Category: STEM

Jefferson City’s first STEM school partners with ISP to become STEMcapable

Roller coasters are fun, but for safety’s sake, they must be designed, built and maintained by mechanical engineers. It’s a STEM career path that Adrianna Koty has enjoyed discussing recently with the fifth graders in her class at Thorpe Gordon STEM Academy in Jefferson City, Missouri. “Giving students real-world problems to solve and think about […]

Pener Selected To Lead STEM Teacher Quality (TQ)

V. Barbara Pener has been selected to serve as program director for STEM Teacher Quality (TQ), an immersive year-long STEM professional learning experience that has equipped 1,071+ and impacted 35,000+ students throughout the Greater St. Louis region since 2011. Read more about Pener’s leadership of STEM TQ’s eleventh cohort.

ISP Partners with MilliporeSigma to SPARK passion for STEM learning worldwide

Jacky Bransome is neither a scientist nor a teacher. But she happens to know that fireflies aren’t the best way to explain chemiluminescence to students living in her part of the world. Turns out that fireflies aren’t a thing in Gillingham, UK. It’s one of many fun facts she’s picked up over the years through […]

Fixing the classroom: Welcoming all students into STEM (Links to an external site)

In a new policy piece, biology faculty advocate for new classroom approaches to fix the national exodus of students from STEM fields. All across the United States, half of the college students who plan to major in STEM switch fields. And Black and Latinx students leave STEM at a higher rate than their white peers. […]

STEMpact celebrates 10th cohort of teachers WOWED by STEM learning

Science teacher Jaime Schneider has earned a reputation for herself. Students come to her class expecting something phenomenal, and she’s happy to deliver. Where else in the building can a seventh grader get a chance to set methane bubbles on fire or generate mystic-looking fog with dry ice and a bucket? “I always start with […]

Summer collaborations bring WashU research labs alive for area high school teachers

“Science is something we do.” For longtime high school science teacher David Ganey, the key to engaging students in a deeper understanding of science in the real world lies in focusing on what they can see, touch and feel. “What exactly does an environmental scientist do?” he asks. “You can tell students about it, or […]

Champion for equitable education, May honored with Ethic of Service Award

May leads Institute for School Partnership, leader in STEM education and teacher development You may not know her name, but the superintendent of your child’s school district certainly does.  For decades, Victoria May, executive director of the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis, has worked with local educators to create high-quality, equitable education […]

ISP Associate Director Rachel Ruggirello receives national recognition for significant contributions to STEM education in the St. Louis region

Rachel Ruggirello, associate director of the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis, is the 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Administrative Support Award by the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA). The award is given annually to honor one educator who is working outside the classroom at school, district and city/county levels […]

Partnership lays foundation for continuous improvement in SLPS STEM

Last summer, four organizations came together to launch a new program in 17 St. Louis Public elementary schools. The Institute for School Partnership (ISP), The Little Bit Foundation (TLBF), and St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), with funding from the Bayer Fund, developed a pilot program to increase capacity for STEM teaching and learning in SLPS. […]