On Saturday, April 11, the STEM Education Center hosted its annual STEM Education Showcase, welcoming nearly 100 PreK–12 educators, community partners, and WPI faculty, staff, and students for a full day of learning, collaboration, and connection. The turnout reflects a successful event and its continued impact.
A Padlet with slides, handouts, links, and other materials from the event was shared with attendees.
Showcase’26 featured the work of the STEM Education Center in supporting PreK-12+ educators with the latest education research-informed strategies, best practices, and resources. Partners across different disciplines and settings with similar missions took part of the event, including:
STEM Share a Thon: Attendees explored classroom-ready resources, research based tools, community programs, and hands on STEM learning opportunities from educators, organizations, and WPI partners. WPI own Erin Ottmar & Stacy Shaw (Learning Sciences & Technologies), Anita Mattson & Raul Orduna Picon (Chemistry & Biochemistry), TJ Noviello (Physics), and Brad Miller shared research-based teacher resources.
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Workshop Sessions: Interactive workshops across two sessions engaged in topics such as Fostering Effective Teamwork (Co-facilitated by WPI’s Anne Ogilvie), Supporting Multilingual Learners Through Translanguaging, AI Literacy Resources for Educators, Data Literacy in the K–5 Classroom, Authentic Family Engagement, and Lesson Plans Developed through the RET program.
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Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Poster Session: RET participants shared research projects addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, along with curriculum and lesson ideas inspired by their summer research at WPI.
Keynote Address: The day concluded with an engaging keynote, Balance, Belonging, and Becoming: Supporting Student Wellness in a Digital Age, presented by Richard Lopez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at WPI. Dr. Lopez explored how digital media and artificial intelligence shape student identity, learning, and wellbeing, and invited educators to reimagine classrooms as spaces that center balance, belonging, and whole student support.
The Showcase created space for meaningful conversation, shared learning, and relationship‑building, reinforcing the power of collaboration across classrooms, schools, and communities to advance equitable and engaging STEM education.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our campus partners whose support helped make this event a success, especially the Events Office, Facilities, ATC & ITS, and Chartwells.
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