Teachers

How much time do you have for research?

eCLOSE flexible learning modules can plug into 10, 20, 30, or 60 minute slots. You and your students CAN contribute to cancer research, even in the midst of a busy teaching schedule. eCLOSE modules replace those tired laboratory exercises where students try to get predetermined answers, instead promoting open inquiry, scientific exploration, and most importantly, contribution to ongoing cancer research studies.

Learning Modules

Teacher Professional Development

Does it feel like your undergraduate science labs were a million years ago?  Wish you could get back to the bench?  

eCLOSE teacher professional development workshops are for you!

Like our learning modules, eCLOSE Teacher PD sessions accommodate your busy schedule. Ranging from 1-2 hours all the way up to a one-week intensive training, all eCLOSE workshops provide you with lectures, experimental materials, and ongoing scientific support from eCLOSE staff. We get you ready to walk into your classroom on Monday and start experimenting!

Request an eCLOSE Teacher Workshop for your school district.

What You Get

Technical Skills

Advanced technical training gives you command of modern laboratory tools, getting you ready to train your students using the same approaches.

Research Literacy

Learn the language and practice of research scientists. Build your understanding of current research topics, peer and mentor interactions that drive laboratory success, research lab organization and practice, and how to communicate science to all audiences.  Upon completion of an eCLOSE experience, you will be prepared to create an authentic biomedical research environment in your classroom.

Professional Laboratories in Classrooms

eCLOSE workshops prepare you to create professional research laboratories in your home classrooms. Starter materials are included with the workshop. We also provide training for you to identify equipment and supplies to create the optimal research laboratory experience in your classroom.

Philadelphia area teacher participants gain access to a Footlocker of laboratory equipment, which can be borrowed to re-create our Teaching Laboratory in your classroom.

Curriculum Integration

Experiments are tailored to integrate seamlessly into your curriculum needs. Students connect their own ideas and data to topics covered in class, helping provide a real world picture of the events described in textbooks and lectures. Early results indicated improved test scores for students who participate in eCLOSE.↑

Collaboration with Scientists

eCLOSE is built on the concept that collaboration creates success.  Teacher-Scientist collaborative partnerships are the nucleus of eCLOSE programs.  Reciprocal learning promotes enhanced teaching and interactions with the public for scientists, while teachers gain scientific skills and approaches from their scientist partners.  This cornerstone creates lasting relationships that grow and evolve to create new programming and approaches that enhance student learning and research success.

Participation in the eCLOSE Symposium

Research is a community effort.  Conferences are designed to bring together scientists from all disciplines and backgrounds to work together to solve an important research problem. eCLOSE teachers participate in the annual eCLOSE Symposium, bringing together hundreds of newly minted teacher and student researchers, professional scientists, and members of the public. The opportunity to present research data from classroom projects fully integrates participants into the research community and builds networks for ongoing support in STEM.