pgEd Year in Review
2020 has been a year like no other. Like many of you, the team at pgEd had to make adjustments to our typical way of doing things and find new ways to engage. In spite of the challenges caused by COVID-19, we were able to host workshops, forge new partnerships and work on some exciting new projects. As the year draws to a close, we’d like to reflect on the year’s successes and share some of the highlights.
Deep Dive into Distance Learning
In the early spring of this year, we realized that our professional development workshops (PDs) for teachers would have to be reinvented for 2020. Whereas in 2019 we traveled to 8 states and meet in-person with educators at our workshops, this year we would have to go online. With a big team effort, we made a virtual pivot, and our first online workshop for educators went live by the end of March. We offered 9 single-lesson workshops and two full online classes in addition to presenting at many virtual events. Although we faced many new challenges this year, the silver lining of offering our workshops online has been the ability to reach a broader audience. Virtually we visited 29(!) US states and also had educators join us from abroad, including from Canada, India, Spain, and Vietnam.
Not only did we pivot to offering online workshops, but we knew that many of the teachers who use our materials were also preparing to make this shift with their students. To help with this transition, we made available recorded presentations of our lessons and developed a library of short, student-facing lessons called SNAPSHOTS. Eleven SNAPSHOTS are currently available, with more coming soon!
Creating Educational Resources for “The Gene: An Intimate History”
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to work with PBS station WETA to create educational resources to accompany the documentary “The Gene: An Intimate History”. Teachers can find 11 pgEd lessons paired with clips from the film on PBS LearningMedia. We are happy to announce that this partnership with WETA will continue in 2021 as pgEd creates lessons to accompany season 7 of the popular series “Finding Your Roots”.
A New Partnership with the Genetics Society of America
Earlier this month, we announced our new partnership with the Genetics Society of America (GSA) with an online event titled ‘Meeting the Moment: How can scientists contribute to a broad conversation on genetics and society?’. In 2021 we will host a series of workshops for scientists to explore the ethical and social dimensions of genetics and encourage a broad societal dialogue. Click here to learn more.
Want to Plan a 2021 Event Together? Let’s Do It!
pgEd is always looking for opportunities to engage with new audiences. And now more than ever we are moving our presentations online. Would you like to host a virtual group to talk about the implications of personal genetics? What about a virtual professional development workshop for teachers in your district? We’re scheduling events and would love to work with you. Contact us!
The pgEd Team Wishes You a Happy and Safe Holiday Season!
