Category: Educator Resources

ISP releases key recommendations for high-quality, equitable math instruction for early childhood learners

Rigorous early childhood math education is vital for students’ future academic and lifelong success, yet many preschool children lack opportunities to engage in math learning. In 2022, Washington University’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) and a district-based Early Childhood Center formed the Early Childhood Mathematics Research Practice Partnership (ECMRPP), a two-year pilot to focus specifically […]

Teacher Researchers Partner with WashU Faculty to Ignite Curiosity in Students

By middle school and high school, most students in the U.S. are familiar with the terms MRI and CT scan. Chances are, they know these diagnostic imaging tools are used when physicians need to see parts of the body in a different light. But do they understand the underlying physics of biomedical imaging? Do they […]

ISP Instructional Specialists Co-Author Article in Science and Children

When teachers have opportunities to actively participate in and “try on” ambitious science teaching strategies, they have more confidence and feel more prepared to engage their students in meaningful, three-dimensional science learning. This is one of the primary findings shared by ISP Instructional Specialists Heather Milo and Alex Gerber, co-authors of  “Learning to Be an […]

Partnering with PBS: ISP and Nine Network Work Together to Educate Students Amid Pandemic

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools in March, it highlighted the widening digital divide for many families and students in the St. Louis region. Schools and families struggled to quickly pivot to remote learning – lacking reliable internet and access to computers. Public television has become a key tool to keep students engaged and […]

Edutopia: Human-Centered Strategies to Remote Science Learning

Kids learn by doing. So what does that mean for science instruction in the age of Covid-19, when many schools are closed and children are learning from home? It’s embracing the uncertainties, shifting mindsets and expectations, and finding a new learning landscape. The shift to at-home learning should not mean skipping core content. While disruptive, the […]

ISP launches middle school COVID-19 curriculum

The Institute for School Partnership (ISP) at Washington University in St. Louis has launched a comprehensive COVID-19 curriculum. The free unit boasts both synchronous and asynchronous elements and helps students understand the history of infectious disease, the nature of COVID-19, the power and limitations of modeling and the importance of scientific literacy. “This unit gives educators […]

Fox 2 spotlights ISP STEM initiative

The Institute for School Partnership introduced STEM Challenges in May to keep STEM learning going for the tens of thousands of homebound students in the St. Louis area. These are fun, easy STEM activities kids can do using typical household items. Cognizant of the digital divide in the region, the ISP partnered with The Little Bit […]

WashU Expert: how to pick a science fair project

To the 80,000 parents — um, make that students — who will compete in the upcoming St. Louis Science Fair, Washington University in St. Louis senior Sam Martorana offers this advice: Follow your passion, not the rubric.“Science fair projects can be stressful for the entire family,” said Martorana, who has led multiple workshops for parents […]

St. Louis Public Radio highlights Math314 program

What is there to say about the number 7? It’s odd, it’s prime. It can be reached by adding 3 + 4, 5 + 2 and 6 + 1. That may be how a teacher has a “math conversation” with young students under a new approach to math education piloted by Washington University’s Institute for […]

ISP's 2019 Otter of Code Challenge

If you visit any rivers or streams in Missouri, you may run across the energetic and playful North American river otter.  Otters live in riparian zones. These are areas where water, like lakes and rivers, meet up with land. Otters are picky about the environment in which they live.  They like unpolluted streams and waters […]