Michelle Paulsen, director of CIERA’s “Reach for the Stars” program, was invited to the #GradSciComm workshop at the National Academy of Sciences; this workshop brought together 30 science communication leaders to explore ways to incorporate science communication training into STEM graduate education.

Taking place on December 5th and 6th, this conference focused on new ways to improve the communication skills of graduate students to non-technical audiences. The NSF-funded Reach for the Stars program fits well with this goal: it helps graduate students build strong communication skills through their work with teachers in K-12 classrooms.

Six of CIERA‘s Reach for the Stars teachers and graduate fellows were in Springfield, Illinois, on Friday August 9th to run a one-day computational modeling workshop for middle and high school teachers. The group was invited to give this workshop to share the materials they have developed as part of CIERA’s NSF GK-12 program.

On May 13th, Reach for the Stars held “Computational Thinking and Mathematical Modeling”, a workshop that drew 35 middle and high school teachers and administrators from across the Chicago Public School District. This free, all-day event addressed questions such as: What are Computational Thinking and Mathematical Modeling? How are these skills utilized by university researchers? How can they be taught as part of the existing high school science and mathematics curricula? Are they already being taught?

These questions were explored by speakers from Reach for the Stars, Net Logo and CT-STEM who specialize in a variety of areas including Astronomy, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physical Science, Earth Science and Computer Science. The workshop included presentations on the role Computational Thinking and Mathematical Modeling play in the Next Generation Science Standards, and break-out sessions where participants had the opportunity to choose from an assortment of small group presentations. Attendees left with a new set of ideas and tools with-which they can more effectively teach students various math and sciences.

Michelle Paulsen (Northwestern’s Reach for the Stars Program Director) organized a three hour workshop to update Chicago-area teachers on
the new ‘Computational Thinking (CT) and Computational Modeling’ components of the Next Generation Science Standards on November 17^th.

Laura Trouille, CIERA fellow and Adler Astronomer, was one of the panelists for the discussion hour of the event. Physics graduate student and Reach for the Stars fellow Scott Mayle, along with a number of other former and current Reach for the Stars fellows, presented their CT-SEM curricular materials during the final hour.

For more information on the event, click here.

For more information on Northwestern’s Computational Thinking in STEM curricular materials and teacher professional development opportunities, click here.