Hudson – The Central Massachusetts Alliance of Secondary Science Educators, comprised of teachers from the Hudson School District, as well as other districts in the region, recently received a $60,200 grant from the Massachusetts Mathematics and Science Partnership.
The grant supports the professional learning of science/STEM teachers in grades 5 – 12 as they explore the 2016 Massachusetts Science, Technology/Engineering standards, with specific focus on the Structure of Matter and Transfer of Energy and the scientific practice of developing and using models. This work continues the collaboration of area public school districts with their higher education partner The STEM Education Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The content of the course is aligned with the newly adopted Massachusetts Science, Technology, and Engineering standards.
“The STEM Education Center is excited to collaborate with the alliance and promote WPI’s project-based approach for teaching STEM,” said Mia Dubosarsky, director of professional development at the STEM Education Center.”
The alliance has also requested grant money from the Massachusetts Mathematics and Science Partnership for fiscal year 2017 to continue and build upon this work during the upcoming school year. Plans for future work include lesson studies, the creation of curriculum embedded assessments and online discussion boards.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to work closely with WPI and with educators from other central Massachusetts districts,” said Leslie Knight, curriculum director for secondary math and science at Hudson Public Schools. “We are working hard to align our science curriculum to the new Massachusetts standards and to push students to develop their scientific thinking skills. This course will provide our teachers with the opportunity to collaborate with educators from other districts who are doing similar work.”
