Sinclair Community College (Dayton, Ohio) and its high school, university, and business partners are collaborating to produce a comprehensive teacher Institute that is providing professional development for high school educators. The Institute is comprised of three components that are offered annually: 1) a two-week high school teacher summer workshop; 2) a thirty-week on-line learning community, and 3) a two-week teacher externship. Teachers are integrating project-based learning, student personalization, technology utilization, and problem solving to enhance student learning and help motivate students to continue in STEM disciplines. A template is being used by teachers to create curriculum modules that align with the State of Ohio's educational standards and reform initiatives. High school teachers from nine school districts are participating in externships with business and industry partners to provide the teachers with a broader understanding of how the subject matter can integrate with students' careers. Teaching is embedded with real-life contexts using problem-solving and inquiry-based approaches that are based on best practices. The Institute model is being documented and disseminated in an electronic Guidebook to facilitate the adoption by other institutions across the nation. The project efforts/results are being disseminated via the National Center for Manufacturing Education (NCME) website, through webinars, myspace.com and twitter.com/sinclaircc.
was designed to stimulate student interest in STEM courses and careers by infusing more inquiry-based STEM learning into high school courses. To accomplish these objectives the project focused on high school teachers with the following goals at the core of the approach: increase high school teacher’s STEM content knowledge and enhance pedagogy related to inquiry-based learning experiences, involve teachers in practical applications of STEM content in the workplace, facilitate teachers’ use of a proven template for integrating real-world situations into their curriculum, and utilize technology to create a learning community among high school faculty to support teacher-initiated learning and reforms in the classroom. The Institute used three components to achieve its objectives: 1) a two-week teacher development workshop offered each summer; 2) a web-based learning community created by the Discovery Center at Miami University called iDiscovery, and 3) a one-week (25-35 hours) job shadow experience for the teachers. During the life of the project, nearly 180 high school teachers participated, representing nine of the 10 public high schools in Warren County and impacting an estimated 4600 students, or approximately 38% of high school students. Teaches developed approximately 150 model inquiry based learning (IBL) modules representing a spectrum of STEM courses that may be accessed by teachers both state and nation-wide. The project also produced a High School STEM Teacher Institute Guidebook, available both in print and on-line detailing how to duplicate the components of this project. In regard to the impact of the program on its target audiences, evaluation of the project revealed that participating teachers increased their knowledge of STEM and inquiry-based learning and their understanding of skills, standards and techniques used in inquiry/problem-based learning. The program appeared to have little effect on teachers’ frequency of use of various teaching methods, and surprisingly, there was a decrease in reported networking and sharing with colleagues. Findings from various measures suggests that teachers increased their STEM knowledge and aspects inquiry-based learning, such as having students perform experiments to confirm results or interpretations. Other aspects of IBL, which were not necessary the focus of the professional development training, appeared to be immune to change. The lesson plans (modules) developed during the Institutes are available free of charge at warrencountystem.org
