Two years later, partnership with UMBC, National Science Foundation keeps attention focused on learning - 1/31/2007

A BCPS teacher prepares to launch a water bottle rocket during the fall STEM seminar

There were rockets and algorithms, schoolyard “habitats” and high-tech geographic mapping. There were teachers and students studying and puzzling over the latest classroom applications of concepts related to physics and algebra and engineering and all things scientific and mathematical.  

But most of all, there was a lot of learning on display at the countywide STEM Fall Seminar on December 1 in Timonium. More than 150 educators, parents, and students took part in a two-day seminar to celebrate and continue to enhance the countywide partnership between BCPS and the University of Maryland Baltimore County known as STEM, for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

The conference focused on the eight Baltimore County schools currently involved in the $13 million STEM project and gave students a chance to showcase projects and demonstrate lessons learned – many of them high-tech and high-level. The schools involved are Woodlawn High School, and the four elementary schools – Dogwood, Hebbville, Featherbed Lane, and Milbrook – and three middle schools – Southwest Academy, Windsor Mill, and Woodlawn that feed into Woodlawn High.

Teachers participated in many activities and hands-on teaching strategies during the two-day STEM conference

The conference also was a chance for the school system to reflect on the successes of STEM and consider how to enhance the program for the future. Led off by keynote addresses from BCPS Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston and UMBC President Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, conference attendees went on to participate in workshops that examined aspects of STEM instruction, including geometric thinking, applications of algebra, and physics instruction.

During the STEM seminar, teachers used water bottle rockets to learn about creative ways to teach propulsion and other physics

With funding from the National Science Foundation, the BCPS-UMBC STEM program is designed to support enhanced teaching and learning through intensive teacher recruitment, professional development, and teacher education. The project started in January 2005 and is based on a 2002 BCPS partnership with UMBC. The current STEM project has been extended through December 2008.

The conference participants had plenty to celebrate in the two years since Baltimore County Public Schools began the STEM project. In the 2005-06 school year, the project graduated 26 interns who are now STEM teachers in area schools – most of them working within STEM academies focusing on student achievement and community involvement. In addition, more than 500 teachers participated in seminars, summer institutes, or courses through the STEM program.

Conducting science presentations was part of the fall STEM seminar in early December

Placing graduate students as teacher interns is a key element of the STEM program, and this year, 16 UMBC graduate students are in participating STEM schools for the academic year. As they undergo an intensive student teaching experience, they will be completing Masters of Art degrees, with the goal being for BCPS to retain these interns as teachers in the school where they complete their degrees.

During the conference, participants got a chance to see the fruits of the project as well through an “Academy Gallery Walk,” student presentations, and other highlights of the program.

And, of course, they got a glimpse of the future of science and math instruction – and of student achievement – in Baltimore County Public Schools.

Story by Charles Herndon, communications specialist for BCPS.