SLIC Technical Assistance
The Science Linkages in the Community (SLIC) Initiative provides professional development workshops and technical assistance to school districts, community-based organizations, national youth-serving organizations, and other organizations that work directly with children. This fee-based service is custom-designed to meet your training needs. Technical Assistance ranges from half-day seminars to week-long camps where participants learn the latest, most-effective methods for engaging children in science, mathematics and engineering.
The cost of AAAS contracts varies depending on the distance traveled and the number of participants in the seminar. As part of the technical assistance package, AAAS encourages organizations to schedule a six-month follow-up visit. For more information or a quote on Technical Assistance, contact SLIC at 1-800-351-SLIC.
Professional Development & Technical Assistance Topics
The SLIC Initiative professional development and technical assistance workshops are custom-designed to meet your training needs. You may choose from among the following topic areas, or we can create a new workshop, just for you!
Preschool Science, Math and Literacy
If you’re interested in adding inquiry-based hands-on science, math and literacy activities to your early childhood program, the SLIC Initiative can help you! We will give you ideas on how to help children and their families learn age-appropriate, engaging science, math, and literacy activities. You’ll learn how to develop a preschool education program, and you’ll receive hands-on activity books and other valuable resources.
Science, Health, Math and Literacy
The SLIC Initiative can show you how to build a child’s confidence in science, health, math, and literacy through the use of engaging inquiry-based, hands-on activities. This standards-based training can be geared to formal education or after-school programs. SLIC will show you how to use literacy activities to help teach science and math concepts, and will provide you with hands-on activity books and other resources.
Setting Up a Computer Lab
Participants at this training session will learn practical tips and plans to help set up a computer lab for educational programs. We will discuss the types of equipment and set-up needed, explore Internet and software resources, explore management issues, and show you how to design educational activities for a computer lab.
Curriculum Development for After-School Programs
SLIC can show you how to design and develop a hands-on, standards-based curriculum for after-school science, mathematics, technology and literacy programs. Participants will learn how to design and develop educational programming that captures the interest and excitement of children in grades K–8 through the use of engaging inquiry-based, hands-on activities.
Science in the Library
The SLIC Initiative has a long history of working with libraries and librarians to train them to provide hands-on science and mathematics programming. Using literacy as the key, librarians will learn how to use the tools and resources in their own libraries to spark a child’s interest in science. Participants will receive Exploring Science in the Library: Resources and Activities for Young People, written specifically for librarians, and will have the opportunity to learn about model library-based science and math programs.
SLIC will train participants to use How Drugs Affect the Brain: A Toolkit for Literacy Programs. Participants will be given a copy of the toolkit and will be led through a series of activities designed to highlight the science concepts behind substance abuse and addiction.
The Internet and Hands-on Science
Let SLIC help you make sense of the vast scientific resources available on the Internet. This training workshop will show you how to explore the World Wide Web to find educational resources, standards, and hands-on activities. We’ll discuss how to incorporate technology into hands-on, inquiry-based science education for both the classroom and community-based programs.
Beginner’s Guide to the Internet
Let SLIC help you make sense of the vast educational resources available on the Internet! This half-day workshop, which can be held in our state-of-the-art computer classroom, will introduce you to the fundamentals of locating practical information on the Internet, and will provide you with valuable online resources. Additional workshop topics will include Netiquette, search engines, and using the Internet to enhance informal education.
The AAAS Advantage
AAAS has a proven track record of providing affordable professional development for teachers and leaders in community-based organizations. We stay on top of the ever-changing reform movement in science, math and technology education at the state and federal levels. We also work closely with curriculum experts, Title I and other federal education program coordinators, and bilingual, math, science, special education and Head Start supervisors. SLIC Initiative Technical Assistance Training provides the highest quality, in-depth instruction to strengthen instructors’ skills and confidence in teaching science to their students.