Kindergarten through grade 5 teachers are invited to attend the “Social Studies in Action” institute at Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus beginning Thursday, Sept. 22, from 5-8:30 p.m. The 10-session institute aims to increase teachers’ knowledge in the areas of civics, geography and history.

Participants in this “hands-on” institute will receive practical, step-by-step activities designed specifically to help students master their grade-level standards in history-social science and the Common Core State Standards for reading and language arts.

The institute is presented by the Porter History-Social Science Resource Room at the campus. Local area teacher leaders for the institute include Kelsey Acebo, Michelle Cherland, Angelina Head, Sherri McPherson and Brenda Scarcella.

To register, contact Priscilla Porter at prisporter@aol.com or (760) 200-5189. The cost is $100 per person, which includes all 10 sessions to be held on Thursdays from Sept. 22 to Dec. 1. The institute includes a hybrid component where three of the meetings will be held online. These include Sept. 29, Oct. 20 and Nov. 17. Four units of CSUSB Extended Education credit are available for an additional $280.

The goal of the Porter History-Social Science Resource Room is to provide local area educators access to quality instructional materials that will foster the development of social science skills, including history, geography, economics and political science. The resource room may be used by students who are taking classes at the campus and as a reference library for classroom teachers from the various school districts in the Coachella Valley.

Located in beautiful Palm Desert, the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus offers bachelor and master’s degrees, a doctorate degree in educational leadership, and teacher credentials and certificates. With more than 1,200 students, it is the only four-year public university in the Coachella Valley and plays a vital role in educating and training the region’s growing population.

For more information about the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, contact Mike Singer in the campus’s Office of Public Affairs at msinger@csusb.edu or (760) 341-2883, ext. 78107 or visit the campus website.