Professional Development for Educators
WPI offers professional development workshops for teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, and informal educators. Attendees learn to apply a STEM collaborative and experiential approach in their classrooms, inspiring elementary, middle, and high school students to become the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs who will take our country forward.
Summer 2013 PD Offerings
Summer PD for Elementary Teachers
Summer PD for Middle School Teachers
Project Based STEM Activities and Assessments
Advanced VEX Robotics for Educators
NSF Research Experience for Teachers (RET)
Summer PD for High School Teachers
Project Based STEM Activities and Assessments
Advanced VEX Robotics for Educators
Current PD Offerings
Project Based STEM Activities and Assessments
Offered by: The STEM Education Center
Target Audience: 6-12 teachers
A new series of four meetings engages middle and high school STEM teachers in hands-on integrated STEM projects. Each meeting focuses on a different challenge that requires teachers to apply science, technology, engineering, and math in order to solve it. Participants will work in small groups to develop assessments for the projects. Upcoming meetings: May 1. Learn more...
Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science Professional Development
Offered by: The Mass Academy of Math and Science
Target audience: Middle and high school teachers
Variety of workshops on STEM teaching and learning are offered by Mass Academy teachers and staff members. Visit WPI’s Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science for details and to register.
Other/Ongoing Academic Year Opportunities
ASSISTments
Offered by: ASSISTments at WPI
Target audience: K-12 math teachers
ASSISTments is an online tutoring program that gives immediate feedback to teachers, students, school administrators, and parents. ASSISTments sas flexible content for teachers to use pre-built problem sets, edit pre-built problem sets, or build their own problem sets. Professional development opportunities are scheduled often, please visit the ASSISTments website for more information.
Program By Design
Program by Design is an innovative project for computing education that combines motivation with principles. Visit WPI’s Program by Design for details and to register.
Science Inquiry Learning Group
The Science Inquiry Learning Group focuses on developing technology-based science materials and analytic techniques to support students' learning and teachers' assessments in real time. Science ASSISTments and Inq-Its are two technology-based science programs the group has developed. Learn more about them and how to bring them into your classrooms or contact Professor Janice Gobert directly.
STEM Integration for District Leaders
Offered by: The STEM Education Center
Target audience: District leaders (superintendetrns, district administrators, principals, lead teachers)
Year II Call for Applications
WPI’s STEM Education Center offers an exclusive yearlong program, supporting teams of district leaders in developing models for STEM integration in their school districts. Teams of 3-5 district leaders engage in a series of online and on-site meetings that focus on STEM policy and practice. The program guides the teams as they develop and conduct needs assessment, develop a STEM vision, plan for evaluation methods and designate funding opportunities that will support STEM integration for their districts. Learn more...
Summer Offerings
Project Lead The Way
Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is a nationally acclaimed pre-engineering program that promotes math, science, and technology skills for middle and high school students using engineering problem-solving as a framework.
WPI hosts a two-week Summer Training Institute annually to prepare teachers before they teach any of the PLTW courses. We also certify PLTW high schools, host guidance counselor conferences, market PLTW to Massachusetts schools, and support the 26 Mass. PLTW schools. More about Project Lead The Way.
NSF Research Experiences for Teachers
Offered by: Professors Camesano and Billiar, WPI Department of Biomedical Engineering
Target audience: Middle school science teachers
NSF Research allows teachers the opportunity to work alongside faculty and graduate students, participating in high-level research projects in fields such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and infection control on biomaterials. For more information check the RET webpage, or contact the STEM Education Center, teaching@wpi.edu.
