ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology
The ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology is a donor-funded professional development program designed to help classroom teachers elevate their STEM programs through the use of wireless technology. As a part of the ARRL Education & Technology Program, several sessions are conducted each year, and the program continues to grow.Teachers Institute is filled with lectures, hands-on activities, and demonstrations to inspire teachers so they can inspire their students through the use of tools and strategies to introduce basic electronics, radio science, satellite communications, Amateur Radio, radio direction finding (fox hunting), weather science, microcontrollers, and electronic sensors to their students. Teachers are provided with the equipment needed to take wireless technology to their classrooms. If you, or someone you know, would like to support ARRL's mission to elevate STEM programs in schools, click here: DONATE TODAY or contact the ARRL Development Office at (860)594-0291
Send me information!
Complete and submit this form for more information about the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. Please note, applicants must complete the full application that is linked below. This form simply requests information and to be notified when the application period opens. This form is NOT the application for Teachers Institute.
2024 Applications and Brochure
TI-1 is the only prerequisite to apply to any other type of TI session listed below. All applicants must complete their application electronically (with the exception of a Cover Letter that will be emailed). If you submit your TI-1 application after the summer months submission deadline, you may only be eligible for the later October sessions. Please see below:
- Application for TI-1 - Click here
- Application for TI Remote Sensors, TI Balloon and/or TI Space - coming soon!
Summer 2025 TI sessions - June, July and August:
- Application submission deadline is March 31st, 2025
- Acceptance Date: TBD Acceptance will be confirmed via email provided on application.
October 2025 TI sessions:
- Application submission deadline is August 31st, 2025
- Acceptance Date: TBD Acceptance will be confirmed via email provided on application.
*Note: "TI-2: Remote Sensing and Data Analysis" has been revised and renamed TI Remote Sensors."Additional new sections named TI Balloon and TI Space have also been added.
Course Descriptions are coming soon!
Programs of 2025 |
Location | Dates |
TI-1 Staten Island Local Teachers ONLY | NY | Jan |
TI-1 | Newington, CT | June 9-12 |
TI Balloons and Amateur Radio | Newington, CT | June 16-19 |
TI Space Comms $ Radio Astronomy | Newington, CT | June 23-26 |
TI-1 **TBD** | Newington, CT | June 30- July 3 |
TI Remote Sensors and Data Gathering | Newington, CT | July 7-10 |
TI Balloons and Amateur Radio | Newington, CT | July 14-17 |
TI-1 | Newington, CT | July 21-24 |
TI Space Comms $ Radio Astronomy | Newington, CT | July 28-31 |
TI-1 | Newington, CT | Aug 4-7 |
TI-1 | Newington, CT | Oct 6-9 |
TI-1 | Newington, CT | Oct 20-23 |
Travel and Reimbursement Guidelines
Cost: Teachers Institute opportunities are virtually free for the participants. The grant to attend a TI covers transportation, hotel, a modest per-diem to cover meals, instructional resources for the electronics, microcontroller, and robotics segments of the course, and a resource library of relevant ARRL publications. There is a $100 enrollment fee to attend Teachers Institute.
To qualify, applicants must be an active U.S. schoolteacher at an elementary, middle, high school or at a college or university, or in a leadership or enrichment instruction role in an after-school or collective homeschool program. An Amateur Radio license is NOT required for the introductory workshop (TI-1) but IS required for the advanced TI-2 program.
Graduate credits: Graduate credits are available through Fresno Pacific University upon completion of the TI-1 or TI-2 programs. These credits can be used to satisfy professional growth requirements to maintain teaching credentials. The class is self-contained and participants are expected to be able to complete all requirements during the class time. Graduate credit information may then be requested at the end of the Teachers Institute.
Professional Development Opportunity: Teachers Institute opportunities are virtually free for the participants.The grant to attend a TI covers transportation, hotel, a modest per-diem to cover meals. Instructional resources for the electronics and microcontroller segments of the course and a resource library of relevant ARRL publications are provided to participants of the introductory Teachers Institute (TI-1). Hands-on instructional resources and equipment applicable to the topic of the advanced Teachers Institiute (TI-2) are also provided through donations to the Education & Technology Program Fund and through in-kind contributions from our industry partners. A $100 enrollment fee is required.
Review the Teachers Institute agendas linked below for more detailed information.Travel and Reimbursement Guidelines.
Register with us to receive updates and notifications about our Education & Technology Program opportunities.
"Let's Solve This."
Not too long ago ExxonMobil launched a TV ad campaign titled “Let’s Solve This” with the focus on the need for more investment in teacher training to improve US student performance. The “Let’s Solve This” campaign cites research that shows that students that are taught by teachers with a deeper understanding of the subject out-perform those students taught by less capable teachers. Therefore, “we need to invest in our teachers as a means to improved student performance.”
There has been a resurgence and aggressive emphasis upon STEM education in response to numerous economic challenges we face from our overseas economic competitors in high technology industries. Now it is being recognized that STEM instruction needs to focus on the connection between science and mathematics and engineering and technology, rather than a more compartmentalized focus on these content areas independently. It is the teacher’s role to make these connections for students. To do so, teachers need to know the science and math content and understand the technologies in use in sufficient detail to make the connections for their students…thus, now the recognition of the core problem identified in the “Let’s Solve This” campaign.
The ARRL ETP has identified this problem and has been doing what we can do to address it by offering the Teachers Institute (TI) over the past 15+ years. From the first pilot TI conducted in 2004, and each year thereafter, this in-service training program supported entirely by generous philanthropic donations, continues to evolve and flourish.
The Teachers Institute is only the beginning of a participant's exploration with wireless technology. The goal of the TI program is to equip each schoolteacher with necessary foundational knowledge, and through hands-on learning, generate the inspiration for teachers to continue to explore wireless technology and adapt relevant content into their classroom instruction.
This training serves as excellent foundational preparation for schoolteachers interested in including classroom learning about radio communications and wireless technology as part of student preparation for participation in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program.
More information
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"Last summer I can proudly exclaim I attended the ARRL Teachers Institute! It was the best four days for a workshop I have experienced in my seven years of teaching. This workshop opened my eyes to how (Amateur Radio) can be used in everyday classrooms to explain concepts in terms so simple an elementary grade school student could understand them."
"There are so many ways amateur radio can be used in the classroom. Amateur radio encompasses so many disciplines it is difficult to list them all. Everything from teaching space science about planetary orbits and radio propagation to the study of electronic circuits and wave forms can be integrated into course materials. My favorite new toy is the oscilloscope. In the past I have explained frequency, wavelength, square waves, and sine waves by drawing them on the board. Better is to use an oscilloscope and a signal generator to show and play frequencies demonstrating the relationship between wavelength and frequency thereby making connections in the brain much easier and faster then with a drawing board. To see the look on kids faces when you do this and to see the revelation expressed is priceless. That is what is missing from education.
...If you know a teacher interested in Amateur radio, or simply looking for a new method to teach difficult concepts, encourage them to apply for a grant to attend the Teacher’s Institute. It is well worth their time. But don’t go looking for a vacation, the TI is the real deal with more information in a week then you could believe possible. My thanks to ARRL for a worthy and effective program, we need more workshops of this caliber for our nation’s teachers!"
Charlie Cantrill
KI4RDT
Information Technology Instructor
Nelson County Area Technology Center -
More comments from TI participants
The Teachers Insitute has received glowing reviews from past participants.
Pictured here are three women smiling and holding up their projects behind computers.
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Classroom Activities with ETP Resources
Read about how teachers are using what they learned at the TI in their classrooms.
Pictured here is a boy listening to a headphone at a station.
Learn More -
Donate to support the Teachers Institute!
Find out how you can help to provide more opportunitites for teachers and resources for America's classroom through ARRL's Education & Technology Program.
The Teachers Institute is supported through generous contributions to the Education & Technology Fund. This includes donations by individuals and amateur radio clubs, as well as in-kind support from equipment vendors. We extend special thanks to the Dayton Amateur Radio Assocation, Ham Radio Outlet, Parallax, Inc. and Yaesu for their continuing support.
If you would like to make a contribution, visit our website at www.arrl.org/education-and-technology fund
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Articles about past Teachers Institutes
- First ARRL Education and Technology Program Teachers Institute Revs Up Educators
- "Wireless Literacy" is ARRL Education & Technology Program Goal
- Gearing Up for Teachers
- The ARRL Teachers Institute 2009: The gift that keeps on learning!
- 2009 Teachers Institute Introduces Advanced Satellite Workshop
- Never Stop Learning!
- Teachers Institute Expands to Include Space Science
- ARRL Teachers Institute Opens Horizon of Learning Opportunities
- ARRL Teachers Institute Offers Instructors Wireless Technology Skills for the Classroom
Licensing, Education & Training >> Amateur Radio in the Classroom >> Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology