STEM+Models

=**STEM Models and Ideas**=

Ying TRSEF could be particularly useful in adding the K-12 workforce pipeline piece to a project. This summer we developed a seminar with NASA and Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning support that has proved very successful with at-risk youth. We have also developed a professional development workshop for K-12 educators incorporating FREE resources from NASA, and an online resource package of tools for community advocacy of STEM education through local science fair sponsorship that is (1) free-to-cheap and (2) easy. If you hear of an organization in your territory that is looking for anything along those lines, just have them contact me. We don’t need to be a big part of the money requested. We’ve got all three units completed and operational, so it’s just a matter of small-scale $ to support: 1. about $15 worth of NASA and fair-related items/student to give the seminar a strong “grab” for students’ interest;

2. districts’ teachers getting the professional development ($50 stipend/teacher + coverage for subs sells great);

3. getting kids who participate in local fairs to Syracuse for the 2-day science fest and regional science fair.

Mary Eileen Wood, Director Ying TRSEF Member International Advisory Council ISEF Dr. Nelson Ying Tri Region Science and Engineering Fair 604 Walberta Rd, Syracuse NY 13219 315-468-1025 trsef@verizon.net www.YingTRSEF.org

Cyberlearning STEM Model:[| www.cyberlearning.org/about]

[|Cindy Moss] • I am the Director of STEM for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools and we have great partnerships with STEM industry in our area. I started a group call CASTLE-Charlotte Area STEM Teaching and Learning Environment Coalition nearly 3 years ago. This group (composed of 50 STEM industry partners, 5 universities, community college, technical colleges, informal science institutions and nonprofits (Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Junior Achievement, Parks and Rec, Freedom Schools, etc) meet monthly for breakfast to share what we are doing so that we can work smarter. It resulted in **"virtual field trips"** that provide 10 day units **to show students how STEM is used in our local community.** We have completed the following: 1-Physics of safe driving with Richard Petty Racing 2-Chemistry of Coca Cola; 3-Geology of NC; Math and Science of Recycling with Gerdau Ameristeel; 4-Forces and Motion with Hendricks Motorsports and Bank of America; 5-Sustainability with Metrolina Greenhouses; 6-Physics of Flight with the Carolina Raptor Center and Goodrich, the Math of Sports Broadcasting with the SPEED Channel. We are also in the process of developing: Food Chemistry with Johnson and Wales and the Sounds of Music with the Charlotte Symphony. **In these virtual field trips students see a 10-12 minute clip, do a virtual lab, do a hands-on lab, read about careers affiliated with this company and get a taste of the possibilities in the STEM pipeline.**
 * STEM for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools: **

Speedway Virtual Field Trip: @http://www.fasttrackrc.com/BankofAmerica.html @http://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/johnmotleymoreheadMS/Pages/Default.aspx Funded: @http://www.mos.org/nctl/news_article.php?r=4635 Article: @http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2011/02/18/CMS-Moss-brings-passion-to-STEM.html

Northeastern University Young Scholars Program:
The Young Scholars Program offers future scientists and engineers a unique opportunity for hands-on experience while still in high school. The program is open to Boston area applicants who have completed either their sophomore or junior year in high school. It is a highly selective program, in which hundreds apply and less than 20 are accepted each year. @http://www.youngscholars.neu.edu/

Golden LEAF supports STEM, health education project:
Appalachian’s Human Performance Lab (HPL), a program of the College of Health Sciences, will provide physical fitness testing and counseling to the teachers and students similar to what HPL personnel have been doing with NASCAR pits crews. @http://wraltechwire.com/business/tech_wire/biotech/blogpost/9630052/

@http://www.stratostar.net/workshop/
 * StratoStar Workshops** instruct professors and educators to effectively implement high-altitude flight missions as part of curriculum and research. StratoStar products are being used across the country to teach students problem solving and collaboration in real world scenarios through relevant hands-on missions. Our turn-key systems are customizable to meet your specific educational requirements and require minimal time to start a flight program.

Penn State Science Camp: @http://www.sciencecamps.psu.edu/

http://stemnet.org.uk/ Some folks might think that encouraging people to learn about the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects is just an endeavor in the United States. However, the STEMNET website demonstrates that STEM is definitely a worldly concern, as it promotes STEM in the United Kingdom. STEMNET works through the use of volunteer STEM ambassadors, and in partnership with industries that will benefit from more students entering the workforce schooled in STEM subjects. Visitors interested in the regions in which STEMNET is present, should click on the "About Us" tab, and then they can go to the "STEMNET Regional Focus" link which has a color-coded interactive map that visitors can click on to read a general overview of the region, as well as "Case Studies", "Events" and "Local Contacts". A great multimedia feature of the website that visitors shouldn't miss is the "STEMNET YouTube Channel" with more than a dozen short videos. Here users will find videos highlighting STEM Ambassadors, STEM Challenges, and various STEM-related careers, such as Planetary Scientist, Medical Physicist, and Spacecraft Engineer. [|[KMG]]
 * STEMNET**

To find more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://hastac.org/ What exactly is a "Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory" (HASTAC)? It is a "consortium of humanists, artists, social scientists, scientists, and engineers committed to new forms of collaboration across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology." Anyone is welcome to join HASTAC after registering on the website, and then they will be able to share their work and ideas with others in the community. There is a wide range of topics floating through the virtual ether here, and a good way to get started is by looking at the "Conversations" area. Here visitors will find featured blog posts, recent content updates (like a piece titled "How to Distract Your Kid Into Paying Attention), and information about job opportunities. New visitors should also look over Cathy Davidson's blog, as she has some great observations on a wide range of subjects, including the digital divide, humanities scholarship, and other matters. [|[KMG]]
 * Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory [pdf]**

= VANISHED - The Smithsonian and MIT's Environmental Disaster Mystery: ** Middle-schoolers think like real scientists as they race to solve an environmental mystery in the alternate reality game Vanished. **= @http://hastac.org/blogs/kkliu/report-vanished-smithsonian-and-mits-environmental-disaster-mystery

[|Valerie B. Brown-Schild] • I am the director of the **Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development**. This North Carolina program offers competitive fellowships for K-12 public school teachers from across disciplines. Its objective is to keep exceptional teachers in classrooms by providing authentic opportunities for professional advancement and to give them the knowledge and skills to lead change in their schools, districts and communities.

The research-based program provides sustained professional development in curriculum design, inquiry-based instruction, leadership and communication in a rigorous two week residential summer program. The centerpiece of the program is a 5-week research externship in an academic or industry laboratory where teachers engage in hands-on collaboration with a research mentor and a culminating mid-year institute. Embedded in an ongoing project, teachers gain content knowledge, learn about the structures and processes that characterize research endeavors, practice new technological skills, and become aware of new developments in fields related to what they teach.

Each Fellow creates, pilots and revises curriculum materials that translate the 'field' experience into instruction that is relevant and engaging for students. Fellows follow up by presenting their work at a professional conference. They are supported in long-term efforts to design and implement plans for sharing their expertise with other educators through workshops, professional conferences and virtually via webinars and online courses.

The Kenan Fellows Program is designed to scale positive educational impact by:

Leveraging Partnership Power

The Kenan Fellows Program taps a wealth of professional expertise in North Carolina’s university and private sector research facilities. The program enriches teachers’ knowledge and promotes innovation and creativity by supporting collaboration between K-12 public school teachers and professionals in rapidly developing areas of science, technology, engineering and math. Teachers selected as Fellows engage in partnerships with distinguished scientists to learn about important new developments and to gain an understanding of the significance of current research and scientific practice for students.

Energizing School Curriculum

Each Mentor/Fellow pair works to translate the research experience into relevant lessons for use in classrooms. Interaction with practitioners of state-of-the-art science, and professional development in the area of curriculum design helps Kenan Fellows create innovative curricular tools and resources aligned with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. In Summer Institutes focused on instructional leadership, Fellows build advanced skills in collegial environments that allow for sharing of knowledge and encourage them to apply their experiences in the context of their own classrooms. The 21st Century workplace challenges students to be problem solvers, team players and to think systemically. Relevant and engaging lessons designed by Fellows reflect those needs by providing rich, new opportunities for hands-on, inquiry-based study.

Promoting Teacher Leadership

The Kenan Fellows Program builds strong leadership skills in outstanding teachers eager to develop their understanding of the real “enterprise” of scientific research and translate their new knowledge into improved teaching and learning in their classrooms. Fellows work to develop strong communication and advocacy skills. They engage regularly in dialog with leaders and policy-makers whose work impacts schools and classrooms. They learn how to maximize the effectiveness of the diverse talents in their school communities.

To learn more, please feel free to contact me at 919 515 5118 or go to http://www.kenanfellows.org


 * Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) **


 * PROGRAM GUIDELINES**: @http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=500047&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund
 * SYNOPSIS**



The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program seeks to enable significant advances in student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines. Projects funded under this solicitation begin with a research question or hypothesis about how to improve preK-12 STEM learning and teaching and then develop, implement, and study effects of innovative educational resources, models, or technologies. DR K-12 invites proposals that meet a variety of educational needs, from those that address immediate challenges facing preK-12 STEM education to those that anticipate the future when expectations, roles and resources are likely to be aligned in different ways. DR K-12 especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10-15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to support learning. Project goals, designs, and working strategies should be informed by prior research and practical experience drawn from all relevant disciplines and they should focus on concepts and skills that are central to STEM disciplines. The DR K-12 program is primarily concerned with the goals and effectiveness of formal education, yet it recognizes that learning is not limited to traditional school sites and times. As appropriate, the program encourages projects to draw from knowledge and practice of learning in out-of-school and informal settings. While many projects supported under this solicitation will focus on exploratory development and testing of innovative ideas for some specific facet of STEM education, all proposals must explain how the work can lead ultimately to successful adoption of findings or products in the preK-12 enterprise on a national scale. NSF has created an agency-wide priority to fully capture the transformative potential of advanced learning technologies across the education enterprise. The intent is to catalyze new approaches to STEM learning by all and for workforce development, and to provide the pathways and resources to study the learning process itself. To address this mandate, the DR K-12 program has the more focused goal of fostering the creation of a new generation of resources, models, and tools that take full advantage of the capabilities of information and communications technologies to enhance the education of K-12 learners. The DR K-12 program accepts proposals for exploratory projects, full research and development projects, and synthesis projects, as well as for conferences and workshops related to the mission of the program.
 * RELATED URLS**

[| A searchable database of the DR K-12 portfolio is available at www.cadrek12.org.]
 * [|What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)]**
 * [|Map of Recent Awards Made Through This Program]**
 * [|News]**
 * [|Discoveries]**