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.
Tag: empowerteachers
Teachers Views on Professional Staff Development
Over 18 billion dollars in the United States alone is spent on professional staff development. Yet many teachers report that current professional staff development offerings are neither relevant nor effective. So, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contracted with the Boston Consulting Group in 2014 to reach more than 1,300 teachers, professional development leaders, principals, professional development providers, and thought leaders through a series of surveys and interviews. Read the complete findings of the study here. Professional staff development that is designed and delivered to meet the needs of the specific target audience will have long lasting positive impacts on those teachers in attendance, and the students they reach. Check out the following video with snippets from professional staff development sessions that Education Consultant, Diana Wehrell-Grabowski, PhD has conducted. Teachers attending the professional staff development sessions are engaged, empowered and inspired. When these factors come together this leads to positive learning experiences and transformations. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vAcLXmPRw0[/embedyt]