Connecting K-12 students to college

K-12 Ambassadors partnered with the Ferguson Florissant School District to host a STEM Day for students at Airport Elementary.

For Laura Motard, a sophomore majoring in Neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis, volunteering has always been an important part of her life. When she arrived at the university, she wasted no time in connecting that passion to the needs in her new community. As a freshman, Motard joined K-12 Connections, a program run […]

Engaging students in exploration

His fans call him Mr. Roco, and he may be the most famous member of the Institute for School Partnership (ISP) team at Washington University. Each week Mr. Roco visits local schools with the MySci Investigation Station, where he is often met with screams from his adoring, or slightly terrified, fans. Mr. Roco is, after […]

Heroes and monsters: experiencing the classics

For many professors at Washington University in St. Louis, the passion they have for their area of study started at a young age. A simple experience along the way caught their interest, and that interest stuck. Professor Timothy Moore in the Classics Department in the School of Arts & Sciences says that middle school is […]

A novel approach to engineering

A voice crackles over the intercom, calling for the attention of all engineers in the building. However, the listening ears belong, not to adults, but to the students of Bermuda Elementary in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. The students at Bermuda were about to participate in the first of many all-day builds as a part of an […]

Evolution educators get skills, confidence at WashU’s Darwin Day​​​

The first time a parent told Elizabeth Petersen not to teach evolution, she caved. No, she did not skip Charles Darwin’s concept altogether. But she avoided the “E word,” opting instead for phrases such as “natural selection” and “adaptation.” “That parent intimidated me,” said Petersen, who taught seventh grade science. “I was so shocked, I […]

WashU engineer group completes final project in long-term partnership

For the Engineers Without Borders student group at Washington University in St. Louis (EWB-WU), service means more than simply helping those in need. It goes beyond that to create long-term partnerships that lead to sustainable change. For five years, the students of EWB-WU have traveled to Ethiopia to work with their partners at the Mekelle […]

WashU students support next generation of brain scientists

Chemistry Olympiad. Quiz Bowl. Math League. Science fairs. As a high school student, Suhas Gondi could have competed in any of the big academic showdowns. He chose Brain Bee, a neuroscience competition. “It’s a pretty specific topic, yes. But the brain encompasses so much: chemistry, biology, psychology,” said Gondi, a junior in Arts & Sciences […]

ISP joins national network to grow STEM teaching force

The Institute for School Partnership (ISP) at Washington University in St. Louis commits to advancing the goals of recruiting, preparing, and retaining 100,000 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers by 2021. New York, New York, February, 2016 —100Kin10, a national network coordinating and accelerating efforts to bring 100,000 new excellent science, technology, engineering, and […]

Weaver presents at STEM Summit

In a world of evolving technologies and complex problems, training children as young as kindergartners to think like engineers may be the key to helping them prepare for the future. This is the stance that Kimberly Weaver, engineering educator at Washington University’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP), took as she presented at the 2015 Missouri […]

Building a school culture of trust and respect

Rowhea Elmesky has a quiet presence. As the room around her buzzes with ideas and opinions, she listens quietly, gently nodding and allowing each statement to filter through her mind. It is as if she is checking each thought, carefully considering every perspective. It is only after this process that she speaks. Elmesky is an […]