IMSA Individual Learning Experiences
IMSA offers professional development sessions on mathematics, science, technology, and pedagogy for pre-service and in-service educators. These professional development opportunities align with IMSA’s four core competencies of teaching and learning: Inquiry-Based, Problem-Centered, Competency-Driven, and Integrative. Professional learning experiences include events held at IMSA, sessions presented at conferences, online courses, and workshops delivered in schools across the state and beyond. Educator workshops can be customized to meet the needs of individual educational settings and often provide Illinois State Board of Education professional learning credits..
These learning experiences are offered in the Fall (September-December), Spring (January-May), and Summer (July -August) semesters and allow participants to work at their own pace through asynchronous, virtual courses. Enrollment is ongoing throughout the semester. Each course has an assigned facilitator dedicated to monitoring participant progress, submissions, and questions. Upon completion of a reflection assignment and the required Illinois State Board of Education evaluation form, each course will earn the educator 3.0 CPDUs. With the exception of the FREE Introductory Courses, the cost of each Individual Learning Experience is $50.00, and may be applied to the IMSA Educator MicroCertification Program.
FREE Introductory Courses
Introduction to Inquiry-Based Teaching & Learning – Register FALL 2024
Introduction to Problem Centered Teaching & Learning – Register FALL 2024
Introduction to Integrative Teaching & Learning – Register FALL 2024
Introduction to Competency Driven Teaching & Learning – Register FALL 2024
Individual Learning Experiences
Foundational | Engineering Hogwarts: An Integrative Approach to the 5E Instructional Model
Registration Links: FALL 2024
In this learning experience, we will explore an integrative activity that could be used for mathematics, science, reading/ELA, any technology or STEM course, or as a fun after-school activity. Learners will design, plan, and build a room from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone using textual evidence from the book to guide and support their plans. This activity uses the 5E instructional model (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate), so we will also take a look at using the 5E model as a planning strategy. Each course module will focus on one ‘E’ of the 5E instructional model–taking you first through the student portion of the activity and then reflecting as an educator. You will then create a 5E learning sequence of your own.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Integrative
Foundational | Low Floor, High Ceiling
Registration Links: FALL 2024
It can be difficult to provide the differentiation needed for students at different stages of mastery. One solution is to use activities that can be engaged with at multiple levels. If meeting the relevant standards is represented by the floor, then going above and beyond them is the ceiling. Ideally, an activity begins with an inviting, non-threatening floor, but allows accomplished students to quickly climb toward more engaging challenges within the same activity.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Competency-Driven
Foundational | Teaching with a Full Deck: Card Sorts
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Card sorts tend to make students do the “things” we value most: think and talk. Beyond making matches, card sorts provide opportunities for students to classify, rank, sequence, and mind map while setting a natural context for inquiry, argumentation, and use of the claim-evidence-reasoning framework. In this Learning Experience, educators will engage in a series of math and science card sorts to explore how this easy-to-prep tool will encourage students to reason and think critically.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Inquiry-Based
Foundational | The Art of Getting It Wrong: Developing Persistence
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Winston Churchill once said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Unfortunately, traditional learning activities often lack the ability to authentically and safely fail, evaluate points of error, and celebrate the process of learning. Providing students the opportunity to fail, reevaluate and redesign leads to persistence in learning and allows students to struggle through difficult problems in a productive manner. In this experience, participants explore a struggle-worthy activity, reflect on the importance of perseverance, and determine what to do with those questions that aren’t quite right.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Problem-Centered
Problem Based Learning 1: Getting Started & Foundations
Registration Links: FALL 2024
This course is designed to be an autonomous learning experience. First, we introduce the learner to the fundamentals of the Problem-Based Learning technique. Learners then work to define the technique, identify important characteristics and explore the student experience of the process. Lastly, learners identify problems they can use to teach specific classroom content. Instructor feedback is provided throughout the course.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Problem-Centered
Problem Based Learning 2: Details in Design
Registration Links: FALL 2024
This course is the second in the PBL course series and is designed to be an autonomous learning experience. In this course, learners explore design elements involved in creating Problem-Based Learning for the K-12 classroom. Through exploration of example units, learners learn to apply the design elements to create their own PBL unit unique to their classroom. Instructor feedback is provided throughout the course. Suggested Prerequisite: PBL 1: Fundamentals
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Problem-Centered
Problem Based Learning 3: Applications in the Classroom
Registration Links: FALL 2024
The third in our online PBL series, this course focuses on techniques to prepare the teacher and their students for the successful implementation of a Problem-Based Learning unit. Topics such as inquiry-based learning, problem-solving, and building collaboration, as well as assessments, are explored. Instructor feedback is provided throughout the course. Suggested Prerequisite: PBL 2: Details in Design
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Problem-Centered
Playing with Math and Science in the Early Childhood Classroom
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Young students are naturally equipped with the curiosity and creativity to be successful scientists and mathematicians. In today’s early childhood classrooms, strong foundational skills in math and scientific inquiry promote success in integrated contexts for years to come. Through play-based, open-ended explorations, young students can engage in skills such as subitizing, sorting, drawing, pattern recognition, and innovation and inquiry with loose parts. In this workshop, participants will actively take part in several activities highlighting each of these skills, discuss how they promote mathematical and scientific thinking, and share resources to be used in the classroom.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Integrative
Teaching STEM in the Preschool Classroom: A Book Study
Registration Links: FALL 2024
This Competency Driven Learning Experience is centered around the book Teaching STEM in the Preschool Classroom, by Alissa A. Lange, Kimberly Brenneman, and Hagit Mano. In this book, the authors first discuss the concept of STEM education and its importance in the preschool classroom, followed by an in-depth look into each facet of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) as it applies to early childhood education. This learning experience requires the purchase of the book: Teaching STEM in the Preschool Classroom, by Alissa A. Lange, Kimberly Brenneman, and Hagit Mano.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Competency-Driven
Young Mathematicians: Laying the Foundation
Registration Links: FALL 2024
In their math infancy, early childhood and elementary students are just beginning the journey of growing as proficient mathematicians. Laying the foundation for success ensures students develop positive experiences and skills in mathematics. In this Learning Experience, educators will explore the role of mathematics in early childhood and elementary classrooms. Exploring literature, research, and suggested activities, participants will investigate six mathematical foundations for young learners: sets, patterns, number sense, counting and operations, measurement and data, and spatial relationships and shape.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Competency-Driven
Real World Math: Three Act Tasks
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Mathematicians view mathematics within interesting and natural contexts. In this learning experience, participants will engage and explore Three-Act Math Tasks; a story-telling, problem-centered, pedagogical strategy that elicits student curiosity, collaboration, and questioning while redefining the term “real-world context” and the role that students play in the learning process.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Problem-Centered
Senses and Soundtracks: Integrative Methods for Content Delivery
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Did you know that music may alter how you perceive the world? Stimulate your students with an exploration in senses and soundtracks! In this learning experience, we explore methods to address standards from multiple disciplines with one activity, specifically integrating literacy with science and music. The goal is to explore the process of developing student competency using integrative techniques. We will also explore how the activity can be scaled to a variety of grade levels
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Integrative
Not Just a Story: Genetics and Probability
Registration Links: FALL 2024
*This Learning Experience requires the book “Wonder” by RJ Palacio; a pair of dice; and two coins*
In this Learning Experience, educators will focus on the application of Integrative STEM-based instruction by experiencing a set of activities framed in literacy using a fictional story. This story integrates well with mathematical concepts of probability and chance, along with scientific concepts dealing with heredity. While the fictional story of focus is geared toward 5th grade, these activities focus on middle and high school level concepts (6th-12th grades).
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Integrative
Real World Math: Three Act Tasks
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Mathematicians view mathematics within interesting and natural contexts. In this learning experience, participants will engage and explore Three-Act Math Tasks; a story-telling, problem-centered, pedagogical strategy that elicits student curiosity, collaboration, and questioning while redefining the term “real-world context” and the role that students play in the learning process.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Problem-Centered
Size and Scale: Modeling Powers of 10
Registration Links: FALL 2024
In this Learning Experience, educators will experience a set of student activities that utilize a mathematical model to engage students in exploring very large and very small objects. This will be achieved by looking at patterns and measurements, ultimately building number sense in our students through the lens of an integrated real-world application. As educators journey through this course, they will reflect on how the student activities directly support Competency-Based teaching methods and several Common Core State Mathematics Standards written for students in Grades 4 through 8.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Competency-Driven
Breaking the Mold of Traditional Chemistry Labs
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Labs are an integral piece of science courses, but many labs are often done to confirm a concept that students have already learned. In this Learning Experience, educators will look at how laboratory experiences can be structured into different levels of inquiry by working through some hands-on activities that focus on polarity. While the lessons in this learning experience are designed for a high school chemistry class, the activities can be adapted for biology or middle school science class.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Inquiry-Based
Gamifying Chemistry
Registration Links: FALL 2024
Games can be a fun and motivating way to engage students, but they are often used as a means to practice, apply, or review learned content instead of introducing a new concept. In this Learning Experience, educators will explore the use of common games as a tool for an inquiry-based approach to introducing topics in high school chemistry such as atomic structure and periodic trends.
Strand of Teaching and Learning: Inquiry-Based
