Course to Equip Educators to Teach the Science Behind Corn
Spots are filling quickly for a new summer course offered by the Kansas Corn Commission to provide high school science teachers with the information and materials to teach the science behind corn is filling up fast. The Seed to Stem summer course will provide science teachers not only with training and lesson plans but they will also walk away from the summer course with $400 worth of lab materials.
“There is truly an amazing amount of science involved in corn farming today. In this summer’s courses, we are focusing on biotechnology and ethanol. We want to get high school teachers and their students energized about the role science plays in agriculture,” Kansas Corn Commission CEO Greg Krissek said. “With the lab materials we are sending home with the teachers, we are not only giving them lesson plans, we are supporting science education in their schools.”
The Seed to Stem course is seeking 35 teachers to participate in its first session to be held July 12-13, 2016. Details for the course location in NE Kansas are being finalized. The program organizers introduced the program at the Kansas Association of Teachers of Science (KATS) meeting, KATS Kamp on Friday and Saturday.
“The interest level for our Seed to Stem program is great. In the first week of announcing the program, we have already filled 30 of the 35 spots available,” Erin Rios, KCC Programs Manager said. “We had a display, spoke at the luncheon and held a mini-workshop. The response from the teachers was so positive. We had many sign up on the spot and several who said they would encourage their colleagues to sign up for the course.”
Science teachers interested in the program should visit seed2stem.org where they can sign up for the summer course and download the lesson plan presented at the KATS camp.