25 NC and SC educators named STEM Fellows

CHARLOTTE – Discovery Place Education Studio has announced the 2015 cohort of its flagship program STEM Fellows, a three-year fellowship that prepares local teachers for dynamic, hands-on learning experiences in order to deliver high-impact STEM lessons in the classroom that prepare students for real world challenges.

With over 70 applications received, 26 educators from North and South Carolina, including one from Wake County and seven from Charlotte, were selected for the 2015 STEM Fellows cohort.

“STEM Fellows is not only about increasing STEM content in the classroom, but more importantly about learning how to engage students in impactful, meaningful conversations that are relevant in our everyday lives,” said Discovery Place Education Studio Director, Stephanie Hathaway.

“There is an urgent need both locally and nationally to support teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Our goal is to equip them with the right tools, technology and confidence that they need to broaden inquiry-based STEM education.”

Flagship offering

STEM Fellows is the flagship offering of Discovery Place Education Studio and is designed to give teachers and educators skills and tools that can be adapted to meet the needs of their own classrooms. Over the three-year program, participants will move from learning about STEM content and science education to becoming community problem solvers and engaging in action-based research in their own classrooms.

STEM Fellows will begin their first year engaging in immersive experiences that focus on supporting growth in pedagogy, before moving into field experiences with STEM-based partners and completing a high level research project.

The 2015 Fellows join a network of Discovery Place’s previous Fellows from the past five years. STEM Fellows participation is by application only. To qualify, applicants must be full-time educators employed in North Carolina or South Carolina public, private, parochial or charter schools. School or district-level facilitators working with STEM educators and employees of informal education institutions (e.g. museums, zoos) are also encouraged to apply.