hsteap@eng.lsu.edu or 225-578-6004.

AMS DataStreme Earth's Climate Systems PD for K-12 Educators (Jan.-April 2012)

The American Meteorological Society (AMS), with support from NASA and in partnership with the State University of New York's College at Brockport, is developing a national cadre of K-12 teachers highly trained in climate science, and familiar with climate modeling. Teachers are trained through DataStreme Earth's Climate System (ECS), a semester-long, graduate level, pre-college teacher professional development course. DataStreme ECS is administered through 21 course Local Implementation Teams (LITs) across the country. The course is free to all participants, and the teachers are awarded three graduate credits upon successful completion of the course.

Northwestern University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center’s Research Experience for Teachers.

Science teachers are invited to participate in eight weeks of laboratory research with some of Northwestern’s leading scientists. Research topics include a wide range of materials science, physics and chemistry areas such as ceramics, nanocomposites, photonics, nanoparticles, and molecular electronics. The program runs from June 18 through August 10, 2012 and carries an $8,500 stipend. Participants are eligible to receive graduate credits through the National Louis University. The application deadline is March 15, 2012.

For more information and to apply to the program, please visit the website:
http://www.mrsec.northwestern.edu/content/educational_programs/ret.htm . If you have any questions, please contact Ashley D. Walter at mrc-ret@northwestern.edu  or 847-491-3606

ERC Workshops at Stennis Space Center

The NASA Educator Resource Center (ERC) at Stennis Space Center announces professional development workshops for teachers for Fall 2011. K-12 teachers can receive CEUs for these free workshops. Home school educators are welcome, too! Topics include physical science, life science, biology, mathematics, technology and much more. Workshops are available for all grade levels and are held on-site at Stennis Space Center. For more information, visit the Stennis Education Web site at http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/workshops.asp or contact the NASA ERC by phone at (800) 237-1821 (option 2) or (228) 688-3338 or by email to ssc-nasaerc@mail.nasa.gov.