Posted on Thu, Apr 04, 2013 @ 08:39 AM
By Julie Kalt
“Aspir(e)ing Profiles” is a series where we feature leaders in education, child and human development and health and wellness connected to the Wheelock College Aspire Institute. Look out for our monthly profile. You might be next!
“I never identify myself as a scientist. It’s the teaching that comes first.” Ellen Faszewski, Chair and Associate Professor of Math and 
Science here at Wheelock is a passionate, fun-loving science geek who could and would love to speak with you about frogs, birds, marine sponges and the Muddy River.
It is clear from Ellen’s enthusiasm and career trajectory that she is whole heartedly committed to sharing knowledge, developing leaders and fostering informed, active citizens. “The first thing I say to my students is ‘if you hate science, I want you to like it a little bit more and understand how it impacts your life when you leave my class.’”
Having grown up in western Massachusetts, Ellen developed an early appreciation for nature and the environment. Romping around in the woods with her two older brothers year round put her face to face with different animals, vegetation and seasons, resulting in an unshakable interest in inquiry. But it wasn’t until a college microbiology course that she realized science was where she wanted to invest her time and energy. She particularly attributes her success in college to a special mentor.
“I had a nun with a research lab for a mentor. That’s how I got into studying frogs. She gave me the opportunity to spend a summer doing research and to publish a paper. That’s what I want to do with my students, especially women and science – give them any opportunity I can to help them succeed.”
This ideology is at the heart of Ellen’s role as a scientist and educator. And being in the classroom means being engaged in the world and understanding how scientific issues, like autism, stem cell research and genetic testing interact with society – in our schools, businesses and government offices. What’s more, Ellen is bringing her students and Wheelock as an institution into these important conversations. When asked the most important lesson she’s learned from driving scientific and environmental impact, she had one word: communication.
Now in its seventh year, the Muddy River Symposium was Ellen’s brainchild. Located adjacent to Wheelock’s Boston campus, the Muddy River carries political, economic, and health implications for the local community. Partnering with the Muddy River Management and Maintenance Oversight Committee (MMOC), the Symposium brings together the numerous stakeholders and Wheelock students to share information and work together to drive towards mutually beneficial solutions. “People won’t understand if you can't educate and communicate effectively.”
Ellen’s desire to engage in the community is what led to her involvement in the Aspire Institute. Through Aspire, she explains that she’s been able to connect to, impact and learn from Boston’s vast education world.
“Aspire is a great bridge to the community. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet these amazing educators in the local school systems. Working with in-service teachers provides me with a different lens of what my teaching should look like here at Wheelock.”
Who inspires you?
My colleagues inspire me. They are people I look up to because they’ve been doing this work for a long time.
If you could meet anyone (dead or alive) who would it be?
Charles Darwin. I just want to ride around with him in the Beagle and go to the Galapagos Islands.
What’s your motto?
Work hard, play hard.
Ellen Faszewski is a cell and developmental biologist whose primary research interests are amphibian development and sponge immunology. She is a Co-Pi on an NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (S-STEM) Colleges of the Fenway STEM Scholars Grant. She was a Co-Pi on a grant received from NASA Opportunities for Visionary Academics (NOVA) to aid in the development of Wheelock's Clear Sky Program, a Science for Teachers Pathway for students who wish to make science a core component of their elementary classrooms. She has also collaborated with the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) community to aid in the development of the Environmental Forum course. She is currently a Leadership Fellow and member of the SENCER New England Center for Innovation Leadership Council. In addition, as a recent director of the Colleges of the Fenway (COF) Environmental Science Program (now the COF Center for Sustainability and the Environment) and current member of the Steering Committee, she co-organizes annual events including the Muddy River Symposium and Muddy River clean-up.
Posted on Mon, Apr 01, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
By Barbara Joseph
The Aspire Institute STEM App launches today! Be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter to see the daily activity!
A recent article from the Intel Foundation outlines the influence that parents play in encouraging their children to pursue a STEM education. It concludes that parents are the most influential person(s) helping their children decide which career to pursue according.1 For boys, parents were twice as likely as teachers or counselors, and four times as likely as friends to influence them. For girls, parents were three times as likely as teachers and counselors, and 16 times as likely as friends to influence them. Another reason parents are so influential is that, according to a recent MTV study, a majority of kids (58%) view their parents as their “best friend.”2 Thus, increased parent excitement about and engagement in STEM activities with their children holds the promise of inspiring STEM interest among their children, and perhaps the next generation of scientists, mathematicians, engineers and technologists.
Yet STEM activities for parents and students are not readily accessible. While there are numerous websites available that provide fun math and science facts and games for elementary age students, the reality is that parents have limited time to search the web for this kind of data to engage their children. More importantly, data on the web does not necessarily structure parent/child engagement. Providing an application that will automatically send snippets of activities to parents allows them to engage with their child in STEM areas in a fun and interactive way.
Thanks to initial funding from the Silvia Earl Award, the Aspire Institute has made great strides in developing a mobile-accessible STEM activity application. The application provides a daily STEM activity to parents either as a text message with a link to the web application or via email which would include the daily STEM activity. Specifically, this funding allowed us to gather 30 STEM activities from a broad range of contributors and pilot the application from April 1st-May 17th at a Boston Public School. Since the school is 70% Latino, the application and all the STEM activities will available in both English and Spanish.
To develop content for the application, requests for STEM activity submissions were sent to middle and high school students, teachers, colleges/universities, STEM professionals and relevant non-profit organizations. In response, we received over 60 submissions. These submissions were carefully reviewed by our content experts, and 30 activities were accepted for the pilot.
Along with the daily STEM activities, we have embedded a number of weekly clues that help to solve a riddle that was posed at the start of the pilot to all parents and students. We plan to survey the parents after the pilot to measure effectiveness of delivery method, change in interest of STEM, and increased collaboration with child around learning. This pilot will provide important, initial data on how engaging families found the STEM activities, and whether parent-child collaboration increased.
In addition to the pilot rollout, we are collaborating with The Discovery Museums to have an end of pilot “STEM” party for all the students in grades 3, 4, and 5 at the Sarah Greenwood School on May 31st. Some of the activities that the parents and students did at home will be showcased and expanded upon by The Discovery Museums’ staff. As an incentive, all students who bring all six weekly clues to the party will be entered in a raffle to win iPod shuffles and a grand prize of an iPad. We will also unveil the answer to the riddle!
Getting students, along with their parents, excited about STEM topics will go a long way in a student’s interest in STEM learning and possibly even a career in STEM!
1STEM Perceptions: Student & Parent Study By Harris Interactive; commissioned by Microsoft (2011)
2MTV Millennials Study commissioned by Intel (2012)
Barbara Joseph joined Aspire in December 2010 as STEP Project Manager for a NASA-funded grant. Her role is to manage the development and rollout of high-quality online math and science in-service courses to elementary teachers. Prior to joining Aspire, she spent over 20 years of her career in high technology, specifically software localization. She has held various positions from software engineer, director of technical services, vice president of operations and most recently, project/program manager. As an advisor to TenMarks Education, an online supplemental math program, Joseph was involved in consulting on the design and content of the program and website. She received her BA from Boston College majoring in Computer Science and French, and minoring in Math. She also received an Entrepreneurial Management Certificate from Babson College.
Posted on Tue, Nov 13, 2012 @ 08:18 AM
By JD Chesloff
In a previous blog post to Aspire Wire, I wrote that “there are no greater natural scientists and engineers than young children, inquisitive learners who learn STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) concepts through play” and linked the important connection between STEM and early childhood to economic competitiveness. 
As the venerable Fred Rogers – of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood fame – once said, “Play is the real work of childhood.” Yet a young child probably could not articulate the concept of “work,” nor could they define “technology” or “engineering.” Nor should they…they’re children. However, they know it when they see it. In very young children, STEM and play are one in the same, with some of the most basic STEM concepts characterizing the play experience. Creativity. Collaboration. Curiosity. Critical Thinking. To them, STEM is play.
To employers, who compete in a global economy, high quality early learning experiences are essential to developing tomorrow’s workforce. A high quality pre-k experience cuts the rate of kids being held back a grade in half; decreases juvenile arrests by 1/3; increases high school attendance by 1/3 and college attendance by a whopping 80%; and increases employment by 23%. And play is an essential component of a quality pre-K experience.
Research has found that “Childhood play is imperative for cognitive, social, and emotional development of children.” That simple concept – play – is a key ingredient to successful pre-K experiences, which are such an important determinant of later learning and success.
In the incredible video linking science and play, Neuroscientist Beau Lotto and 12-year old Amy O’Toole share their experience of publishing a science experiment led completely by children. In making the connection between science and play, Lotto highlights the concept at the heart of the STEM disciplines – questioning – and says that “the best questions create the most uncertainty”…and “evolution’s answer to uncertainty is play.” These are some high-level, complicated adult concepts that attempt to describe the most simple childhood concept. Play.
A report released this summer from the Center for American Progress and the Center for the Next Generation found that more than half of US postsecondary students drop out without receiving a degree. More than half. It also found that “half of U.S. children get no early childhood education, and we have no national strategy to increase enrollment,” while China, for example, has plans to enroll 40 million children in preschool – an increase of 50% - by 2020. Just for some context, there are a total of about 24M children aged 0-5 in the US.
Which gets back to the point about workforce. By 2030, China will have 200 million college graduates, more than the entire US workforce. So clearly we need to be investing in the workforce pipeline, with a focus on STEM competencies, to remain competitive in the global economy. The best investment in that pipeline is to start early, and play must continue to be the real work of childhood.
You can find the official Ted Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_amy_o_toole_science_is_for_everyone_kids_included.html
You can download the Center for American Progress and the Center for the Next Generation Report here: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2012/08/21/11983/the-competition-that-really-matters/
JD Chesloff is Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Chairman of the state’s Board of Early Education and Care, and Chair of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council Executive Committee.
Posted on Wed, Oct 03, 2012 @ 08:00 AM
By Connie Chow
As much as I am convinced that mentoring is essential for the success of women and underrepresented groups in science and engineering (and other fields), and have personally participated in and benefited from these relationships through MentorNet, in-person mentoring circles as well as one-on-one, the introvert in me has always found it hard to initiate such a relationship with "strangers". I am also suspicious that the 9-12 month commitment required for these relationships to be beneficial may be a deterrent for some, especially first-timers. I have also found that having an informal group of advisors have proven to be just as important in getting my varied questions answered.
That's why I see the great benefit of the 6-week program, WitsOn (Women in Technology Sharing Online). It's an online forum that connects women in academia and industry with college students across the country who are interested in STEM. Instead of having questions answered by one mentor, students have the benefit of over 300 women (distributed over the 6 weeks) share their experiences and insight. It has a short, fixed duration. It's a format that current students are very comfortable with, and like mentoring that leads to sponsorship, the online networking may lead to a job.
Even if it doesn't, this forum will show young people the plethora of pathways and careers in 
STEM. It will, if it lives up to its claims, show how these real women with real struggles have come to define their success.
Hopefully, this will be a gateway for participating professionals and students towards long-lasting mentoring relationships.
Connie Chow is the executive director of Science Club for Girls, a MA-based nonprofit that increases confidence and literacy in STEM in girls from K-12 grades. Dr. Chow received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and was a member of the biology department at Simmons College. Dr. Chow is a women's rights advocate and expert on international human rights. She is a member of the Back Bay Chorale.
Posted on Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @ 08:16 AM
By Melissa Hanzsek-Brill
The Mathematical Education of Teachers notes “teachers need to understand the fundamental principles that underlie school mathematics, so that they can teach it to diverse groups of students as a coherent, reasoned activity and communicate an appreciation of the elegance and power of the subject.” (Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, 2001, p.7)
The question then arises: how do we define understanding and knowledge of mathematics? What are the courses necessary to prepare teachers of mathematics?
Universities and colleges that certify teachers neither agree on the definition of mathematical knowledge for teachers nor do they agree on the best set of courses needed to prepare teachers of mathematics. At the early grade levels some schools don’t require any mathematics courses at all. It is no wonder we read blogs like Teachers Feel Poorly Prepared In Math by JoAnne Jacobs (a reaction to Inequality for All by William H. Schmidt and Curtis C. McKnight). Many teachers claim they are not well prepared to teach mathematics at grade level or outside of the topics they currently are assigned. Jacobs relates the following in her blog, “My first husband said his sister became a second-grade teacher because she couldn’t do third-grade math. This, apparently, is not a joke.”
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon statement heard about or by elementary teachers, and in society in general it is an acceptable thing to say. Yet, would we allow a teacher to say they taught second-grade because they couldn’t read at a third-grade level? We would immediately question how the teacher had been able to acquire a college degree and be certified to teach our children. So, how do we remedy teachers feeling and being underprepared to teach mathematics in our nation’s schools?
To date, many mathematics teacher preparation programs have required students to take standard mathematics courses geared for the general population, or alongside mathematics, engineering, and science majors. These courses tend to be taught with a “watch and do” or “sage on the stage” lecture style, giving the impression that mathematics is an established body of knowledge that many students (and society at large) feel one either “gets” or does not. Teacher candidates do not see a connection between the courses they are taking in college to the mathematics they will be teaching.
Deborah Ball and Mark Thames’ summary of Mathematics Education research in “What Math Knowledge does Teaching Require?” (TCM, Nov. 2010) finds that “conventional content knowledge”, that which is needed by mathematics-related professions such as actuaries and engineers, is not a good predictor of teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom nor is it an indicator of student achievement. This is particularly true at the K-8 level. While a teacher must have conventional content knowledge of the content they are teaching, they must also possess an expertise in understanding and evaluating how others think and learn mathematics. Courses required of future teachers must incorporate this Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Teachers should be required to understand the mathematics that precedes the grade level they teach as well as the mathematics that follows.
Institutes of higher education need to create standards and work together to set national guidelines. Mathematics departments need to work closely with colleges of teacher education to develop integrated coursework in order to prepare prospective teacher candidates. The Mathematical Education of Teachers II (CBMS, 2012) outlines such coursework and collaborations in detail. (See www.cbmsweb.org) All programs preparing future teachers should follow these proposed guidelines.
In addition, teachers need to understand that it is impossible to learn everything needed to teach while they are in college. Teaching is a profession that requires life-long learning. Experiences in the classroom, self-directed study and reflection, professional development opportunities, learning communities, continuing education classes, etc. should all be a part of a teacher’s ongoing preparation throughout their career. Institutes of higher education should play a role in developing and teaching continuing education workshops and courses with a focus on teachers at various points in their careers, and school districts need to make professional learning communities a priority within their schools.
Mathematics Education research shows that in order to make mathematics curricula like those outlined in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, we need skilled teachers with a high level of expertise. This expertise can only be developed through strong pre-professional programs which incorporate standards set by the larger mathematics and mathematics education community and continuing education of teachers throughout their career. It is my hope that by implementing these and other standards, reports of under-preparedness in our nation’s mathematics teachers will become a distant memory and it will no longer be acceptable to society that our children’s teacher only understands second grade mathematics.
Melissa Hanzsek-Brill is a Mathematics Education faculty member of the Educational Studies/STEM Education program at Wheelock College and an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at St. Cloud State University. She earned her PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of Georgia specializing in elementary school mathematics.
Posted on Thu, May 17, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
By Jake Murray and Barbara Joseph
Largely missing from the national focus on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) education is an appreciation for how families promote learning. Research overwhelmingly demonstrates that parent involvement in children's learning is positively related to their academic success. This holds true across all school communities, grades, ages of students, and content areas.
A key to successful family engagement in support of learning is the comfort-level of parents and caregivers in the areas that their children are studying. Many parents and caregivers, however, are not familiar with STEM topics; some are even ‘STEM-phobic.’ At the same time, they are extremely busy with limited time to engage children in enriching and fun ways that excite them about and promote learning. These parents and caregivers are then at a disadvantage when it comes to supporting their child in STEM topics at home and especially in cultivating a passion for STEM areas and careers that can sustain children’s interest in these critical areas as they progress through school.
Recognizing this ‘STEM knowledge gap’ and the time constraints faced by many families, Wheelock College and the Sylvia Earl Innovation Fund recently awarded the Aspire Institute a grant to develop an applet that provides this accessible information in STEM concepts to greatly enhance parent/child engagement in elementary age STEM areas. Through fun facts, engaging experiments, and thoughtful discussion points developed by Wheelock faculty and other experts, this applet will offer STEM information that can be weaved seamlessly into everyday activities – such as dinner conversations, car rides, and family nights. For example, parent-child STEM activities might include:
- Finding the largest 3-digit number possible on license plates while driving to school. If the license plate is 517-8331, the largest number would be 875.
- Watching the phases of the moon each night together when walking the dog or just going outside for a few minutes, and recording the changes in a graph.
- Sharing the ‘fun fact’ that you would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a supersized Coke, fry and Big Mac.
Of course, there are numerous websites available that provide fun math and science facts and games for elementary age students. Yet, the reality is that parents have limited time to search the web for this kind of data to engage their children. More importantly, data on the web does not structure parent/child engagement. Providing an applet that will automatically send snippets of fun data to parents allows them to engage with their child in STEM areas in a fun and interactive way. Not only will the facts and data be engaging, we will connect this information to real life experience of families.
Jake Murray is the Senior Director of Aspire Institute. He has over 20 years of experience in the education, health and human services fields, serving as an organizational leader, policy analyst, and strategic planner
Barbara Joseph joined Aspire in December 2010 as STEP Project Manager for a NASA-funded grant. Her role is to manage the development and rollout of high-quality online math and science in-service courses to elementary teachers.
Image from flickr user woodysworld1778.
Posted on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 @ 12:01 PM
Written by JD Chesloff
Raytheon Corporation, one of the state’s leading employers, recently conducted a survey of 1,000 middle school students across the country, and asked them if they prefer doing math homework or eating broccoli. The winner, with 56% of the vote was… broccoli. More middle school students would rather eat broccoli than do their math homework!
In a state, and indeed a nation, where we are competing in a technology driven global economy, this is humorous – but mostly troubling. Early math skills have been proven to be a predictor of later academic achievement. In fact, a recent article in Education Week cited a University of California, Irvine study which found that “early math concepts, such as knowledge of numbers and ordinality, were the most powerful predictors of later learning.” The article further cited a Canadian study which found that math skills at school entry predicted math skills and reading skills in 2nd and 3rd grade better than reading skills at school entry. If math skills are such an important component of academic success, and more children would rather be eating broccoli, we have a problem. This is important to Massachusetts’ long term competitiveness because today’s young children are tomorrow’s workforce, and workers who are fluent in math and other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) competencies will be more prepared and qualified to fill the jobs that our innovation economy demands.
As an employer organization, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR) is concerned about the state’s long term competitiveness and the pipeline of workers coming through the education system with the skills necessary to compete in a 21st century, global economy. Working with the Roundtable, the Patrick Administration, and Lt. Governor Tim Murray in particular, has shown tremendous leadership in focusing public policy on those very math skills that will help ensure this pipeline is producing talented workers that will drive the state’s economy into the future. Companies like Verizon, EMC, National Grid, MITRE, Raytheon, General Electric, and Comcast have taken a keen and active interest in this issue. And the state’s House of Representatives recently recommended a $1.5M appropriation to implement the state’s nationally recognized STEM agenda.
At the Department of Early Education and Care, we understand the important and powerful link between early childhood education and STEM, officially recognizing that “inquiry and exploration are foundations for math and science and are also the foundations for early learning.” Research confirms that the brain is particularly receptive to learning math and logic between the ages of 1 and 4. The link between early childhood and STEM is indisputable. Early exposure to STEM – whether it be in school, at a museum, a library, or just engaging in the natural trial and error of play – develops early critical thinking and reasoning skills and supports children’s overall academic growth.
There are no greater natural scientists and engineers than young children, inquisitive learners who learn STEM concepts through play. High-quality early learning environments provide children a structure in which to build upon their natural inclination to explore, to build, and to question. We must continue to connect these two agendas as we drive policy forward in each.
JD Chesloff is Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Chairman of the state’s Board of Early Education and Care, and Chair of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council Executive Committee.
Posted on Thu, Mar 15, 2012 @ 09:25 AM
By Connie Chow
Worldwide, merit alone has not led to gender equity in appointments in public office, business and certainly not tenure in science and engineering. Disappointingly, a recent report suggests that it will take another 40 years before 50% of tenured positions in STEM in the United States will be occupied by women. Supply and attrition are significant contributors. The degree to which personal choice, institutional practice, and societal norms are involved is disputable.
"Quota" is often a dirty word in the United States. And that puts us behind many countries, such as Rwanda, Namibia and Bangladesh – countries that have used this temporary measure to increase the number of women officials at the highest levels of government. While India still has fewer than 10% women in parliament (because of continuous opposition to legislation to reserve seats for women in the lower house), Dr. Pam Rajput of Punjab University has been instrumental in putting over a million women in local office (which does have a 33% quota), by methodically and doggedly training urban and rural women, uneducated and with higher degrees, in the last 30 years. This has resulted in significant changes in policies around education and public health, significantly improving not only the lives of girls and women, but entire communities. While a quota system (hopefully voluntarily implemented by institutions) may accelerate change for women and girls in STEM, it will not be enough.
Current efforts to broaden participation in STEM for girls and women and those from underrepresented groups at all levels, from outreach programs for K-12, research opportunities and scholarships for university students, mentoring programs for graduate students and initiatives like ADVANCE, are essential but not sufficiently far-reaching. A practical tool increasingly used by government, businesses and academia in the EU and other countries is called a gender audit, or gender sensitive budgeting.
Instead of just having a numerical target for equity, this tool encourages thoughtful review and discussion of recruitment and hiring practices, workplace or program policies, and other elements that can hinder or promote equity. Moreover, gender auditing asks for the collection of gender-disaggregated data (as well as race, class or other factors as are relevant), that helps set baseline data, identify gaps, monitor progress and test effectiveness of program changes. Recommendations are not just hortatory. Review and reallocation of the budget ensures that proper resources are provided to go the extra mile in implementing necessary policies and slowly reverse any discriminatory practices, intended or otherwise. Importantly, it is an educational tool that opens the eyes of individuals, departmental units and institutions so that women and underrepresented groups don't carry the full burden of advocating for themselves.
And this is why participation of gender-sensitive women and men in all forms of decision-making becomes important if we are to transform the ivory tower, especially for STEM. When a more diverse group of people are committed AND have the ability to direct resources to creating girl- and women-friendly policies in our society, which are at the end family-, human- and earth-friendly policies, then more people in turn can make decisions about who can do science, what engineering research is legitimate, what are appropriate applications of science, technology and engineering. Then and only then can we escape the shackles of business as usual and incremental change. Let's not let the wait be any longer.
Connie Chow is the executive director of Science Club for Girls, a MA-based nonprofit that increases confidence and literacy in STEM in girls from K-12 grades. Dr. Chow received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and was a member of the biology department at Simmons College. Dr. Chow is a women's rights advocate and expert on international human rights. She is a member of the Back Bay Chorale.
Posted on Tue, Jan 31, 2012 @ 08:30 AM
By Connie Chow
As one whose life work is to encourage girls and women, especially those from underrepresented groups to embrace science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and to pursue careers in these areas, I must admit that I do so with mixed feelings. On the one hand, these pursuits can lead to economic independence, personal fulfillment and a better world. On the other hand, I know many will have a rude awakening when they leave our nurturing environment where sisterhood and mentorship are emphasized, and enter higher education where they are likely to be discouraged by gatekeeper classes and discriminatory professors and fellow students. More than one alumnae have shared those stories.
So reading about the Educators' Equity STEM Academy gave me great hope. This NSF-supported initiative to help girls and underrepresented groups succeed in STEM studies addresses the psychological impact that subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination has on attrition. This initiative brings in the rich experience of the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation to make sure classroom environments and teacher attitudes and behavior enhance rather than hinder the learning experience and outcome for all. Infusing high school teachers and community college teachers with this training will have the effect of unclogging the STEM pipeline.
At Science Club for Girls, we work with the assumption that for most girls and those from marginalized groups, entering a STEM classroom or STEM field is equivalent to entering into a new cultural space. "Am I welcome? Do I belong? Are they expecting the same from me as everyone else? How do they expect me to behave?" Our job is to help them explore this space safely, and allow them to build an identity that encompasses their "place of origin" and this new territory. If all adults that girls encounter develop this awareness and are actively working to understand and address the stereotypes they hold personally and professionally, I will no longer be ambivalent about sending these young women to explore this exciting STEM frontier.
This blog entry was written in response to "Program aims to help girls, minorities succeed in math and science" -- an article from the Baltimore Sun on January 9, 2012 that is accessible here.
Connie Chow is the executive director of Science Club for Girls, a MA-based nonprofit that increases confidence and literacy in STEM in girls from K-12 grades. Dr. Chow received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and was a member of the biology department at Simmons College. Dr. Chow is a women's rights advocate and expert on international human rights. She is a member of the Back Bay Chorale.
Posted on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 @ 07:50 AM
Written by Barbara Joseph
One of the major challenges teachers face today is finding the time to continue their professional development. Perhaps just as challenging is convincing elementary teachers to pursue professional development in STEM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) – content areas that many are not comfortable with or have much background in.
The Wheelock College Aspire Institute, with grant funding from NASA, has addressed both of these challenges in one fell-swoop, through the launch of online STEM education professional development courses for elementary level teachers! In all, Aspire—through its STEM Education Teacher Enhancement Project (STEP)—has developed eight online courses that provide in-service elementary teachers the opportunity to improve both their math and science content knowledge and their instruction methods.
These courses are the result of collaboration between Wheelock faculty, content experts, and public elementary school teachers who helped pilot and test the courses, offering valuable feedback that was incorporated into the final product.
Wheelock will offer two courses in Spring 2012: Numbers and Operations and Teaching and Learning Elementary Science. Each three-credit graduate level course offers a balance of content knowledge, teaching theory and practical applications of classroom skills. All courses are offered completely online and on a flexible schedule over eight weeks. Students can complete weekly assignments at the learning pace that works best for them.
To learning more about these online courses or to register, please visit www.wheelock.edu/onlinecourses. Discount and whole course/cohort rates are available to schools, districts, and organizations.
For further information about the program, please contact Barbara Joseph, Project Manager, at bjoseph@wheelock.edu or 617-879-2194. For information about registration, please contact Ronette Lyle at rlyle@wheelock.edu or 617-879-2210.
STEP up your STEM education Success!
Barbara Joseph joined Aspire in December 2010 as STEP Project Manager for a NASA-funded grant. Her role is to manage the development and rollout of high-quality online math and science in-service courses to elementary teachers.
Prior to joining Aspire, she spent over 20 years of her career in high technology, specifically software localization. She has held various positions from software engineer, director of technical services, vice president of operations and most recently, project/program manager. She has a strong interest in math and has tutored elementary math in grades 1-5 and high school algebra and geometry. As an advisor to TenMarks Education, an online supplemental math program, Joseph was involved in consulting on the design and content of the program and website.
She received her BA from Boston College majoring in French, Computer Science, and minoring in Math. She also received an Entrepreneurial Management Certificate from Babson College.