Professional Development Workshops
for Grades 8-12 Science Teachers
Professional Development Workshops for Science Teachers
July 28-30, 2025
Learn science, Get inspired, Earn professional development points!
Join one of our hands-on workshops that support grade 8-12 Science Teachers.
Benefits to you:
- New knowledge of your subject area!
- Effective strategies for engaging your students with the material!
- Creative ideas for covering SOLs!
- Meet new colleagues and friends!
- A certificate of completion/professional development points!
- Great resources and classroom supplies!
- Virginia Tech swag!
- A hotel room for the night before and during the workshop for teachers traveling from out of town and lunches each day!
- All participating teachers will receive an $250 honorarium to offset unpaid expenses thanks to a generous donor!
While our workshops are FREE for teachers, they are expensive to run. Please do not sign up for this limited opportunity unless you are certain you will attend.
Sponsored by the College of Science, the Fralin Life Sciences Institute Outreach Fund.
Registration now open
Physics: theory and experiments
This one-day workshop will focus on fun, inexpensive, and effective ways to demonstrate fundamental physical concepts (force, work, energy, and motion) using everyday materials such as water, soap, and rubber and ping pong balls. Participants will have the opportunity to work on and share their plans to introduce these concepts and experimental protocols to students in accordance with VA SOL 6.1, PS.1, PS.2, PS.5, PS.6, PS.10.
Intended for all levels of teaching from 8th grade through the most advanced AP courses in high school.
Session length: Monday only, 9:00 am-noon; 1:30-4:30 pm. Note, we may be adding a 2nd and 3rd day to the workshop in the next few weeks.
Number of Participants: 20
Instructors: C. Nadir Kaplan, Justin R. Barone, Shengfeng Cheng
Biotech in a Box Kits plus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
The Fralin Life Sciences Institute at Virginia Tech loans biotechnology kits to Virginia high school, middle school and community college teachers free of charge (including round-trip shipping). Kits contain the required equipment and supplies to provide enriching, hands-on experiments to the students in your classrooms. The kits are:
- Caging the Blob: Studying Slime Mold Behavior
- DNA Biotechnology
- Protein Electrophoresis
- Column Chromatography
- Introduction to Immunology
View the full descriptions of the kits, the SOLs covered, and associated manuals.
In this three-day workshop, teachers will work through all five Biotech in a Box kits: learn how the program works, discuss relevant background materials, perform the hands-on experiments, and network with other teachers. We will also introduce PCR and demonstrate how the thermal cyclers (also available to borrow) can be used for PCR investigations in the classroom. This workshop will be valuable for teachers who have never used the kits or have used the kits for 25 years.
Session length: 3 days, Monday-Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Number of participants: 20
Lessons in Chemistry
This workshop aims to help teachers better understand and teach some of the trickier subjects within the high school chemistry curriculum. We will cover topical knowledge, lab experience, advice about safety, and more. Prior to the workshop, we will poll registrants to find out what you want to learn. We then will respond to as many of those topics and questions as we can in the workshop. We will discuss experiments and demonstrations that can be implemented at low cost and with minimal needs to ensure safety.
Intended for all levels of teaching from 8th grade through the most advanced AP and “Chem 2” courses in high schools.
Session: 3 days, Monday-Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Number of Participants: 15
Instructors: Paul Deck and Gordon Yee, who have 50+ combined years of experience.
Questions?
Contact Victoria Corbin, Assistant Dean of Outreach and Student Engagement
Email: cvictoria@vt.edu
Phone: 540-232-8705