Penn State College of Education – PHENND

CSATS Summer Research Experience for STEM Teachers Program – Mar 27

hillarya — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:10:49 +0000

The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program is a seven-week summer program for middle and high school STEM teachers. RETs conduct research with a host laboratory for the first six weeks of the program and prepare for the summer research symposium during the seventh week. Teachers selected for the program will participate in ongoing research projects with university science or engineering faculty and work with CSATS science education faculty to develop a classroom research project based on their research experience.

For Summer 2026, the RET program is being offered through a combination of remote, hybrid, and in-person placements at Penn State Harrisburg (Middletown, PA) and Penn State University Park (University Park, PA).

During this 7-week, full-time research experience, teachers work alongside Penn State faculty members to conduct authentic research and receive PA STEELS/NGSS-focused virtual professional development by science education faculty members at Penn State Center for Science and Schools (CSATS) to help translate the experience to the classroom.

Deadline to Apply: March 27, 2026

Learn more.

PA State-Wide KidWind Challenge 2022 (4–12 grade students) – Mar 16

hillarya — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 16:42:38 +0000

We are offering two ways to participate in the KidWind Challenge this year:

Virtual Challenge and
Build and Test challenge.

For more information, click here.

Registration is now open for both competitions. You may choose to compete in one completion only or both. Please keep in mind in order to register we need to know the team names and the names of the students on each team.

Deadline to register a team is March 16^th, 2022.

Informational flyer for PA KidWind Challenge 2022.

In addition, we will be offering a virtual webinar to help you coach your students this year on February 19, 2022, from 10 am until 12 pm. Learn more about the webinar and register.

Informational flyer for the webinar.

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program – Apr 17

hillarya — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:57:07 +0000

The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program is a six-week summer research program for middle and high school STEM teachers. For Summer 2022, the RET placements will be offered either online or in-person depending on a teacher’s location in proximity to the research mentor and the mentor’s preference. Teachers selected for the program will participate in ongoing research projects with university science or engineering faculty and work with CSATS science education faculty to develop a classroom research project based on their research experience.

Dates: June 13 – July 29, 2022

Deadline to apply: April 17, 2022

For information about stipends, benefits, and how to apply, please click here.

Informational flyer.

Expanding Youth Involvement in Exploring Exciting Employment Directions in Agriculture – Apr 17

hillarya — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:50:08 +0000

Expanding Youth Involvement in Exploring Exciting Employment Directions in Agriculture (Expanding YIE3LD in Ag) is a 6-day professional development workshop. During this in-person workshop, teachers will explore different facets of the agricultural industry through working with automated alternative growth systems (ex. hydroponics), touring two different laboratory facilities, and learning about current research on food safety and medicinal properties of plant products. Teachers will also learn how to prepare their students for an Automated Hydroponic System Challenge that will take place at Penn State Harrisburg in Spring 2023.

Dates and Times: July 11 – 15, 2022 + One day TBD, 8:30 AM – 4 PM

Location: Penn State Harrisburg

Application Deadline: April 17, 2022

For information about stipends, benefits, and how to apply, please click here.

Informational flyer.

Shape Matters: Teacher Professional Development – Apr 15

hillarya — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 20:22:02 +0000

SHAPE MATTERS is a 10-day summer professional development workshop that will include in-person and virtual activities for Pennsylvanian secondary life science and chemistry teachers in collaboration with science education faculty from the Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS) and research scientists from the Penn State College of Medicine and the Eberly College of Science. Teachers will engage in techniques such as crystallization, structure determination, and modeling using the molecular visualization software, Jmol, to explore molecular stories related to human health. Teachers will work with the SHAPE MATTERS team to co-construct a molecular modeling research project for their classroom. The research project will support student participation in the SMART teams program.

Dates: June 20 – July 1, 2022
Time: Monday – Friday, 9 AM – 4 PM
Location: Penn State, University Park, PA 16802

Deadline to apply: April 15, 2022

For all stipends, benefits, and how to apply, click here.

Summer Research Experiences for STEM Teachers Program @Home – Interest Meeting – Mar 1

hillarya — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 21:47:00 +0000

Find out more about the RET program during our webinar on March 1 from 4 – 5 PM! Register now!

Our RET program is a 7-week full-time VIRTUAL research experience (June 14 – July 30, 2021) where teachers are placed with Penn State science or engineering faculty to conduct authentic research that contributes to the on-going work of their laboratory placement. Teachers also receive professional development from CSATS science education faculty to help translate their experience to the classroom through a classroom research project.

For participation in the summer, teachers receive a $5,000 stipend along with up to $1,000 of classroom supplies to implement their research project with their students. An additional $1,500 stipend is available for teachers who implement their classroom research project during academic year following their summer research and conduct action research culminating in an Impact Report.

Learn more.

Deadline to apply: April 18, 2021