2014 MA STEM Summit Call for Sessions is OPEN!

Are you interested in presenting at the 2014 Massachusetts State STEM Summit?  This year the organizers are pleased to announce the introduction of a Call for Sessions!  Session proposals that are selected for inclusion in the program will supplement those being developed by teams of volunteers currently planning each of the Summit's topical Strands (listed below).


For more information and to submit a proposal click on the following link:
MA Summit 2014 Session Proposal
 
Proposals received in response to the Call will be reviewed by a sub-committee of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, which will submit its recommendations to the program planning teams.
 
Proposals may address any of the Summit’s topical Strands, or other relevant topics and issues.  The Summit's Strands are: Early Education; K-12 Education; 2 Year Higher Education; 4 Year+ Higher Education; Out-of-School Time; Digital Education; Innovation/Entrepreneurship; Career Awareness & Workforce Development; and Research and Practice.
 
Proposals should ideally address one or more of the Goals described in Massachusetts STEM Plan 2.0: Student Interest; Student Achievement; Skilled Educators; Post-Secondary Persistence; and Workforce Alignment.  In planning your session, please note that sessions will be 75 minutes long.

Call for participants - western/central MA STEM G.I.G. for girls

Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts STEM Geek Is Glam (G.I.G.)

Date: October 19, 2013
Location: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Information: If interested in participating, please contact Tammy Breen

The Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts (GSCWM), in partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute and with sponsorship by National Grid, is hosting a day-long program exposing girls to hands-on interactive STEM workshops, career panel discussions, demonstrations, and an expo. The event will be for girls in grades 4th-8th.

GSCWM is looking for participants -- employees who could deliver a great hands-on interactive workshop, women who are passionate about their chosen STEM field and would participate in a career panel discussion to inspire girls, and companies willing to demonstrate their work or interested in reserving a table at the expo.

Save the date - Massachusetts STEM Summit

10th Annual Massachusetts STEM Summit

Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Time: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxborough, MA
Information: For questions and general information about the event, please contact Karen Wilson or visit the website at www.mass-stem-summit.org. Planning for the Summit has begun; watch for additional information!

The 2013 Massachusetts STEM Summit will be the 10th, and it is expected to be the largest, with more than 1,000 attendees expected. Throughout the day, panel presentations and the lunchtime plenary session will address the goals, plans and progress of STEM education, bringing leaders and practitioners from the state's education, business and government sectors together to share information and ideas. Sessions will cover the entire education spectrum, workforce development, economic development, and other key policy issues faced by the Commonwealth.

The Massachusetts STEM Summit is hosted by the Massachusetts Governor's STEM Advisory Council, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, and the University of Massachusetts / UMass Donahue Institute. We'll be there -- will you?

Summer professional development for teachers in grades 3-8

Massachusetts Professional Development Institute

Title: Student Conceptions in Physical Science
Date: July 16-19 (Tues.-Fri.) and July 22-24(M-W)
Time: 8:30 am-3:00pm; one afternoon 4-7pm in fall
Location: Worcester State University, Fuller Room, Student Center
Credits: 3 graduate credits from Worcester State College @$100/credit /67.5 PDP’s
Information: Register here, and contact Sandra Mayrand for more information.

This course (intended for grade 3-8 teachers) will focus on identifying and developing students' conceptual thinking about physical science, whether concrete, emerging, or mis-constructed. Participating teachers will see how to support the connection and development of concepts across and within grade spans by actively engaging with colleagues in investigations. They will learn about tools, strategies and approaches to assess students' initial ideas, including possible misconceptions. Course participants will learn how to plan for and support student learning to advance student conceptual thinking in productive ways as they learn science. Multiple resources will be used for effective planning and instruction, including the Massachusetts Science Curriculum Standards, formative assessments, differentiation strategies, models of student work, learning progressions and strand maps. Through this course participating teachers will also deepen their fundamental knowledge in physical science concepts and learn how students’ conceptual thinking develops in: Force and Motion, Properties of Matter, and Energy Transformation.

Congratulations to Kelly Powers, Massachusetts STEM Teacher of the Year

Inaugural winner of the award

The Hall at Patriot Place presented by Raytheon announced that Kelly Powers, a computer science teacher and department chair at the Advanced Math and Science Academy (AMSA) in Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been named The Hall’s Massachusetts STEM Teacher of the Year.

Powers is the inaugural winner of the award, which recognizes a Massachusetts teacher who is making significant contributions to STEM education. She will receive a $5,000 grant to be used for STEM education and will be honored at the 2013 Massachusetts STEM Summit held at Gillette Stadium in November and in a pregame ceremony at a 2013 New England Patriots game.

For more information on Kelly Powers and the STEM Teacher of the Year award, see The Hall at Patriot Place's website.

New STEM course for middle school educators

Integrating STEM for the Middle School: A Hands-On, Real-World, Practical and Research-informed Approach for Teachers of Grades 6-8

Course: This course is offered by The Hall at Patriot Place Presented by Raytheon in collaboration with Engaging Youth through Engineering (EYETM) and Blue Heron STEM Education. Participants will explore STEM topics and curriculum and instruction issues through rich, engaging middle grades curriculum materials developed through a National Science Foundation award.
Registration/questions: Contact Peg Myers, Education Director, The Hall at Patriot Place

Course Dates:
Session 1: Thursday June 13, 2013 3:45 – 7:15 PM
Sessions 2-6: Monday-Friday August 5-9, 2013 8:45 – 3:00 PM (45-minute lunch break)
Session 7: Tuesday November 12 3:45 -6:30 PM
Session 8: Weekday afternoon/evening, tbd* 3:45-7:15 PM
*Session 8 will be designed to examine student work and other documentation from the classroom implementation of an EYETM middle school module. The date of this last session will be decided in collaboration with course participants during the August session.

Workshop Fee: $500 per DISTRICT. Each district may send 2-6 participants. Ideally, participants will be math-science teacher pairs who teach the same cohort of students. Districts wishing to send additional participants should contact Peg Myers.

Description: Expand your own content knowledge and your professional expertise in a supportive, creative team environment. Explore engineering and technology content and how it fits with real-world challenges as well as current, standards-based mathematics and science content as outlined in the Common Core State Standards, the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Mathematics, and the most currently available science standards versions. In addition to hands-on, in-depth integrated STEM experiences that are drawn from nationally recognized exemplar materials, the course will include readings and discussions, visits from STEM field experts, and opportunities to look at student work for insights into STEM pedagogical issues. An implementation project in your classroom will also be included so that you can gain supported practice in integrated STEM experiences. Pending approval, this course will offer an option to earn 3 graduate credits from an accredited post-secondary institution.

Please Note: Additional costs include a materials fee for a comprehensive teacher guide and implementation kit and tuition fee for optional graduate level credit, to be paid to credit-granting institution. (Final course approval is pending.) For information, please contact Peg Myers.

Siemens Competition in Math, Science, & Technology

Research-based competition for high school students in the United States

Competition: The Siemens Competition seeks to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects. It fosters intensive research that improves students' understanding of the value of scientific study and informs their consideration of future careers in these disciplines.
Scholarships: Individuals and teams submitting winning projects will receive scholarships ranging from $1000 to $100,000.
Deadline: Forms and research are due by 5:00 P.M. EST on September 30, 2013.
Information: For further information, see the Siemens Competition website.

In 2012, there was a winning team from Lexington High School - good luck to Massachusetts students aiming to follow in Jonathan and Rohil's footsteps!

Summer learning opportunities: computing & robots

Put computing in your summer

The Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) has collected and posted summer learning opportunities for students and teachers to engage more with computing and robots! Note that summer teacher professional development programs may not be full, even if the deadlines have passed, so please contact the organizers if interested.

Summer Camps for Students

• across Massachusetts and beyond
• for middle and high-school students
• web design, robotics, gaming, and more!

Professional Development for Educators

• workshops in June, July & August for teachers
• for middle, high-school, and community college educators
• programming, app development, and more!

STEM Education Learning Tours

Boston STEM Network Out-of-School Time Task Force

Tour: Incorporating Environmental Literacy in OST: ReadBoston and the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy Extended Day Program
Date: Friday, May 10, 2013
Time: 10 A.M. - 12 P.M.
Participants: This tour is open to STEM education professionals interested in learning from each other how programs address skill building, program implementation, and quality of training for frontline staff.
Information: To register and for more information, please email Emily Shaer, Education Program Coordinator for the Boston Youth Environmental Network.

As part of our approach to building the capacity of the field and strengthening the community of practice, the Boston STEM Network's Out of School Time Task Force is coordinating a series of STEM Learning Tours. Space is still available for the May 10th tour with ReadBoston and the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy Extended Day Program.

Click the jump for more information on ReadBoston and the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy Extended Day Program!

Future Ready Summit - registration now open

Join the Conversation--Preparing All Students for Successful Futures

Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 9:00 A.M. – 3:30 P.M.
Location: DCU Center, Worcester, MA
Participants: This invitation is open to state, regional, and local leaders as well as practitioners from education, workforce development, economic development, health and human services, and the employer community.
Information: Register now

For more details, see our earlier post!

Education: Preparation for the Unknown and Unexpected

An Evening with Dr. Story Musgrave, NASA Astronaut

Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Location: Dwight Hall Performing Arts Center, Framingham State University Information: Free and open to the public; no registration required  Dr. Story Musgrave, a NASA astronaut for over 30 years who took part in six spaceflights, will visit Framingham State University on Wednesday, May 22, to share his inspiring personal story and his thoughts on topics such as vision, leadership, innovation, creativity, and design. During his career with NASA, Dr. Musgrave performed the first shuttle spacewalk on the maiden Challenger flight and was a pilot on an astronomy mission.

Dr. Musgrave also conducted two classified Department of Defense missions and was the lead spacewalker on the Hubble Telescope repair mission. On his last flight, he operated an electronic chip manufacturing satellite on Columbia.

For more information, please contact the Framingham State University Office of Academic Affairs at 508-626-4582.

Get Energized in two weeks!

Get Energized! Powering the Future with Green STEM Education

Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location: Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
Registration: Register here

Get Energized is rapidly approaching! There's still time to register -- attendance is free and open to informal science educators, after-school program providers, program directors, green industry professionals, and interested parties. It's going to be a fascinating afternoon of hands-on demonstrations and lively discussion about collaboration on Boston-focused green STEM education initiatives, connecting young people to pathways into green careers, and crafting innovative approaches for bringing green concepts into STEM education efforts.

Following demonstrations by exhibitors, the keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Becky Wai-Ling Packard, Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts, Mt. Holyoke College. Dr. Packard studies the transition from high school to college or work, emphasizing diverse pathways into STEM fields, and was a 2005 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The afternoon will close with a series of targeted breakout sessions, affording attendees the opportunity to tap each others' rich knowledge and brainstorm together about the future of green-related STEM education in Boston.

Boston STEM Network members: this event will take place in lieu of the regular May meeting.

Partners and sponsors include: the Boston Youth Environmental Network (BYEN), the Boston STEM Network, Boston After School & Beyond, Afterschool Works, the Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC), the New England Board of Higher Education, Boston GreenFest, Green Schools, New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE), and the Harvard University/McLean Hospital Program in Education, Afterschool, and Resiliency (PEAR).

2013 Massachusetts High School Science & Engineering Fair

2013 Massachusetts State High School Fair: May 2-4 @ MIT

The Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair (MSSEF) is an experience that lasts a lifetime. Through a science fair program at your school, you can follow your natural curiosity about the world and explore "real world" science and engineering problems that really interest you! Want to make a difference in the world? You can! Students work individually or as a team to investigate everything from discovering what’s in your sports drink to green energy solutions to cancer research.

Patent Awards: You can compete for the "Fish & Richardson Patent Award" that provides for legal expenses to patent your design. Past winners have invented ingenuous ways to help improve the quality of life and condition of the planet.

Building Essential Career & Life Skills: The Science Fair process also builds essential skills for success in 21st century careers, such as critical and creative thinking, communication, teamwork and ethical decision-making.

2013 Massachusetts State Middle School Science & Engineering Fair

2013 Massachusetts Middle School Fair: June 1 @ Worcester Technical High School

The Massachusetts Middle School Science & Engineering Fair is a forum for students in grades 6-8 to explore "real world" science and engineering discovery through hands-on experience. Students also learn about the many exciting and emerging fields of science and technology today, building important life skills-- from reading, writing and math to communications, teamwork and design. It's fun, exciting, and a pathway to a great career!

The first statewide competitive Fair was held in 1999, and since that time, participation has been on the rise. Approximately 300 students now participate in individual and team projects.

Cabot Corporation, the Boston based global specialty chemicals company, is the official sponsor of the statewide middle school fair. Worcester Technical High School, One Skyline Drive, is the official host site of the Statewide Middle School Science & Engineering Fair, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester provides administrative facilities and services.

Watch the Middle School vimeo

Call for Exhibitors - Get Energized!

Call for Exhibitors

Last chance to register!

Get Energized!  

Powering the Future with Green STEM Education

Wednesday, May 15

1pm - 4pm

Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology

Have an innovative, fun, hands-on "green" STEM activity to share with K-12 educators and after school program providers? Want to turn others onto green careers? Apply to be an exhibitor at the Green STEM Education event at Get Energized! Powering the Future with Green STEM Education!

Green STEM Activity Demonstration: Presenters will be set up in a large open room with 10-15 activity demonstrations taking place simultaneously. Event participants will circulate, observing brief demonstrations of Green STEM activities and gathering information on programs and services from presenters. Demonstration activities should be hands-on, interactive and illustrate a green STEM concept in action. Activities should be between 10 and 30 minutes in length and repeated at least once during the hour long session.

Green STEM Career Speakers: Professionals from green careers may set up an exhibit that provides insight on what jobs in their field are like and on what credentials are required of individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in a particular field.

Space is limited -- we will try to accommodate as many exhibits as possible, but likely won't be able to offer exhibitor space to all applicants. There will also be a general Green STEM Education Resources area for displaying and sharing information on programs, events, and professional development.

Please contact Emily Shaer, Boston Youth Environmental Network Education Program Coordinator at Boston After School & Beyond, at eshaer@bostonbeyond.org or 617-345-5322, ext. 170, with questions or for more information.

To apply to be an exhibitor, please fill out the online Call for Exhibitors application form. To register as an attendee, sign up here.

Future Ready Summit - Save the Date

Save the Date!

Future Ready Summit

“Join the Conversation--Preparing All Students for Successful Futures”

Date:  Monday, May 20, 2013

Location:  DCU Center, Worcester, MA (9:00AM – 3:30 PM)

Who should attend?  State, regional and local leaders as well as practitioners from education, workforce development, economic development, health and human services and the business community, among others.

What Is Future Ready Massachusetts?  Future Ready Massachusetts is a public communication campaign designed to promote awareness and understanding of what it takes for all students (youth and adult learners) to be “college and career ready.”  To be Future Ready means a student has the knowledge, skills and experiences needed to complete further education and training that will provide access to the career of their choice.  Three key messages frame the Future Ready campaign: 1) START NOW:  It’s never too early or too late to start planning for your future;  2) AIM HIGH:  Students who challenge themselves through a rigorous course of study are usually the ones who go the farthest; and 3) LOOK BEYOND (Outside the Classroom) for learning opportunities that support career pathway development.

What are the goals of the Future Ready Summit?  The goals are to: 1) bring multiple stakeholders together to discuss what it will take to build a statewide system of structured, aligned, and strategic partnerships to support students’ transition from the K–12 system through post-secondary education and into successful careers and provide clear on and off ramps for adult learners re/entering the labor market; 2) provide the tools and resources to influential adults (i.e., educators, parents, mentors, supervisors, career coaches) that will support all students as they prepare for a 21^st century economy; and 3) showcase best practices that are moving the “college and career” ready agenda forward. 

Who are the Sponsors? Executive Office of Education, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Higher Education, Jobs for the Future, and Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education

 

Information on registering for the Summit will be coming soon!