1. Nadia Mills
  2. Assistant Professor
  3. RII Track-1: Ridge to Reef Processes and Interdependence Drivers of Small Island Resilience
  4. https://viepscor.org/#/r2r-workforce-development/
  5. University of the Virgin Islands
  1. Lawanda Cummings
  2. http://www.linkedin.com/in/lawanda-cummings-57b60411
  3. Director of STEM Education Research
  4. RII Track-1: Ridge to Reef Processes and Interdependence Drivers of Small Island Resilience
  5. https://viepscor.org/#/r2r-workforce-development/
  6. University of the Virgin Islands
Public Discussion

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  • Icon for: Lawanda Cummings

    Lawanda Cummings

    Co-Presenter
    Director of STEM Education Research
    May 9, 2022 | 03:20 p.m.

    Greetings everyone!

    We are so excited to discuss the amazing work occurring in the USVI through the Virgin Island Institute of STEM Education Research and Practice (VI-ISERP)! As part of the Workforce Development component for the Virgin Islands Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR) grant, we have leveraged partnerships with local agencies, government, foundations, and corporations to provide support to teachers during the pandemic. This video showcases the added capacity to expand our offerings in teacher PD to encompass CS education through partnerships with Subsume, Microsoft, CSTA, Code.org, and the Hines Family foundation.

    Here are some questions for discussion:

    1) What strategies are needed to develop mutually beneficial partnerships between the education and corporate sectors?

    2)  How do these offerings help align student learning outcomes to the trends in STEM workforce growth?

    3) How can these partnerships contribute to building STEM education equity and pathways for URM inclusion?

    We look forward to further discussion.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Dr. Marie Mora
  • Icon for: Jayashree Balakrishna

    Jayashree Balakrishna

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 10, 2022 | 08:21 a.m.

    Partnerships like you have with a PBL certificate program are great ideas. In our Grant we forged relationships with a nearby university for skills and. research experiences. We let students join faculty in the workshops on GIS and AUTOCAD. Having students and teachers learning together helped students forge strong bonds with faculty. 
    I think creating a certificate program would have helped us a lot, Thanks for sharing,

  • Icon for: Lawanda Cummings

    Lawanda Cummings

    Co-Presenter
    Director of STEM Education Research
    May 11, 2022 | 05:57 p.m.

    We had an undergraduate student practicum that would close the circle so students, teachers, and our researchers can work together to bolster STEM skills and knowledge. Those efforts have been put on hold for the pandemic but we are finding other ways to involved students in out technology trainings with teachers.

  • Icon for: Nancy Hopkins-Evans

    Nancy Hopkins-Evans

    Facilitator
    Senior Director
    May 11, 2022 | 12:07 p.m.

    The partnerships you have developed to support computer science learning for teachers who then can use what they have learned to improve and enhance their instruction is great.  Could you share more about the PBL certificate program such as how many teachers, researchers and university faculty are involved, what type of place based curriculum plans have been developed and how and if computer science was incorporated?  

  • Icon for: Lawanda Cummings

    Lawanda Cummings

    Co-Presenter
    Director of STEM Education Research
    May 15, 2022 | 06:16 p.m.

    Of course, Our PBL program focuses on pairing 6-12 grade teachers with one of our faculty researchers that investigate local environmental phenomena. Presently we have 3 researchers in agriculture, mangrove restoration, and coral restoration within VI-EPSCOR (viepscor.org) that work with 7 teachers to bolter content understanding and provide guidance as teachers develop Project Based Lessons. Teachers gain exposure to the research work and create the lessons in year 1. In year 2 they implement and have a facilitated field trip with the researcher for their class.  We have teachers that have used CS Ed with agricultural planning, and some that are using micro bits for the measure in coral environment stability experiments...

  • Icon for: Anna Suarez

    Anna Suarez

    Facilitator
    President
    May 11, 2022 | 11:59 p.m.

    I enjoyed learning about the PBL core in your curriculum offerings. Beyond the workshops, what contributions are your industry and education org partners making? 

  • Icon for: Lawanda Cummings

    Lawanda Cummings

    Co-Presenter
    Director of STEM Education Research
    May 15, 2022 | 06:21 p.m.

    We have been very fortunate. MIcro bit/ARM Foundation provided much-needed teaching sets of microbits and provided free training. The Jones Foundation funded personal wifi devices for teachers amidst the pandemic when we were forced to online instruction and helped us provide tablets when many of our teachers were teaching from smartphones. Our partners at GaTech have trained teachers on their campus and are hosting a camp for students.

  • Icon for: Anna Suarez

    Anna Suarez

    Facilitator
    President
    May 16, 2022 | 03:51 p.m.

    Terrific! We work with Microsoft Philanthropies providing support to nonprofits and universities receiving support from MS. What do you envision needing in terms of additional funding from NSF and potentially other agencies for your project? And how could MS support your project goals more extensively? 

    Thank you again for sharing your project and providing more project details. 

  • Icon for: Christine Royce

    Christine Royce

    Facilitator
    Professor
    May 14, 2022 | 07:26 p.m.

    The use of PBL around a local and relevant topic is a wonderful way to engage the teachers.  The topics (coral reefs, mangroves, acupuncture) seem to be rather different from each other.  Is there a specific reason that these were selected? In other words, are these topics that are ones that would make sense to bring back to the teacher's classrooms for ease of use?  Also - it looks like an amazing location from the photos.

  • Icon for: Lawanda Cummings

    Lawanda Cummings

    Co-Presenter
    Director of STEM Education Research
    May 15, 2022 | 06:27 p.m.

    These topics are a part of the resiliency research for the larger VI-EPSCoR grant (viepscor.org). Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Agriculture are also deeply tied to island life, especially after the hurricanes of 2017. The threats of food security make agriculture very important. The destruction of those storms spanned living spaces, our mangroves, and the local reef. As a community these topics connect in regards to island health and our capacity to rebuild.