This weekend, about 60 New York City-area elementary and middle school teachers will get hands-on instruction from Cornell faculty and graduate students to help them bring scientific concepts alive in their classrooms.

The program, called the Cornell Science Sampler Series, is a free workshop series to provide teachers, primarily from minority-serving New York City schools, with valuable classroom lesson and activity ideas from the academic and research expertise of both Cornell in Ithaca and Weill Cornell Medical College. The all-day event, sponsored by the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) in collaboration with several other organizations, will take place Oct. 15, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Ave. (second floor).

The subjects discussed, from math to engineering to physics, fall in line with New York state testing standards to help teachers come up with innovative ways to teach those subjects effectively.

"This is an opportunity for teachers to share with us what their needs are, and for scientists to share content and scientific knowledge," said Nevjinder Singhota, director of educational programs at CCMR.

The day will open with a keynote address by Sunil Bhave, Cornell associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, followed by a series of workshops from which teachers can choose.

Workshop topics offered this year range from genetics to renewable energy to bird sleuthing. For example, one workshop will deal with basic genetic concepts including DNA, inheritance and alleles, and an activity will involve building a model insect based on genetic information provided. Another workshop will allow participants to discover how wind energy can be converted to electrical energy to power a light bulb.

The series, which has been offered to New York City teachers twice a year since 2007, is a collaboration this year of the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Center for Nanoscale Systems, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Weill Cornell Medical College and CCMR.

Information and registration: http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/education/teachers/csss.html.