The STEM Education Center was designated an OpenSciEd Certified Professional Learning Provider, a title held by only 20 institutions in the United States.
OpenSciEd is an open source, research based, science curriculum, that is independently evaluated and considered to be high quality instructional materials. The curriculum positions students at the center of science learning, empowering them to figure out scientific phenomena and solve real world problems; thus bringing greater equity to the teaching and learning of science. Massachusetts is a Partner State to OpenSciEd, and the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) helps coordinate the piloting of the curriculum in different classrooms across the State as well as the grant funding for teacher professional development.
The STEM Education Center at WPI, highly rated by educators for its engaging STEM professional development programs, will put its own twist on the OpenSciEd transformative curriculum training by adding modules on the process of sense-making and engineering.
The Center’s in-service teacher educators, Donna Taylor and Mia Dubosarsky, hope that the OpenSciEd designation will enhance the Center’s visibility and increase the number of teachers served by the Center. Currently, the STEM Education Center serves about 800 PreK-12 educators every year. You can learn more about the STEM Education Center’s work to support PreK-12 educators on this webpage.
