To help fill a pipeline of future scientists and engineers, many teachers in the St. Louis area are “stemitizing” — integrating science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts into all school subjects. One such effort, STEMpact’s Teacher Quality program, trains 150 kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers on how to incorporate the concepts into their curriculum in hopes […]
It’s mid-June and while students are out on summer break, teachers never stop learning. Victorious arms shoot up in the air as towers of playing cards sway precariously on tables. This simple card activity is an example of how teachers can help students develop identities as STEM-capable learners. About 50 educators from school districts throughout […]
“This is stressful,” Emilia Talarski says in between bites of pizza. She’s worried her balsa wood glider will break. Although, it already has a crack. It happened when she fell while holding it. But she describes it as a happy accident. “It actually made the glider fly better,” says the third grader from MOSAIC Elementary […]
Nowadays Sally Elgin would probably be referred to as gifted or talented. But in the 1950s, a really smart girl was obnoxious or a nerd. “I come from a long line of nerds and it’s not always a good social position to be in,” explains Elgin, the Viktor Hamburger Professor of Arts & Sciences at […]
Good teachers make for engaged students and stable schools. That’s why Washington University in St. Louis is partnering with St. Louis Teacher Residency to train and support a new generation of educators. “As an institution of higher education and one of the region’s largest employers, Washington University knows that strong K-12 schools are vital to […]
(February 21, 2018 by Molly Davis) On a Saturday afternoon, local elementary school students and their families filed into a classroom for the “Getting Started with Science Fair” workshop, ready to spend the next few hours preparing to apply the scientific method to a question that interested the students. The group listened intently to the opening […]
(February 19, 2018 by Diane Toroian Keaggy) Seventh-grader Michelle Kenton is not like a lot of her classmates. At Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls, a school where many students are good readers, Kenton admits that she gets nervous reading aloud. But she loves math, often besting her peers on tests and assignments. Hawthorn InvestiGirls, an after-school […]
A life-size cutout of Charles Darwin stands in the corner. Next to him are party hats and a selfie stick. His face adorns a birthday cake that’s wheeled out to much excitement. Numbers are read and fossils are raffled off. Attendees sport buttons that read “I love evolution” and “Team Darwin.” This isn’t your ordinary […]
Institute for School Partnership Faculty Fellow David Kirk is being honored as an outstanding science educator by the Academy of Science – St. Louis. Kirk, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences, has been chosen to receive the 2018 Science Educator Award. It recognizes a distinguished individual on the basis of outstanding contributions […]
“I made it move,” an ecstatic Jalen Royston said as he bolted up from his seat, pumping his fists in the air. He’d inputted the correct code to make clouds on his computer screen move to the left. Sporting a “Hello, I’m Awesome” T-shirt, Jalen, a fifth-grader at Barbara C. Jordan Elementary School in The […]