Please email DEEPS STEP Program Coordinator Olga Prilipko Huber to get started.
Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences
Join DEEPS STEP
What Could You Be Doing?
Our work focuses on two main areas:
DEEPS STEP | Earth Science teaching support in Elementary Grades:
In 2022-23 Providence Public Schools adopt a new comprehensive science curriculum (Amplify) in grades K-8. DEEPS STEP volunteers will assist teachers during their science lessons by helping groups of students work through hands-on activities and support their thinking process through small group/individual discussion. All volunteers will be prepared by attending an introductory 1-hr workshop and working through relevant lesson plans prior to going into the classrooms. You can sign-up for 2+ teaching slots on our sign-up sheet (coming soon).
If you are a first-time volunteer, please contact Program Coordinator first: Olga_Prilipko_Huber@brown.edu.
Requirement: Open to anyone.
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DEEPS CORES | Earth Science teaching in High School:
A group of DC volunteers will meet with a group of 10th graders at Hope High School 2 times a month to work on various Earth Science topics.
Requirement: Open to students and postdocs with some degree of prior knowledge of Earth Sciences.
A group of volunteers will work on designing a multi-lesson (~16hrs) Earth Systems and Climate Module for high school that will be taught in 2023-24 (2nd year of DEEPS CORES cohort).
Requirement: Open to students and postdocs with prior knowledge of Earth Sciences and interest in curriculum design.*
*Interested students (undergrad and graduate) can register for CBLR GEOL 1960G course (“Earth Science curriculum design and teaching practicum in elementary and high schools”) for Fall 2022. Registered students will earn 1 course credit, get basics of inquiry-driven science teaching theory, will support ES teaching at a local elementary school, co-teach several Earth Science lessons at Hope High School and will co-design a 2-hr lesson for the Earth’s Systems and Climate Module as their final project.
Academic Credit
If you would like to learn more in depth about scientific education theory, NGSS and follow a classroom from beginning to the end with weekly debriefing, you can enroll in GEOL 1960G Earth Science curriculum design and teaching practicum for elementary school (Spring semester 2020) and earn academic credit for your work.
Our Goal
We want to develop quality Earth Science multi-lesson modules for grades 2-5 that can be easily used by any Providence elementary school teacher. We aim at offering professional development to Providence teachers who are interested in teaching the Modules in their classrooms in order to facilitate Earth Science teaching and learning in all 24 elementary schools. We hope that over time our effort will contribute to an improvement in scientific proficiency of Providence public school students and, in some, will spark a life-long passion for learning about our planet.