Teaching California Wildfire Chemistry

This two-day workshop will provide 15 California high school chemistry teachers with:

• 10 hours of professional learning that will:
  • Support teachers to engage in sense-making with data and use modeling in their classrooms
  • Provide a deep dive into recent data and research findings, and standards-related content.
  • Offer an approach to centering issues of environmental and climate justice 
  • Introduce trauma-informed strategies.
• An immersive experience with a field-tested, standards-aligned mini unit that:
  • Engages participants as learners in a coherent learning sequence
  • Introduces phenomena based on California wildfire-related research data, that includes impacts on biodiversity
  • Supports teachers to identify curriculum connections
• Provides access to the full mini-unit teaching resources.
  • Including time to discuss implementation strategies with the unit designers

This workshop is designed and delivered by the Bay Area Science Project (BASP). For many years, BASP has been a vital resource – not only in the teaching of science but also as a model of professional learning, and teacher leadership. BASP engages and collaborates with university scientists, teacher-leaders, and master teachers to lead high-quality professional learning that focuses on strengthening science conceptual and content understanding, promoting cross-curricular integration, supporting environmental literacy, systems thinking, and locally relevant instruction. BASP fosters teacher leadership, through sustained relationships and collaborations. BASP is firmly committed to addressing racial, social, and environmental injustices through partnering and collaborative efforts with teachers, schools, districts, university, and both local and state science agencies.