Teacher Professional Development

Harbor Scholars

The Harbor Scholars workshop is designed exclusively for Baltimore City grades 3–5 teachers to explore how to effectively engage their students in action projects as part of the Save the Bay! science unit. Educators learn about critical issues affecting the Chesapeake Bay as well as best practices around engaging students in MWEEs (Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences). Support for Harbor Scholars is provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

We are no longer accepting applications for this program. Current program participants and past program alums can access resources here.

For questions, email Annemarie McDonald, amcdonald AT_TOWSON.

Robot Rookies

Robot Rookies is a workshop designed for 3rd-5th grade teachers in Maryland. Participants will learn how to engage students in computational thinking concepts using a hands-on programmable robot (the Ozobot Evo).

Teachers who attend both workshop sessions will be eligible to borrow a class set of the Ozobot Evos for two weeks to implement a lesson with their students.

We will be offering a workshop in the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. To learn more about the upcoming workshop, subscribe to our newsletter.

B′More Secure GenCyber Professional Learning Community

Applications are now closed.  

The B’More Secure GenCyber program is open to middle and high school Maryland teachers (from any discipline) interested in infusing cybersecurity lessons into their teaching.

The program is designed for teachers with little to no cybersecurity content knowledge. However, teachers with existing cybersecurity content knowledge and teaching experience are welcome to apply, as a focus on the pedagogy of teaching cyber, career connections, and social justice issues related to cybersecurity benefit all teachers.

The program begins with an intensive, in-person Summer Camp at Towson University (June 23–27). During the 2025–2026 school year, participants will implement at least two cybersecurity lessons in their classrooms, participate in virtual meetings and attend a final in-person session in May, 2025.

Funding for this workshop is made possible by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Maryland Loaner Lab Training Workshop

Our Maryland Loaner Lab (MDLL) program offers secondary science teachers kits of materials that include equipment, reagents and lessons. We ship the materials directly to your classroom; you send them back to us when you’re done.  

In order to borrow MDLL kits, teachers must attend a one-time training workshop. Complete an interest form to receive information about the next MDLL training workshop. 

Science in Sync Professional Learning Experience

Applications are now closed.

The world around us is in constant flux: trees grow new leaves in spring and shed them in autumn, flowers bloom and wither, and our neighborhoods fill with the sounds of birds returning in spring. Phenology is the study of the timing and patterns of events like these in nature, and data collected by volunteer observers (often called citizen science) is essential to phenological research.

The program begins with a 3-day in-person summer workshop (June 30 - July 2, 2025) where participants will learn from researchers using citizen science data to study animal and plant phenology and understand how human activity is shifting seasonal patterns. We will discuss the biases in citizen science data and explore how identity affects how we all do science, from the questions we ask to our experiences of safety and belonging in the field.

Participants will develop a phenology-based classroom lesson based on what they learned during the summer and implement during the 2025/2026 school year. There will be a final synchronous virtual meeting in Spring 2026 where participants share the results of their lesson implementation.

Link to Information Hub for 2025-2026 cohort.

This program is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).