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Havre de Grace Elementary teacher named scholarship recipient
Congratulations to Alison Baranowski of Havre de Grace Elementary School for having been selected in a competitive process to receive a professional development scholarship from the award-winning STEM curriculum Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®), a project of the Museum of Science, Boston.  This award includes tuition and travel to attend an EiE professional development workshop at the Museum of Science, Boston and a complete set of EiE curriculum materials.

The following press release was distributed by the Museum of Science:

The Museum of Science, Boston has selected 100 elementary teachers from 24 states to receive scholarships under a new program designed to bring high-quality professional development (PD) in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to teachers at high-needs schools nationwide. The scholarship program will help teachers integrate engineering in their classrooms, using the award-winning Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®) curriculum developed at the Museum's National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®).

The $200,000 scholarship program, which receives no outside funding from corporate, foundation, or government funders, embodies the NCTL mission to introduce engineering and technological literacy in schools and lifelong learning centers nationwide. Although many states have recently implemented new academic standards that put unprecedented emphasis on the "E" in STEM, engineering is a new subject for many elementary teachers, and most say they don’t feel well prepared to teach it.

"We are excited to offer elementary educators from Massachusetts to California the Museum's own scholarship program," says Museum president and director Ioannis Miaoulis. "It will build on the impact of successful corporate-funded EiE scholarship programs, such as one established by Raytheon, and greatly enhance our ability to foster enthusiastic teachers able to spark student interest in engineering."

"We launched the Engineering is Elementary program in 2003 with the express goal of supporting high-quality engineering education for all students—not just a chosen few—and starting at an early age," says EiE director and Museum vice president Christine Cunningham. "One way we do this is through our research-based curriculum; another way is through our professional development programs, designed to give teachers the subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical framework they need to be successful teaching engineering. By funding scholarships for teachers, we advance our mission to reach children who are underserved or traditionally underrepresented in STEM.”

Each scholarship recipient will receive a complete classroom set of EiE curriculum materials plus tuition and travel support to attend a two-day, hands-on teacher PD workshop at the Museum in Boston this spring or summer. "We offer workshops on an ongoing basis, so scholarship recipients can choose the training that best fits their schedule," says EiE scholarship coordinator Chantal Balesdent.

Because past EiE scholarship programs have primarily supported educators in high-needs urban school districts, some of the new scholarships were awarded to teachers in rural districts. "It can be especially challenging for teachers in rural districts to access high-quality professional development," says Cunningham. Another set of scholarships were awarded to teachers whose classes include a high proportion of English Language Learners—a growing population in U.S. schools.

EiE is the nation's most widely used engineering curriculum for students in grades 1 – 5; it has reached schools in all 50 states including statewide in Delaware, district wide in locations including Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Minneapolis, and in military schools under DoDEA. To date, EiE has reached more than 9 million students.

See more at: http://www.eie.org/news/museum-science-boston-selects-elementary-teachers-200k-stem-scholarship-program#sthash.BGIZ5WDS.dpuf