Teacher Institute
Our Mission
The Exploratorium Teacher Institute (TI) has been the professional development home for middle school and high school science teachers since 1984.
TI offers a rich mix of hands-on activities based on Exploratorium exhibits, content-based discussions, classroom materials, Web-based teaching resources, and machine shop experiences.
We offer summer institutes and district-wide in-service programs for both new and experienced teachers. Our growing family of alumni may also attend a variety of Saturday workshops. All program participants are provided with stipends for attending our institutes and workshops.
For more information, see our Teacher Institute brochure [PDF].
News
New Institute: Understanding the Science of Sustainability
The Exploratorium Teacher Institute and Literacy for Environmental Justice will present Understanding the Science of Sustainability on Saturday, September 11, and Saturday, October 16, 2010, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Updated Snackbook and Videos
The Teacher Institute has an updated Exploratorium Science Snackbook! This new edition includes updated activities plus several new snacks, illustrations, references, tips from teachers, and correlations to the National Science Education Standards. We are also uploading videos of some of our favorite Snacks. Get more information about the Snackbook or watch a video.
Teacher Induction Program
The Teacher Induction Program consists of a two-year Beginning Teacher Program for novice science teachers, and a two-year Leadership Program that trains experienced teachers to be mentors and coaches of the new teachers.
Beginning Teacher Program
Enhance your knowledge of science while learning how to bring the Exploratorium’s inquiry-based, hands-on philosophy of teaching into your classroom by participating in our Beginning Teacher Program.
Leadership Program
Are you interested in starting a program to mentor new teachers? Find out about our Leadership Program. The Teacher Induction Program Overview describes our experience with the Beginning Teacher Program and the Leadership Program in detail, with an emphasis on the Leadership Program, in the hope that it will be useful to other programs that train and support mentors.
The Teacher Institute currently has three podcast series for science teachers that will inform and entertain you.
Teacher Institute Teaching Tips
A series of almost 70 five-minute episodes that include activities, science history, pedagogy tips, and “first year” teaching stories.TI’s Summer Institutes
Hear about the Summer Institute experience from the directors of TI and from participating teachers.SmallTalk
SmallTalk is a series of five episodes about nanotechnology featuring leading scientists, writers, and visionaries. Each episode is about 20–30 minutes long.Alumni Resources
Fall 2010 Workshops
Check back in August for the fall workshop schedule.
Our popular Science Snacks provide instructions for building classroom versions of Exploratorium exhibits.
EduNews
EduNews, the Exploratorium's free educator e-mail newsletter, is sent to subscribers four times a year Subscribe Now!
Meet the Staff
Find out more about the staff at the Teacher Institute and their intersts.
