Educator Resources

Primary Partner Institutions

• Queens College
• New York Institute of Technology

Grant Description

A Title IIB Math Science Partnership STEM grant from the New York State Department of Education has been awarded to District 32 in partnerships with Queens College and the New York Institute of technology (NYIT).  It includes technology, mathematics, and basic engineering/robotics professional development opportunities for teachers. In year I, the grant was extended to schools outside the district.  The purpose of this grant is to increase teachers’ content knowledge and help teachers develop best classroom teaching practices, while creating and supporting a community of life-long learners in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  The vision of this project, is to build capacity within our math, science and engineering communities that will ensure continuous and sustainable growth in learning and teaching.  The grant is designed to service lead teachers, math coaches, science clusters, classroom teachers, technology liaisons, computer teachers, staff developers, mentors, social studies teachers and clusters, librarians and all teachers at all grade levels (K-12). The STEM grant offers three alternating training tracks: GLOBE/PBL, Environmental Symposia, and Technology Integration; and a static Basic Engineering/Robotics track.   The three alternating tracks are explained below.  Participating teachers rotate through the three tracks over the course of the three-year implementation of the grant                                       Project Based Learning (PBL) with a focus on bodies of water, weather and the environment, and GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) hosted by Queens College     Environmental symposia, which studies the impact of human beings, communities and constructions on nature and the environment, as well as the impact of natural disasters on our environment             Technology infused, which fosters the development and integration of information technology and looks to bridge the digital divide by offering opportunities for teachers for teachers to deepen their knowledge of technology and to use new technologies as tools to increase content knowledge, motivate students to learn and be creative and to increase academic achievement.  Participants choose between an array of training such as office suite component training, communication and collaboration tools such as “Wiki” Blog”, “Skype”,, “Goole Apps”, presentation tools; Smart board, photo editing tools and software, interactive presentation tools; sound and publication tools and media; and Web 2.0 tools.  The Basic Engineering/Robotics track looks to increase teachers’ knowledge in these areas by making connections between the math and science curricula through hands-on applications of the Lego robotics, and engineering symposia. This track will collaborate with individuals from the community or from local industry who apply in their line of work, the concepts and skills students are learning in class.  The goal of the project is to to promote the effective use of technology, to encourage the study of science and mathematics. The presentations on robotics and the lessons on the fundamentals of engineering will scaffold over three years to increase teachers’ content knowledge and their appreciation for engineering and technology. This constructivist approach to teaching and learning helps teachers and all students, but special attention will be given to hands-on activities that are especially helpful to English Language Learners.    The project also provides opportunities for teachers to attend graduate courses at the Queens College, School of Earth and Environmental Studies.  Each year, teachers participating in this track earn three graduate credits via 45 hours of instruction and two all-day (8 hour) field activities. Participants will attend the class either in the fall or the spring. Each year they will also registered for one online course on information literacy and/or attend technology workshops or professional development sessions as described above.

Grant Activities

Summer Institutes, On-line Coursework and training, College Courses, Field Trips,  Curriculum Development, Coaching, On-site professional learning experiences, "Pull-out" professional development learining experiences,  P-Credit Courses, and Mentoring, among others.

Benefits of Participation

Over the three years of the project, teachers will deepen their content knowledge and learn how to develop technology-rich inquiry based projects that help students scaffold their understandings about the earth and its environment and see the relevance of what they are learning in school. In order to help them to transition to this new teaching environment, the project will provide the same teachers with the pedagogic knowledge and skills to draw down that improved content to enrich and extend their teaching. In order to enhance the probability that this will become part of the teachers' professional practice, the work will provide a project based framework, informed by research and enriched by cutting edge instructional technology within which teachers can first practice, then master cross-content instruction using a unifying applied science, in this case, Environmental Engineering. Teachers will use online communication and collaboration tools to share content knowledge, resources, and best practices, while deepening their own understanding of how to effectively use web 2.0 tools to provide increased opportunities for themselves and their students to interact with peers and content specialists worldwide.

Commitment Required by Participants

Each teacher is required to receive 60 hours of training per year, and participate in pre- and post-testing.