Summer Science Professional Development Programs

At the April Board and Committee chat, the co-chair of WINGS, our current summer professional development program, mentioned that there was a great response in registrations for the upcoming 2023 event. That is always good news since it shows that WSST summer professional development events are having a positive impact. He suggested that I consider researching WSST’s role in a range of summer professional development events over the years. What a great idea, since so many of us have benefitted from these programs-including me, your loyal historian!

I immediately started thinking about what summer programs WSST has had a role in over the 65 years of our existence. Although there is much more research to be done, I have been able to recall the following programs and their approximate time frames:

Science World 1983-2000 Student and Teacher Components

ESRA 1992-1994 Teacher Component, Earth Sci Focus

WASDI 1994-2001 Lead Teacher Component for Science, Math and Tech Ed teachers

WASDI 1988-2010 Regional Academy Component

Science Futures 2008-2012 Teacher Component

WINGS 2021-present Teacher Component

Until the advent of Science Futures, the previous programs were not solely produced by WSST; they were sponsored primarily by DPI, NSF grants and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. WSST members may have had varying degrees of leadership depending upon who and where the original ideas for the programs came from. These are the areas that need more research as I start my series of articles about summer professional development programs. I know that there are many people who participated in these various programs in our organization, so any and all information that you have is welcome! My first area of focus for fall 2023 will be the Science World story. I will say this – without Science World, I might not have had a very long career in science education. One never knows what the impact of a summer program can be.