Professional Development Workshops
for Grades 8-12 Science Teachers
Professional Development Workshops for Science Teachers
June 23-25, 2026
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!
- Thanks to a generous donor, teachers participating in the three-day workshops, Earth Science and Biotech in a Box, will receive a $250 honorarium to offset unpaid expenses. Teachers participating in the one-day Nanoscience workshop will receive a $100 honorarium.
While our workshops are FREE for teachers, they are expensive to run. Please do not apply for this limited opportunity, unless you are committed to attending the entire workshop, if you are selected.
We will first consider applications on March 1, 2026 and will notify you of acceptance (or not) by March 9. If you apply after the March 1 date, we will consider your application only if there are spaces left. No applications will be considered after May 1.
Sponsored by the College of Science and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute Outreach Fund.
Applications now open
From Atoms to Applications: Integrated Science and Nanoscience for Educators
What do COVID-19 vaccines, clean water technologies, advanced electronics, and cutting-edge cancer treatment technologies have in common? They are all powered by nanoscience – the science of materials so small that their properties change in remarkable and useful ways.
This interactive workshop introduces high school STEM teachers to nanoscale science and integrated STEM teaching through real-world examples and hands-on activities. Participants will explore key nanoscience concepts, such as self-assembly, surface chemistry, and size-dependent behavior, and learn how to adapt them for high school classrooms using engaging, low-barrier demonstrations.
Workshop modules highlight applications in nanomedicine, environmental nanoscience, functional nanomaterials, and nanotechnology instrumentation, while also providing insight into academic and career pathways in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
In addition, participants will gain insight into academic pathways, careers, and emerging opportunities in nanoscience and nanotechnology, helping them better advise students interested in STEM futures.
Teachers will leave with new content knowledge, classroom-ready activities, and concrete examples that make cutting-edge science relevant and exciting for their students.
Session length: 1 day
Number of participants: 20
Target audience: STEM teachers
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
Number of participants: 20
Target audience: Biology, chemistry, and physics teachers
Earth Science: Place-based learning opportunities
This workshop will explore fun ways to bring place-based earth science content into the classroom. We will discuss how the topography, rocks, and minerals of our hometowns formed, evolved, and influence our communities, industries, and agriculture. We will work together to build hands-on exercises tailored to your students that meet VA Standards of Learning and provide a fun entry point into the Earth Sciences. We will also discuss how the earth sciences can provide a wide range of fulfilling careers for your students.
Earth sciences are fundamentally interdisciplinary, so this workshop will be of value to teachers with interests across biosciences, physics, chemistry, and geology.
Session: 3 days, 9:30-3:30 on 23rd and 24th (Tuesday & Wednesday), 9:30-12:30 on 25th (Thursday)
Number of Participants: 20
Target audience: biosciences, physics, chemistry, earth science, and geology teachers
Questions?
Contact Victoria Corbin, Assistant Dean of Outreach and Student Engagement
Email: cvictoria@vt.edu
Phone: 540-232-8705