STEM Integration

In a new policy piece, biology faculty advocate for new classroom approaches to fix the national exodus of students from STEM fields. All across the United States, half of the college students who plan to major in STEM switch fields. And Black and Latinx students leave STEM at a higher rate than their white peers. […]

Science teacher Jaime Schneider has earned a reputation for herself. Students come to her class expecting something phenomenal, and she’s happy to deliver. Where else in the building can a seventh grader get a chance to set methane bubbles on fire or generate mystic-looking fog with dry ice and a bucket? “I always start with […]

“Science is something we do.” For longtime high school science teacher David Ganey, the key to engaging students in a deeper understanding of science in the real world lies in focusing on what they can see, touch and feel. “What exactly does an environmental scientist do?” he asks. “You can tell students about it, or […]

Mistakes are easy to make, and often hard to accept, but sixth grader Valeria Rodriguez is getting more comfortable knowing she’s not always going to have the right answer. “When I was younger, making mistakes made me a little anxious because I thought I did something wrong,” says Valeria. “But now I know that if […]

PHOTO: Victoria May, executive director of the Institute for School Partnership, is a 2022 recipient of the Virgil Ethic of Service Award. May leads Institute for School Partnership, leader in STEM education and teacher development You may not know her name, but the superintendent of your child’s school district certainly does.  For decades, Victoria May, […]

Rachel Ruggirello, associate director of the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis, is the 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Administrative Support Award by the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA). The award is given annually to honor one educator who is working outside the classroom at school, district and city/county levels […]

Successful completion of algebra 1 is the gatekeeper to higher-level math and is required for virtually any education beyond high school. That makes math education an equity issue. A  2019 article in the Journal for Research and Mathematics Education states, “It’s well documented that Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented in eighth-grade algebra courses. As […]

Last summer, four organizations came together to launch a new program in 17 St. Louis Public elementary schools. The Institute for School Partnership (ISP), The Little Bit Foundation (TLBF), and St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), with funding from the Bayer Fund, developed a pilot program to increase capacity for STEM teaching and learning in SLPS. […]

Kids learn by doing. So what does that mean for science instruction in the age of Covid-19, when many schools are closed and children are learning from home? It’s embracing the uncertainties, shifting mindsets and expectations, and finding a new learning landscape. The shift to at-home learning should not mean skipping core content. While disruptive, the […]

St. Louis algebra teacher Josh Humphrey has 45 minutes to deliver his lesson on geometric sequences to his ninth-grade class — what they are, why they matter and how they differ from their mathematical cousin, the arithmetic sequence.