Georgia Southern University recently hosted 47 area science teachers who participated in Project SENSE.

An outreach program coordinated by the Georgia Southern Museum, Project SENSE (Science Education Network for the Southeast) provides training to area educators who teach at the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade levels.

The program also provides teachers access to comprehensive science activity kits for use in their classrooms throughout the upcoming school year. Lesson plans in the activity kits, which correspond to state and national standards, are student- and teacher-friendly and are relevant to the lives of the learners.

Effingham County teachers who participated in Project SENSE were: Joan Flynn and Brian Hartzog from Ebenezer Elementary; Cynthia Baldwin and Lisa Harrigan from Guyton Elementary; Vickie Oliver from Rincon Elementary; Joan Hightower and Nichole Stowers from South Effingham Middle; and Kim Bell and Pam Veal from Springfield Elementary.

Project SENSE encourages teachers to engage students as active learners through “hands-on, minds-on” science. This philosophy demands that students reflect, discuss and make sense of their learning. Workshop participants received training from Georgia Southern faculty and an instructor from the Georgia Department of Education.

Project SENSE was divided into four workshops: one for teachers at grade levels pre-kindergarten through two, one for teachers at grade levels pre-kindergarten through five, one for teachers at grade levels three through five and one for teachers at grade levels six to eight.

This summer’s workshops included teachers from Bryan, Bulloch, Candler, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Jeff Davis, Johnson, Laurens, Pierce, Tattnall and Toombs counties.