January 2018 – OC STEM News & Updates
January 2018
Ecosystem Institute – November 2017
Teams gathered for their last Ecosystem Institute session of the 2017 year! The main focus of this day was Instructional Practices & Teacher Qualifications. Teams had the chance to attend various workshops that demonstrated instructional practices and strategies for teaching. All workshops were circuit-based and adapted to 5 main learning levels: High School – [...]
Ecosystem Institute – October 2017
This session's focus was workforce development, where OC STEM had the opportunity to arrange for six local businesses to host small groups to learn more about their industry. During the site visit, Ecosystem members had the opportunity to learn about the latest industry innovation, work environments and skills that are needed for employment in STEM-based [...]
Ecosystem Institute – Summer Intensive
Cohort 3 completed their Summer Intensive on July 11 - 13! Topics over the 3 days focused on model ecosystems, early learning, and expanded learning. On the first day of the Intensive, teams were asked to reflect on what their ecosystem means to them, and build a physical representation of what their ecosystem looks like "today". [...]
Ecosystem Institute: Field Trip to JPL!
OC STEM hosted another field trip day to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA for our Ecosystem Institute members on Friday, March 10th. The JPL Education Office team kindly led our Ecosystem members around the JPL campus to explore the different laboratories and building components of various projects. Members had the opportunity to get a glimpse into Mission [...]
OC STEM Ecosystem Institute News & Updates- February 2017
District teams gathered for another Institute session on Wednesday, February 8th, focusing on sustainable partnerships within their ecosystem team as well as outside of it with local businesses and more. OC STEM invited a panel of speakers to share their promising practices in cultivating sustainable partnerships. Facilitated by Cinda Muckenthaler from the Children and Families [...]
OC STEM Ecosystem Institute News & Updates- January 2017
Creating a Culture of Inquiry Around STEM Education The first session of the new 2017 year took place on Thursday, January 12 at the Orange County Department of Education, where teams reunited around the topic of Creating & Sustaining a Culture of Inquiry Around STEM Education Across [...]
OC STEM Ecosystem Institute- Welcome Back Cohort 1!
On December 6 - 7, 2016 Cohort 1 of the Ecosystem Learning Institute returned for a special 2-day professional development training led by the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES). Titled "Innovation by Design", this session focused on the Design Process that TIES uses to help teams work collaboratively and share an understanding of [...]
OC STEM Ecosystem Institute News & Updates- November 2016
The most recent OC STEM Ecosystem Institute Session for Cohort 2 took place on November 17th, and featured special guest speaker Dr. Milton Chen, Ph.D. Dr. Chen is senior fellow and executive director, emeritus at The George Lucas Educational Foundation, a non-profit operating foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area producing the award-winning Edutopia.org website [...]
OC STEM Ecosystem Institute News & Updates- October 2016
The OC STEM Ecosystem Institute teams gathered for another monthly session on October 25, 2016 for a workforce themed day featuring business site field trips, a higher education panel as well as a workforce panel. The morning kicked off with Ecosystem participants attending various business site visits. The following local businesses graciously hosted district [...]