Professional Development for Educators

Innovative programs for professional development are available for teachers and leaders in education.

Teacher Workshops

WPI offers professional development workshops for teachers, administrators, and guidance counselors. Attendees learn to apply a 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.

NSF Research Experiences for 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. Contact the STEM Education Center for details, teaching@wpi.edu.

Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science

This one-year program of visiting scholars is for teachers seeking enrichment. Periodic workshops on teaching and learning are also offered. Visit WPI’s Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science for details and to register.

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.

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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.

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Summer Robotics Institute for Educators

The STEM Education Center currently explores the interest among educators for joining a summer program that weaves together robotics content and practice with STEM pedagogy. Read here about the proposed programs and email Mia Dubosarsky to express interest.  

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STEM Integration program for district leaders

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. The application process for the 2012-2013 school year is now closed. Please check again for application deadline for the 2013-2014 school year.

• Who should apply? Teams of 3-5 district leaders (superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, STEM specialists, curriculum coordinators).

Please email Mia Dubosarsky for an application form. 

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NASA Centennial Challenge, STEM Professional Development

Worcester Polytechnic Institute will host the first NASA Sample Return Robot Challenge on June 16-19, 2012. This is the first time that one of NASA Centennial Challenges is held on the East Coast. In honor of this event, the WPI STEM Education Center has developed a free professional development program for STEM educators. The first meeting of the program was conducted on April 18, and focused on problem solving activities related to the NASA challenge. Some of the participating teachers will earn the unique opportunity to bring their students to the WPI campus on Friday, June 15, and meet with the participating teams one day before the big challenge. 

The program had a special presentaion given by Marie Gleason Tada, an Einstein Fellow educator at NASA Headquarters, in which she described her life as an Einstein Fellow and shared some of the great educational support NASA provides to STEM educators.