Stagnant scores, frustrated students, daunted educators — such is the state of math education across the nation and in the region. That’s why the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis is introducing Math314, an innovative program that will improve math instruction and boost students’ enthusiasm for the subject.
High school students need computer science skills, but who will teach them? The Institute for School Partnership is addressing Missouri’s desperate shortage of computer science educators through the Code.org professional learning program, which prepares educators with no coding experience to lead computer science classes. The need is urgent: only one-third of Missouri high schools offer computer science.
From the playground to the pool to the ballpark, science is all around us. Through its Everyday MySci activities, the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis helps parents nurture their child’s natural sense of curiosity, wonder and discovery.
Several schools in the St. Louis Public Schools district are piloting a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum and teacher training program called mySci Do. It’s modeled on mySci’s distribution protocol and was designed to apply those methods to technology education. mySci Do is funded by a grant from the Monsanto Fund, and developed by the ISP, Maryville University School of Education, The Little Bit Foundation and The Disruption Department.
A life-size cutout of Charles Darwin stands in the corner. Next to him are party hats and a selfie stick. His face adorns a birthday cake that’s wheeled out to much excitement. Numbers are read and fossils are raffled off. Attendees sport buttons that read “I love evolution” and “Team Darwin.”
This isn’t your ordinary Saturday morning professional development day. This is the Institute for School Partnership’s sixth annual Darwin Day celebration.
The university’s Institute for School Partnership led an Hour of Code activity recently for elementary school students in University City. The activity was designed to help kids have fun with both computer programming and science.
Twelve years after its launch, the innovative MySci curriculum program developed by Washington University’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) and local teacher leaders is seeing incredible growth, doubling in size two years in a row. This school year, St. Louis Public Schools will introduce MySci in all of its 45 elementary schools.
About 500 seventh-grade girls from across the state visited Washington University in St. Louis to learn about careers in STEM. Barbara Schaal, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, told students that STEM careers are as diverse as they are rewarding: “What STEM education does is give you a cafeteria of options and opportunities.”
Pattonville School District elementary students — at every grade level and of every ability — made statistically significant gains in science after completing the innovative MySci curriculum developed by the Institute for School Partnership (ISP) at Washington University in St. Louis. The data confirm what ISP Executive Director Victoria May has observed for years in MySci classrooms across the region — hands-on inquiry paired with teacher development and smart assessment tools can boost student success.
Karis Jackson of the Hazelwood School District was named the 2016 Outstanding Middle School Educator by the Science Teachers of Missouri. Jackson is curriculum writer for the Institute for School Partnership’ MySci program, which engagrd students in STEM through interactive learning experiences.
University City High School students visited Washington University as a community extension of Washington University’s Freshman First Year Reading Program. The K-12 Connections program has provided the free books and campus experiences to high school groups for many years.
St. Louis’ leading employers, school districts and Washington University’s Institute for School Partnership have united to form STEMpact, an organization dedicated to improving improve science, technology, engineering and math education when it matters most — elementary school.