Now in its fourth year, Camp EAGER continued to expand its reach this summer. An experimental summer camp developed by researchers at the William & Mary School of Education, it explores innovative ways to encourage more students from underrepresented groups to pursue STEM careers.
An experimental summer camp developed by researchers at the William & Mary School of Education, now in its second year, is exploring innovative ways to encourage more students from underrepresented groups, primarily girls and youth of color, to pursue STEM careers. Camp EAGER, directed by Meredith Kier, associate professor of science education; Lindy Johnson, associate professor of English education; and Janise Parker, assistant professor of school psychology, aims to Elevate engineering, Advance innovation, Guide Learning, Effect change, and Remove barriers for all.
Thanks to a grant from the Dean's Innovation Fund, established in 2020 through a gift from the Jennings family, middle-schools students from Newport News Public Schools gathered on the W&M campus for a week-long camp to explore engineering design challenges. The camp is designed to inspire an interest in the STEM fields among students from underrepresented backgrounds and prepare them to work collaboratively and communicate effectively.
EAGER Project Spotlight: Brandie & Esther
We are back in Lancaster County to continue our partnership for deeper learning. Selected teacher leaders from grades K-8 worked with us to create a cohesive district scope and sequence guide and unit resources in English Language Arts and Math, with opportunities for deeper learning and project-based instruction.
CILD co-director Dr. Meredith Kier was awarded a $300,000 Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design and develop a novel research-practitioner partnership between Newport News Public School teachers, undergraduate engineering fellows from the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and undergraduate students from William & Mary.
In an average school year, students spend about 1,260 hours in school. When we step back and consider it, all this time is spent in an environment in which they have little influence on their day-to-day experiences and conditions.
Wow, it’s been quiet around here on the CILD blog – not because we haven’t been busy, though. Reimagining teaching and learning with collaborators from across Virginia is busy work! We thought you might like to have an update on some of the work we’re undertaking, and get a sneak peek into a new project we’re launching.
Thinking back to my high school history teaching days, I don’t remember the final quarter of the year too fondly. Mostly, images of test prepping, crowd control, and glazed over eyes comes to mind. I remember distinctly thinking that I just needed to make it to the end of the year, then I’d have the opportunity to start fresh the following year.
Many seasoned teachers know that the first year teaching can seem like a struggle to just survive each new day in the classroom. There is a steep learning curve and the work is seemingly endless. As a new teacher in the English classroom, Jackie Chisam admits that it would have been easy to fall into the trap of taking a more traditional teacher-directed approach to teaching English: read a novel, write about it, take a test on it…wash, rinse, repeat.
Guest post by Shelly Cihak, Ed.D. – Shelly is the principal at Poquoson High School, where the emphasis is engaging all students to help realize their post-secondary goals. Follow her learning adventures on Twitter @ShellyCihak.
Today the Shadow a Student Challenge kicks off. This nationwide effort developed by School Retool, IDEO, and the Stanford d.school encourages educators to develop empathy for students by shadowing them for an entire day.
If noise level and body language are “uncommon measures” of engagement, educators beginning the Pathways to Deeper Learning (PDL) Fellowship hosted by the Center for Innovation in Learning Design were definitely engaged.
Look around at a typical PD session and you’ll often see laptops out with Facebook up, the guy working on his grocery list, and the blank, comatose stare that comes from (far) too many PowerPoint slides.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Gene Roche as our newest faculty fellow! Dr. Roche is a faculty member in the School of Education specializing in adult learning.
Sixteen juniors and seniors investigating a skeleton in the woods are enrolled in the second of two semester-long elective course, Forensics: Crime Scene Analysis, taught by Sharon Kreamer. Students come in with a range of experience in science and math, but in the 90 minute block class that meets every other day, they engage in hands-on, authentic applications of the science and math embedded in the course.
In A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning, Michael Fullan and Maria Langworthy discuss the evolving relationships among students, teachers, technology, curricula, school cultures, and assessment in the context of the three forces they name as driving educational transformation — “new pedagogies, new change leadership, and new system economics.”
What happens when you send a premier PBL expert some novice lesson plans and ask for advice? He gets up at zero-dark-thirty his time, 2,000 miles away, to chat with you about the craft. Pretty cool, I’d say.
At some level, we all recognize the need to change what students experience in K-12 and in higher ed. In K-12 there is a clear need to increase engagement and authenticity to move beyond testing and basic skills to focus on deeper learning.
We are excited to introduce Dr. Pamela Eddy as a CILD faculty fellow! Please join with us on congratulating Dr. Eddy on her new appointment.
As we begin a new semester at CILD, we wanted to share with you a special interview with Dr. Pedro Noguera, Director for the Study of School Transformation at UCLA.
Earlier this year we had the opportunity to talk to Sarah Lilly about some of the innovating teaching practice that she is a part of over at Albemarle High School.
November is Take Your Legislator to School Month in Virginia. Warhill High School, in Williamsburg, VA invited local government officials to school on November 4, 2016 to showcase the Pathways Program.
The excitement in the room was palpable. Bits of tape, string, and even remnants of raw spaghetti were strewn on the floor. There was the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. This wasn’t a sporting event. It was professional development for principals.
Freshman year of high school is a magical and exciting time for students. For the students of Warhill’s Project Pathways, freshman year of high school would not only represent a new phase in their lives, but also a brand new curriculum, full of innovation and fresh ideas.
We are excited to announce Dr. Jason Chen as CILD’s first faculty fellow! Please join with us on congratulating Dr. Chen on his new appointment.
The Warhill High School commons is abuzz with the chatter of 100 excited fourteen year-olds, nervously clumped around tables, ready to embark on their first experience as freshmen in this new program.
Last April, we held a screening of the documentary, Most Likely to Succeed at the School of Education. The opening scene of the film features a parent-teacher conference with a fourth grade student, Scout.
Our innovation spotlight today highlights Elizabeth DeBoeser, former student teacher at Hornsby Middle School. DeBoeser implemented game-based learning, the practice of transforming educational material into playable games, in her 6th grade English class.
