Kirstin Blase, a chemistry teacher at Villa Duchesne, spent six weeks in the lab of Michael Vahey, associate professor of biomedical engineering, developing lessons plans she can implement in her high school classroom.
Category: Supporting Educators
African American Studies Teachers Summer Institute connects high school teachers to WashU experts, resources
Washington University faculty hosted a one-week seminar designed to connect high school teachers to experts and resources in local Black history and culture.
Empowering students
WashU’s Institute for School Partnership is working with two underperforming elementary schools in St. Louis to develop creative teacher-leaders, and the results show marked improvement in student performance.
ISP math coaches support teachers in Mehlville, Ritenour, MRH
The collaborative, hands-on nature of ISP-style coaching is grounded in research confirming that mere observation followed by written feedback isn’t effective. What does work is an ongoing relationship punctuated with multiple classroom visits, in-the-moment problem-solving and meaningful follow-up that elevates a coach from an occasional drop-in guest to a trusted thought partner there for the long haul.
Building math confidence at U. City Early Childhood Education Center
Supporting high-quality math experiences for early learners is at the heart of the Math314 Early Childhood Mathematics Research Partnership, a research practice partnership launched in Fall 2021 by ISP and Julia Goldstein.
Science learning at SLPS grows with inquiry-based instruction
Outcomes of a two-year STEM learning pilot program that the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis (ISP) completed in partnership with St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) and The Little Bit Foundation are encouraging.
WashU honors two SLPS leaders
Two visionary leaders from St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) received the annual Rosa L. Parks Award from the Washington University in St. Louis Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee.
Kelvin Adams, who retired in December as SLPS superintendent, and Deidra Thomas-Murray, the district’s students in transition coordinator and foster care liaison, were honored at the 36th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16, at Graham Chapel.
STEMpact celebrates 10th cohort of teachers
With its tenth STEM TQ Cohort launched, STEMpact continues to address one of the region’s persistent challenges, an insufficient pool of STEM talent to meet the growing demand in Missouri and Illinois, where three of four fastest growing occupations are in STEM field
Sadtler Lab supports Whitfield teacher
Research from the lab of Bryce Sadtler at Washington University in St. Louis uses light to image and control energy conversion in inorganic nanostructures. This summer, Whitfield School chemistry teacher Chris Sellers traded sunscreen for PPE and an opportunity to be part of the green energy solution.
NSF outreach effort promotes thermodynamics education
Elijah Thimsen, associate professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, and educators from area school districts work together to make chemistry concepts more accessible to high school students. In May, the McKelvey School of Engineering hosted 22 students from Clayton, St. Charles and Belleville, Illinois for a daylong, hands-on lesson on thermodynamics.
mySci teachers spend summer building skills
Some 60 area teachers gathered at WashU for mySci Summer Institutes, a professional development opportunity designed for teachers new to mySci, as well as mySci veterans.
“As a teacher, there are still a lot of things I don’t know, but I don’t need to be that giant teacher who knows all,” teacher LaWesha Bush said. “mySci takes away a lot of that stress, and it’s great for engaging not only students, but teachers. I appreciate that.”
New partnership empowers principals to ‘dream big’
The principals at seven local schools are poised to achieve big goals after participating in the SLPS Principal Redesign Fellowship, a bold new partnership between St. Louis Public Schools and the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis.
Nine local teachers selected for Summer Teacher-Researcher Partnership
mmer Teacher-Researcher Partnership, an innovative initiative from the Institute for School Partnership. The teachers will work in university labs, where they will participate in faculty research and develop lessons for their classrooms.
Champion for equitable education, May honored with Ethic of Service Award
Victoria May, executive director of the Institute for School Partnership, works with local educators to create high-quality, equitable education for all students. Last week, May was among seven members of the university community honored with a Virgil Ethic of Service Award.
Creating time and space for collaborative school change
Classmates at Ritenour Middle School have been testing their tolerance for struggle during math classes led by a teacher who is presenting math concepts with a high-level task approach that gives students a newfound ownership of their learning and an invitation to reach the right answer with thinking that makes sense to them.
Improving math confidence and outcomes with district-wide immersion
Spearheaded by the Institute for School Partnership (ISP), the STEMpact District Immersion project is energizing math teaching teams in the Ritenour, Mehlville and Maplewood Richmond Heights School Districts.
Deepening math learning with 1:1 teacher coaching
The Math Coaching pilot provides ISP an opportunity to connect more deeply with teachers beyond the traditional professional development model. The feedback thus far has been a thumbs-up from teachers, who demonstrate a will to power through despite COVID-19.
Mud pies, math and mess with meaning
Early childhood math skills are important predictors of later academic achievement, but opportunities for young children to engage in math learning are extremely limited in preschool.
With support from the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis (ISP), the JGECEC teaching team is making sure their new mud kitchen and curriculum throughout the building are planned with early math learning in mind.
Chalker Lab and ISP use Tetrahymena to expand hands-on science in K-12 classrooms
Douglas Chalker, professor of biology, received a collaborative award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the ASSET program, which incorporates Tetrahymena, a ciliated protozoan, into elementary science. Chalker, in collaboration with the Institute for School Partnership (ISP), plans to expand the program’s reach in St. Louis and incorporate more mathematics and computational thinking into program’s hands-on lessons.
WashU faculty, ISP staff develop science courses for Ritenour
Instructional specialists with WashU’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) and Michael Wysession, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and an expert on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), partnered with middle and high school Earth and Space Science teachers from Ritenour School District to design and develop new science courses.