Registration for FALL 2024 ESTEP Online Courses is OPEN!

 TO REGISTER: Contact Sue Bertsch at the MSU Moorhead Registrar's Office via email (susan.bertsch@mnstate.edu).  Include which courses you wish to register for, and she will send you instructions for how to register for these FREE, 3 graduate credit courses!  Please read below to see requirements and details.

Middle School (6th grade) Teachers! Dive in and improve your content and pedagogy knowledge in these key earth and space science areas!  Our courses are designed for TEACHERS and will be invaluable as you develop your course, and begin working on transitioning to a student sense-making approach!

High School Teachers!  GET READY!  New legislation states that all students must complete one credit of Earth and Space science in high school to graduate.  These courses will help deepen your understanding of the key content areas and 3-dimensional pedagogy.  Along with our summer bootcamps, these courses will help those of you working toward passing the required content MTLE exam to add additional licensure in 9-12 Earth and Space Science.

FALL  2024 Course Offerings 

(Courses run August 26 - December 18 2024)

CONTENT COURSES⁺

GEOS 599: Geoscience for ELE/MS ESTEP Teachers 

(Dr. Bryce Hoppie)

(REQUIRED Synchronous Meeting from 9:00 am - noon on October 26 OR November 16 2024)

GEOS 599: MN Rocks/Natural Resources for ESTEP Teachers  

(Dr. Kate Pound)

(REQUIRED Synchronous Meeting from 9:00 am - noon on October 26 OR November 16 2024)

GEOS 599: Astronomy for ESTEP Teachers

(Larry Mascotti)

(REQUIRED Synchronous Meeting from 9:00 am - noon on October 26 OR November 16 2024)

+All ESTEP online courses EXCEPT Teaching and Learning Earth Science in 3D for ESTEP Teachers have ONE required synchronous virtual meeting on two scheduled Saturdays from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm.  

PEDAGOGY COURSE**

GEOS 599: Teaching and Learning Earth Science in 3D for ESTEP Teachers**

(Marlene Schoeneck)

**Teaching and Learning Earth Science in 3D is a pedagogy and methods course.  This course will meet synchronously for three Saturday sessions, distributed throughout the semester. These meetings are required.

 The Important Details

These courses are offered through the Continuing Studies Department at Minnesota State University Moorhead.  Each 3-credit graduate level course is facilitated by expert instructors who are leaders in their fields and based in Minnesota at NO COST to you!  

Please note that these are 3 credit, graduate level courses, and while mostly asynchronous, each require approximately 4-8 hours of work per week, including a required final Pedagogy assignment in all content courses.

ALL online courses are designated as blended.  This means that the courses are offered in an asynchronous style, with scheduled assignment turn in dates and assessments, AND there will also be REQUIRED synchronous online meeting times per course.  In order to earn a passing grade and credit for the course, participants MUST commit to both asynchronous AND synchronous requirements.  A final pedagogy assignment is also required for all content courses.

The Earth Science Teacher Education Project, or ESTEP, is a professional development program for 6th grade and high school earth and space science teachers.  Our goal is to facilitate and model best practices in content and three-dimensional teaching strategies so that MN teachers can become practitioners of these new standards and create an environment of investigation and discovery in their classrooms.   Graduate credit for all summer bootcamps and online courses are available to participants for FREE (there may be a nominal registration fee for each course/camp; lodging and other expenses are not covered by the grant).  Additionally, participation in ESTEP can help prepare currently licensed high school science teachers to obtain an additional licensure in 9-12 Earth and Space Science through MTLE testing.   

Link to Troubleshooting for Online Courses and Access to D2L 

New to ESTEP?  Want to learn more?  Check us out  HERE!

Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).