Sponsor:           AirUCI Institute, with support from NSF
Date & Time:    June 22 - July 2, 2009 from 9 am to 4:30 pm each day
Location:          UCI Chemistry Department
Course Code:  CHEM X416 (6 quarter units)

Program Goals: To provide middle school and high school teachers with hands-on laboratory and computational experience in environmentally-oriented problems.  Local teachers from Orange County schools will receive strong preference. Applications from residents of other countries will not be considered.

Program Description: This is a two-week training program consisting of lectures in the mornings followed by laboratory work in the afternoons.  The hands-on lab work will focus on selected environmental problems.  Supporting lectures will be offered by AirUCI faculty members.  There will be a tour of several UCI research laboratories.

Sample Projects:

Administrative Details: Participating teachers will receive a stipend of $1000 each.  In addition, lunch will be provided each day and free parking permits will be issued to teachers.  Class size is limited to 20 attendees.  Registration deadline is May 1, 2009.

Some Comments from Teachers in Previous Workshops:
"This program was an incredible experience for me... every day I still find it hard to believe that you were paying me to be here!"

"This was one of the best professional development workshops I have ever attended... the coordination of the whole program was truly impressive!"

"This program was the best experience I’ve had as a science teacher!  The chemistry was both a good review, but also very relevant to our world.  I can’t wait to get my lesson for next year together!"

"For those of us who have students who will be imminently attending UCs, this program significantly enhances our ability to effectively convey what opportunities they’ll have as options.  This also enables us to speak with more authenticity when the odd/off-the-wall queries from students arise.  Thank you!"

We are honored that our summer teacher workshop has been cited by the National Academy of Sciences as an exemplary outreach program, and that our workshop is described in depth on page 26 of their downloadable 2009 publication, Strengthening High School Chemistry Education through Teacher Outreach Programs.

Orange Coast College Chemistry Professor John "Mickey" Laux is also a main organizer of our teacher workshop.  Dr. Laux is seeing our results firsthand in his classes at OCC.  One of his top three General Chemistry students out of 140 in Spring 2009 told him she was NOT a chemistry person in high school until she took a class with Valerie Thompson, one of the high school teachers who attended our 2007 workshop.  Valerie's class was so motivating to this student that she changed her major to chemistry, and Valerie recommended that she take Mickey's class at OCC due to the impact of our program on Valerie's class syllabus.  This is one of several anecdotes that illustrate how the dividends of our workshop are coming full circle and broadly impact 3000-4000 science students annually throughout the region — at least 35,000 students to date!