A five-day discovery-based summer workshop for incoming ninth graders was designed and conducted at the University of Cincinnati (UC). The idea was to have an inquiry-based, research-driven laboratory experience where students were provided with a mentor who encouraged creativity and inquisitiveness. Over a period of three years, 33 students…

Out-of-school time academic/STEM programs provide educational enrichment to a myriad of student populations with some designed to assist those underrepresented and at-risk who desire to purse post-secondary studies. One such program in West Virginia (WV) is the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA), which provides hands-on, in person and…

UNITE is a program sponsored by the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP, 2015). The STEM Enrichment Activities of AEOP are designed to spark student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, especially among the underserved and those in earlier grades and educators by providing exciting, engaging, interactive, hands-on…

There is growing interest in the engineering education community in "making" and the Maker Movement as a context for young people to learn and develop interest around design and early engineering competencies. Although some researchers argue that making has the potential to serve a liberating and anti-oppressive function in education,…

Learning and Reading Assistant (LARA) is an open source platform that enables conversion of plain texts into an interactive multimedia form designed to support second- and foreign-language (L2) learners. In this workshop, we illustrate the open source aspects using collaborative work carried out during a six-week summer project at the Árni…

"The Wisconsin Experience Seminar" is an extended-orientation style first-year seminar (FYS) that is intended to support students' transitions to college. The course is held each academic semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is taught by instructors in a variety professional roles at the university. The program is housed…

A summer workshop was offered to inner-city high school students to explore the sustainability of their consumer choices using a systems thinking model. Students learned about related environmental or health issues due to the manufacturing, use, or disposal of common household products. Then, in the laboratory, they performed experiments to…

The goal of this article is to share how the authors implemented a summer learning experience designed for the benefit of teachers and students simultaneously at Clear Creek Independent School District in Texas. They facilitated what John Hattie's research recommends: "a community of teachers [that] work together to ask the questions,…

The education landscape, both in and out of school, has shifted dramatically, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to digital learning. This shift has compounded the need for digital media literacy, a wide-ranging and often-changing concept that encompasses the competence to use technical equipment, intelligently consume and process information, and…

As states review, refine, and implement new academic standards, professional learning activities,also known as professional development (PD), should be scheduled in order to support educators. At the request of a state education agency, the Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (CSAI) conducted a scan of six states' PD opportunities…

Teachers who participate in the Teacher Institute on Science and Sustainability (TISS) at the California Academy of Sciences commit to intensive professional development--that is, two two-week summer sessions, four evening workshops, and four Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings throughout each school year--focused on creating more…

Nearly one half of students planning to earn a STEM degree either change majors or leave college without a degree. The completion percentage is much lower for underrepresented minorities, of whom less than one third complete their STEM degree within six years. At the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the STEM Boot Camp program was designed to…

This short article presents a summary of the NetSciEd (Network Science and Education) initiative that aims to address the need for curricula, resources, accessible materials, and tools for introducing K-12 students and the general public to the concept of networks, a crucial framework in understanding complexity. NetSciEd activities include (1)…

Faculty training and development for First-Year Seminar (FYS) faculty at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) is conducted in the form of training workshops, bi-annual teaching institutes, and various professional development opportunities. Facilitated workshop content is based on student-centered teaching and learning theories.…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue describes preservice elementary teachers learning engineering principles from engineers. Few elementary teachers have experience with implementing engineering into the classroom. While engineering professional development opportunities for inservice teachers…