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Description:    

Welcome to AMTA’s Chemistry Modeling Instruction workshop at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. Join other high school chemistry science educators in a collaborative lab-based experience to explore NGSS supported curriculum and phenomena-based instruction. This Modeling workshop will explore Biology through the lens of equity and inclusion by examining practices that center student thought and discourse. We invite you to join us for a 2 week-long opportunity to engage in Chemistry Modeling, which will include paradigm labs, modeling activities, whiteboard sessions, and more. We will organize learning around a small number of scientific models to make the content coherent for students, and apply structured inquiry so students learn science by doing science and working like scientists. Topics include: 

• Energy in Temperature and Phase Changes

• Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures

• Internal Structure of the Atom: Ions vs Atoms

• Chemical Change

• Counting particles and Stoichiometry

 

We look forward to hosting you for two life-changing weeks of professional development.

Location:  Rabun Gap Nacoochee School, 
                  339 Nacoochee Dr, Rabun Gap, GA 30568

Dates:  July 7 - 18, 2025 
    
Costs: $999.00 ( includes lunch, coffee and light snacks) 

Housing Options:  

• Dillard House 
• Airbnb
• Mountain Valley Inn Dillard
• Days Inn by Wyndham Clayton

Graduate level credits:  Graduate level credit is  available of the University of the Pacific ($79 each, to be paid directly to UoP)

Meet the Leaders:

Ariel  Serkin is currently teaching chemistry at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, MA.  She brings a diverse background to her science teaching. As a former history teacher, Ariel’s instruction goes far beyond science content. She uses Modeling Instruction, a guided inquiry pedagogy, to help students build the conceptual models to develop deep understanding of science and put the students at the center of their learning.

She is a 2021 and 2019 Massachusetts finalist for the Presidential Award in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Ariel is also the 2020 American Association of Chemistry Teachers High School Teacher of the Year and is the founder and president of STEMteachersMassBay, a non profit organization dedicated to providing professional development to teachers in Massachusetts and beyond. She is involved with other organizations including American Modeling Teachers Association, ChemEdXchange, the American Chemical Society High School Conceptual Exam Committee, and the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers. You can frequently see Ariel leading professional development in her school, giving presentations at local, regional, and national conferences, and helping teachers expand their practice.  As a passionate and dedicated teacher, Ariel creates professional development opportunities that colleagues have described as innovative, transformative and impactful. 

Ariel is passionate about equitable science education for all students, reading,, spending time with her family and community, and being #nerdychic pretty much all the time.



Teresa Marx is a public school Chemistry teacher in the Boston area. She has been teaching chemistry for 24 years, and has used Modeling Instruction since taking her first workshop 10 years ago. Teresa co-founded STEMteachersMassBay in 2017 to promote Modeling Instruction in Massachusetts and she currently serves as Board Treasurer. She has hosted numerous workshops in the Boston area, and has led Modeling Instruction in Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2 workshops. Teresa also served on the AMTA Executive Board from 2018-2022, and was Board President from 2020-2021. She earned a Certificate in Creative Leadership from the Perrone-Sizer Institute in 2021, and developed and led an Antiracist Curriculum Institute for science teachers. She is passionate about promoting equity and student engagement, and is currently using connections to art and cooking to increase student engagement and equity in the chemistry classroom.