STEMulating Schools
STEM skills—including attributes like critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork—are truly life skills. The new Greeley-Evans K-12 science framework at our partner site in Greeley, Colo. focuses on cross-curricular, project-based learning that encourages students to incorporate STEM learning not only in their academics, but also in their daily lives. By investing in programs like these and supporting local educators, the NEA Foundation helps to advance equitable learning opportunities for students in STEM sectors in Greeley and beyond.
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Part of the Greeley framework calls for greater interface between students and STEM professionals in their community. Pictured above, second graders at Billie Martinez Elementary School were recently privy to a visit by Telemundo meteorologist Niurma Sanchez.
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Last week, the NEA Foundation team visited Greeley to attend their first student-led STEM symposium. The symposium was a fun, interactive, community event to discover stimulating, high-quality STEM learning. Students across grade levels spoke about the importance of STEM and demonstrated what they've learned. Check out the video below to see them in action!
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And, if you aren’t already following us on Facebook, you’ll want to visit our page to check out photos and other news from the event.
Meanwhile, educators in the NEA Foundation STEM partner site in Hamilton County are providing elementary teachers with lessons and materials that encourage inquiry-based, hands-on learning in their classrooms. It’s a program they call Science Sparks! We spent time with a group of fourth graders who were more than happy to share their knowledge about Chinese water deer, sarcastic fringeheads, and lowland streaked tenrecs, which, if you didn’t know (and we didn’t), are all creatures that actually exist.
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Collaborative learning is a key element of Hamilton County’s Science Sparks! program. Here, fourth grade students ponder the evolutionary advantages of certain animals’ appearances.
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STEM Grants
The NEA Foundation funds a variety of grants to educators, but lately we've been blown away by the high level of interest in STEM grants. Of the 74 grants we’ve awarded in the last two rounds, 39 have incorporated STEM. From coding to creating school makerspaces, to instruction in robotics, to addressing Next Generation Science Standards, to school farming, our grantees are engaging their students in new ways and encouraging analytical thinking and problem solving skills that will help them academically and beyond.
Meet STEM grantee Carrie Ziolkowski, a first to fifth grade teacher at Hazelwood School District’s Galactic Gifted Program in Florissant, Mo. Carrie used her grant to make STEM learning come to life by purchasing uber cool LEGO WeDo 2.0 kits for her students. With the LEGO kits, she introduced her students to the world of engineering through tinkering and exploration. Her students are having fun and gaining valuable experience in coding and programming! Here’s what she had to say about her project and its impact.
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Interested in receiving an NEA Foundation grant to support student learning or teacher leadership? Check out our student achievement grants and our learning and leadership grants. The next deadline to apply is June 1st!
Interested in supporting STEM education? Donate to the NEA Foundation and help support educators like Carrie.
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Laboratories of Learning
In our ongoing effort to share educator knowledge, we’ve just launched a new series, Laboratories of Learning, featuring stories from the educators we support. We hope you received it in your inbox! If you didn't have a chance to read it, you can find it here. This month, we featured six of our 2018 Awards for Teaching Excellence recipients, who also teach (you guessed it!) STEM.
Speaking of our awardees, we can’t get enough of our top awardee, Bobby Cavnar. Listen to his interview on NPR, and read about how he embraced the arts as a student and a teacher.
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Celebrating Leadership in Global Education
While we've had tons of awesome STEM news to share in the past few months, it isn't the only field being celebrated.
In March, the NEA Foundation was proud to participate in Global Leadership Week (March 19 – 23). Global Leadership Week is a week of virtual and in-person events designed to elevate and broaden the global education dialogue, and bring attention to the urgent need to develop global awareness and competency in students and teachers.
On March 22 nd, the NEA Foundation co-hosted the #GlobalEdChat on Twitter. The topic of the chat was “Global Leadership," and included key questions and insights from a variety of voices in education. If you missed out on the conversation, don’t worry! There is a transcript available of the chat, along with links to all of the resources that were shared.
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National School Breakfast Week
March was also the time we celebrated National School Breakfast Week. This year’s theme, “I Heart School Breakfast,” focused on the health and learning benefits associated with eating school breakfast and the individuals who make breakfast happen every day. As part of the week-long celebration, districts funded by the NEA Foundation and Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom hosted media events and touted the increased collaboration in their district to ensure every student starts the day ready to learn.
Interested in bringing breakfast to your classroom? Check out 100 Books to Read Over Breakfast. All of the books on the list can be used to supplement instruction and promote a healthy understanding of nutrition.
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Shout out to AT&T
This month, we’re proud to recognize AT&T for their commitment to ensuring all students have the opportunity to explore high-quality STEM learning experiences. Our partnership with AT&T is helping to support the CT STEM Academy, an out-of-school-time program in Connecticut focused on creating new hands-on STEM learning opportunities. Thank you, AT&T!
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If you're interested in supporting education initiatives like the ones you've just read about, we hope you'll consider donating to the NEA Foundation and help give every student a great public education.
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