Professional Development

FACET Innovations collaborates with schools and higher education partners to design and deliver professional development for teachers as an integral part of our current Diagnoser research projects.  We also provide professional development opportunities through contracts with individual school districts.  Our expertise is in promoting deep learning in the physical sciences while attending to students’ initial and ongoing ideas.  In all our courses and workshops, we promote a diagnostic learning environment where diagnostic assessments are used to continually inform the instruction and provide feedback to the students. 

Upcoming Content Courses for Teachers:
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Seattle Pacific University
Professional Development for Teachers

Elementary Teachers:
Understanding Energy: June 24, 25, 28 - 30

Secondary Teachers:
Energy Two: August 2 - 6, 9 - 13
Energy One: August 9 - 13, 16 - 20

Energy Brochure

For more information contact:
Julie Gavic (julieg 'at' spu.org) OR
Stamatis Vokos (vokos 'at' spu.edu)
Jim Minstrell (jimminstrell 'at' facetinnovations.com).

What teachers say after attending a content course:
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“Questioning techniques--best I've seen!  Making me feel good even when I didn't know.”

“Great instructors!  Applies directly to my teaching.”

 “Awesome.  First continuing education course I will use immediately.”

“I liked that the instructors didn’t always have answers to my questions-- ...that you all had to really think about something at one time or another.”

"Whole philosophy of finding out what is known--& starting from there--great!”

Upcoming Workshops and Talks:
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2010 NSTA National Conference in Philadelphia

Wednesday, March 17 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
PDI-10: Assessing and Promoting Teachers’ Understanding and Skills in Assessment and Instruction for Student Learning

Thursday, March 18 8:00–11:00 AM
FACET Innovations Pathway Session: Collecting with Intention: Effectively Using Questions and Probes

Thursday, March 18 12:30–3:30 PM
FACET Innovations Pathway Session: What Next? Matching Instructional Actions to Identified Student Needs

Friday, March 19 8:00–11:00 AM
FACET Innovations Pathway Session: Using Online Tools to Support Assessment for Learning

Friday, March 19 12:30–2:30 PM
FACET Innovations Pathway Session: Fostering Classroom Culture in Support of Formative Assessment

What participants say after attending a Diagnoser workshop:
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“Very practical tools! I love how this addresses common student misunderstandings and specific ways to help the students overcome this misconception. It’s awesome to have lesson resources, a technology-based formative assessment tools, and intervention resources to use if students still aren’t “getting it”.”

“Using data to drive instruction.  YEAH!  Very Useful.”

 “I liked that the facilitators were well prepared and flexible.”

“I loved it!  This is fantastic stuff.  I don’t have time to write all of this kind of stuff myself as a high school teachers.  This is so helpful!!!”

“Really an eye opener in terms of the value for teachers and students of this new DLE.  Excellent research—very valuable for what I do.”