2016 Summer Professional Development Institutes:
Cape Cod Region

One-Week Institute for Grades 3-8 Educators
Movers and Shakers: Exploring Earth Science and Curriculum Frameworks in the Coastal and Marine Environment

What makes the flora, fauna and geology of Cape Cod unique? How does its natural history set it apart from the rest of Massachusetts? This year’s participants spent a week exploring the geological and topographical features of the Cape and investigating the earth science concepts that are relevant to the Cape’s distinctive coastal environment. Evidence of Cape Cod’s glacial history was uncovered and landforms, sub-surface topography and changing coastlines were examined to understand and explain its current but changing landscape. Core sampling techniques were practiced in a tidal marsh and soil layers were analyzed to provide a look back through geological time. Participants located and examined kettle holes, learned how they form, and identified the plant and animal species that depend on them for survival. They visited science laboratories in Woods Hole and witnessed some of the science and engineering practices and instruments involved in studying the ocean processes. On a marine animal hospital tour, participants examined how Cape Cod’s unique geology impacts the biological communities in the region.

SI Cape Cod 3

Over the course of the institute, grades 3-8 educators gained experience with using the Science and Engineering Practices to create exciting inquiry-based, minds-on, hands-on, interdisciplinary STEM investigations for their classrooms. They engaged with earth science to see what really makes the arm of Massachusetts, Cape Cod, unique.

Click here for photos of the 2016 Cape Cod Region Institute!

Download a Cape Cod Region Brochure

Cape Cod SI 4
National Marine Life Center logo

National Marine Life Center

WHOI Logo

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Mass Maritime Academy Logo

Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Mass Audubon Logo

Mass Audubon’s Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary

Thornton W. Burgess Society Logo

Thornton W. Burgess Society