Sessions Strands

The U.S. defense and homeland security industries face challenges in filling critical technical jobs. This country is not producing enough graduates trained in STEM fields, which presents a serious risk for national security over the next decade as Baby Boomers retire. The problem must be addressed on the local level, arming educators, administrators, state policy makers, and business and community leaders with the tools they need to motivate students into STEM careers.

Session Presenters

The Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics (PRISM) is a five-year National Science Foundation Math and Science Partnership Program grant to increase science and mathematics achievement for K-12 students in Georgia. Presenters will describe how the various partners build on their strengths to achieve the PRISM goals. Self-assessment strategies to monitor partnership progress are described and key principles for success will be shared.

Session Presenters

This presentation describes a partnership between higher education and public schools to improve the achievement of elementary students in Math and Science. PRISM Satellite funds were leveraged to support the work of a Math Science Partnership for professional development of elementary math and science teachers. Teachers participated in summer professional development in math and science education, followed by intensive support throughout the school year to implement research based strategies to positively impact learning in STEM.

Session Presenters

Loyola University Chicago's Center for Science and Mathematics Education has partnered with the Chicago Public Schools on an ever-growing number of programs for over five years. An important key is the ability of both institutions to be flexible enough in the development of programs so that they can utilize each others strengths. A self-reflective school district that clearly articulates its needs and a university that provides a comprehensive commitment are needed components of the system.

Session Presenters

As educators, teachers are often bound to the classroom, unable to experience first-hand the effects and applications of new technology and innovative ideas. The Georgia Intern-Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) offers teachers the opportunity for exciting summer work experiences in state of the art laboratories rich in applications of mathematics, science and technology. Teachers experience new technologies first hand, work on the leading edge of research, applied science, mathematics, and computing, are immersed in "real world” inquiry, problem-solving, and reasoning. This session will highlight many aspects of this program.

Session Presenters

Partnerships between K-12 schools and higher education are highly prized by policy makers but challenging to sustain. This study analyzes factors affecting the National Science Math Science Partnerships with a role of STEM faculty. Presenters will share findings about factors that have motivated or impeded the success of these partnerships during and after the formal funding period and offer recommendations for enhancing and sustaining partnerships at the policy and implementation level.

Session Presenters

Under the Advanced Academy for Future Teachers (AAFT) program, we collaborated to design a program for high school students who had an interest in a teaching career in the area of Mathematics. The course materials provided the high school student with the opportunity to find out what it means to be a mathematics teacher through the many lessons, activities and projects. The design of the program and a description of student activities will be presented.

Session Presenters

This panel presentation will provide a brief history of the RESA Collaborative including lessons learned and challenges faced. It will also engage the audience in a discussion about building and maintaining a similar collaborative in other states/regions.

Session Presenters

FOCUS (Fostering Our Community's Understanding of Science) is a partnership between the University of Georgia and local school districts that connects UGA students with elementary teachers to enhance the teaching of science in grades K-5. The presentation consists of three part: 1) program description and partnership evolution, 2) program evaluation with attention to lasting effects of FOCUS, and 3) research on how university students, faculty, and classroom teachers interact to negotiate Project FOCUS curricula.

Session Presenters

AP teachers are often the only ones in their respective schools teaching College Board's challenging college-level courses in their content area.  The Northeast Georgia PRISM AP Calculus and AP Statistics Learning Communities have provided teachers collaboration in place of isolation, and the results have been remarkable. Strategies used to organize these teams will be shared as well as the evidence of their success.

Session Presenters

This presentation will focus on several of the professional learning communities in the Oconee County School System in Georgia and review the efforts made within the county to sustaining those learning communities. Successful accomplishments will be emphasized, as well as the challenges and lessons learned. The teachers involved in these learning communities will talk about how their work within the learning communities impacted student learning and pose questions that were faced by their groups.

Session Presenters

Aptly titled, "Science Comes Alive” this theme emanated from highly motivated elementary teachers (representing five elementary schools from the Gynn County Public School System in Brunswick, Georgia) who participated in the project. This much-anticipated undertaking was the outgrowth of a strong collaboration with faculty members from Armstrong Atlantic State University and Coastal Georgia Community College. The project was designed to produce a fourth grade ecosystems unit that specifically targeted student deficiencies in two areas: life sciences and inquiry/problem solving. Qualitative and quantitative feedback from students and teachers, in addition to an analysis of test scores, will be shared with the group.

Session Presenters

This panel presentation will provide a view of the changes taking place in Georgia's curriculum in science, mathematics and career and technology areas since 2004. Additionally, panelists will discuss how these changes are increasing students' readiness to enter post-secondary education and the work force.

Session Presenters

The presentation will describe the design, implementation and evaluation of two one-week Summer Institutes (one in Mathematics, Grades 4-8; the other in Science, Grades 4-8). Collaboration among Dalton State College Arts and Science and Education faculty and public school partners formed Design Teams to develop the Institutes. Curricula designed to enhance the quality of science and mathematics instruction and to meet the GPS enabling teachers to increase student achievement will be described. Lessons learned, summary of collected data and impact on student learning, as described by teacher participants will be presented.

Session Presenters

Transformation 2013, a Texas STEM Center, offers research based, relevant, and real world professional development to pre-service and in-service educators. Developed with industry, higher education and community partners, Transformation 2013 provides educators with content, tools, and activities to excite, inspire, motivate, and encourage all students in science and math using technology and engineering design principles to innovate and design. Experience a sampling of Transformation 2013's offerings and lessons learned.

Session Presenters