Professional Development Grades 9-12

Professional Development Grades 9-12

STEM education is a part of the Educator Effectiveness Academies that MSDE conducts through the Race to the Top grant. These Academies allow STEM educators throughout the state receive professional development aimed at improving STEM education in elementary, middle, and high schools.

The 2011 Educator Effectiveness Academies provided educators an awareness of the necessity to prepare students to enter the national and global STEM workforce. The participants were engaged in activities focused on the why, what, and how of Maryland STEM education. Activities included an analysis of the national STEM crisis, and hands-on inquiry-based lessons that included standards matching. Participants developed and shared sample STEM lessons. Additionally, the participants discussed strategies for the development of STEM Professional Learning Communities to increase collaboration between stakeholders.

The focus of the 2012 Educator Effectiveness Academies was on the Maryland State STEM Standards of Practice, STEM frameworks, and STEM instructional guides. Participants engaged in activities that allow them to develop an understanding of how to use these documents with content standards. Additionally, participants developed and shared STEM centric lesson seeds and learned how to create a STEM centric learning environment.

Educator Effectiveness Academy Resources

• 2011 Educator Effectiveness Academy STEM
• 2012 Educator Effectiveness Academy STEM

Additional Professional Development Resources

• Recommended Strategy for Infusing STEM education into High School Instruction
• Maryland State Practices and Capacities
• Engineering Design Process
• STEMnet — Maryland Business Roundtable