Power of Discovery: STEM
2017-18 Program Year Data

Guest Post By Suzanne Hill
Power of Discovery: STEM Project Assistant, Instructional Services
Early Learning, Expanded Learning, and Family Support Services

Communities of Practice

  • 6 Communities of Practice Meetings
  • 75 different attendees with over attendance over 200 for the year; representing over 20 programs
  • Thanks to OC STEM, we were able to grant $3500.00 to programs to add to their STEM programming. There were four award categories with six individual recipients – who were honored for the dedication, work, and growth they have demonstrated by participating in STEM Hub activities. And three program recipients who invested in their staff and professional development.
  • Created two additional resources for use – Coaching Guide and Facilitators Guide – to be released in Fall 2018

Professional Development

  • Expanded Learning Summit at the STEM Factory – (SSEL & STEM together) – with over 25 programs attending
  • Offered Two (175 different attendees) = avg. 111 attendees
  • October – 119
  • February – 103
  • Seven STEM Trainings offered

PBL & STEM Cohort

This was a brand new idea this year! This cohort was in partnership with TGR staff! We opened up the cohort with an application process to indicate the commitment requested. We focused on 21st century skills, the ins-and-outs of project based learning (PBL) as it makes sense to expanded learning, and provided two on-site consulting visits. The members of the cohort also received materials from our lending library to help make their PBL project come to life! Three of our attendees were middle management, which allowed them to support their own staff to further their capacity across their programs. We also partnered with Inside the Outdoors to finish our year off with a service project, which was a great success for our team. We are looking forward to what next year holds for this group.

We had some great feedback from our members in regards to the capacity they felt we built in them, the confidence they felt and the changes they saw in their students! We had some great feedback from our members in regards to the capacity they felt we built in them, the confidence they felt and the changes they saw in their students!

  • 6 Training Meetings, 3 hours each
  • 14 attendees as part of the Cohort

NGSS Roll Out

We sponsored four expanded learning staff to attend the ACCELERATING INTO NGSS: Statewide Rollout where they attended a two-day intensive on NGSS. We are now in the planning phases of creating a 3 part series for Expanded Learning staff, based on what they learned through their experience.

Other

  • We also provided on-demand trainings for programs as they requested/needed STEM specific content – we trained an additional 45+ people through those trainings
  • Suzanne worked along-side the OCDE STEM Unit with their Lead STEM Practitioners project to help bridge the gap between in and out of school time. (This was part of the work with OC STEM)