I had the pleasure of traveling to Turkey in January 2019 as the STEM Expert for an American Embassy Grant Program to provide a five-day Train the Trainer STEM Education Institute to middle school teachers. ORAV the hiring agency obtained a grant from an American Embassy Grants Program to provide a two + year project to provide sustainable STEM education to teachers and students throughout Turkey. The project was kicked off in January of 2019 when I provided an intensive five-day STEM Institute for 40 + lead trainers and administrators. During the five-day Train, the Trainer STEM Institute participants were introduced to best practices in STEM education which included inquiry-based teaching practices, developing and delivering investigative-based STEM lessons and learning experiences, 21st-century learning skills, engineering design process, journaling and connecting STEM across the disciplines. These lead trainers will provide STEM training and mentor over 250 teachers throughout Turkey over a five-month period. The 250 teachers trained will incorporate STEM learning experiences within their classrooms reaching thousands of students. I am truly grateful to have been selected to provide the foundational STEM training to the leader trainers of this project. These educators and administrators are extremely dedicated and motivated and have embraced the foundational principles of best practices in STEM education. I look forward to seeing the long-term benefits of this project on both the teachers and children of Turkey. The following video provides a sampling of the STEM learning experiences and discussions that took place during the five-day Train the Trainer STEM Institute in 2019.
Month: April 2019
Loose Parts and STEM Teacher Training Workshop
It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared summaries of my training sessions with my readers, I will try and catch up over the next couple of weeks with summaries. As always I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to share my passion and knowledge of science and STEM with educators throughout the world. It’s always nice when I am able to conduct teacher training sessions within the state of Florida, where I’m based out of. In December of 2018, I had the privilege of providing a Loose Parts and STEM training session at Forty Carrots in Sarasota, Florida. During the training, early childhood teachers were introduced to the foundational principles of the Theory of Loose Parts. The Theory of Loose Parts was developed by Simon Nicholson in 1971. Loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. The idea of ‘loose parts’ uses materials to empower a creative imagination. The more materials and individuals involved, the more ingenuity takes place. The theory of Loose Parts and foundational principles of STEM are a natural blend. Both promote exploration and creativity, are student-centered and encourage building and engineering. During the training, teachers were immersed in exploring strategies for incorporating loose parts within STEM-based learning experiences. Teachers were actively engaged in using low-cost technology tools, building structures with loose parts, exploring states of matter, exploring the senses through loose parts, and more. Additionally, teachers were introduced to STEM-based themed children’s literature. The following photos provide a glimpse of what the training entailed. For more information about Loose Parts and STEM teacher training workshops please complete the inquiry form found on the Contact Page. [envira-gallery id=”1697″]