Teacher Research Academies

"Providing Teachers With a Real World Context to Teach Science"

The Teacher Research Academy (TRA) offers middle school, high school and community college faculty unique professional development experiences at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). TRA teachers participate in a continuum of standards-based instruction, enabling them to progress from novice to mastery in exciting scientific disciplines while they experience the application of real world science in an environment teachers seldom experience.

Teachers who complete the TRA:

• Increased understanding of science and technology
• Gain experience using scientific equipment to perform standards aligned experiments
• Improved ability to provide students a context to understand how science is applied
• Improved ability to guide student research

• Meet scientists
• Visit research laboratories
• Observe science being performed in a laboratory
• Learn technical writing skills to better communicate scientific information
• Experience the nature of science through direct involvement
• Use science equipment, processes, practices found in research laboratories

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Livermore, CA.

The TRA program is offered each summer. Workshops are held in June and July. Internships start in June and end in August. Level 1 is held for 3 days. Level 2 and 3 are held for 5 days. Each workshop starts on a Monday at 9 AM and ends at 4 PM. View the beginning dates of the class schedule for the coming summer.

• Review the TRA model to develop your understanding of the program.
• Choose the science content option best for you: 
  • Biotechnology Levels-I, II, III (flyer)
  • Climate Change and Possible Solutions (flyer)
  • Fusion and Astrophysics (flyer)
  • Computer Modeling & Simulation (flyer)
  • Technical Communications (flyer)
• Register on-line. You must be a U.S. Citizen to attend TRA.