The Central Michigan GEMS Education Center (CMGEC) provides a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers, schools, and school districts:
- Family Science is an informal science education program that gives parents and children an opportunity to work and learn together. Hands-on activities that use easy-to-find, inexpensive materials let families explore the ways in which science plays a role in daily life. This workshop will teach you how to set up a Family Science program or night at your school.
- Parent involvement activities enable families to make informed decisions about their children’s education and future opportunities. Strategies for successfully connecting with teachers, choosing math courses that increase career options, as well as understanding test results and their influence are addressed. This workshop will teach you how to set up a Family Math program or night at your school. (Grades K-8)
- Global Systems Science (GSS) is an integrated, interdisciplinary course for high school, consisting of nine student books, teacher guides, and Interpreting Digital Images software. Each GSS book deals with a societal issue that requires science for full understanding. The books may be sequenced in a custom one-year integrated science course or serve as supplementary materials for existing high school biology, physics, chemistry, Earth science, or social studies courses.
- is an educational program that enables students to investigate the Universe while applying tools and concepts from science, math, and technology. Using the Internet, HOU participants around the world request observations from an automated telescope, download images from a large image archive, and analyze them with the aid of user-friendly image processing software. (Middle school and high school)
- Project WILD is one of the most widely-used conservation and environmental education programs among educators of students in kindergarten through high school. It is based on the premise that young people and educators have a vital interest in learning about our natural world. (K-12)
- is a nonprofit water education program and publisher for educators and young people ages 5-18. The program facilitates and promotes awareness, appreciation, knowledge, and stewardship of water resources through the dissemination of classroom-ready teaching aids.
- Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is an award winning, multi-disciplinary environmental education program for educators and students in PreK-grade 12. PLT, a program of the American Forest Foundation, is one of the most widely used environmental education programs in the United States and abroad. PLT continues to set the standard for environmental education excellence. PLT helps students learn how to think, not what to think, about the environment. Through PLT, students learn environmental content that correlates to national and state standards in science, social studies, language arts, math, and other subjects – and strengthen their critical thinking, team building, and problem solving skills.
Customized onsite professional development can be arranged by calling the CMGEC office.