A day of science at MCLA

NORTH ADAMS – Two major science-related events will be held at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) this Saturday (April 27).

The Massachusetts Region I Middle School Science and Engineering Fair will be held from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m in the Amsler Campus Center gymnasium.

More than 200 students and 14 middle schools from western Massachusetts will participate in the fair, which will feature a keynote speech from Yvonne Spicer, vice president of Advocacy and Educational Partnerships at the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Museum of Science in Boston.

The topic of Dr. Spicer’s address is “Charting Your Future and Navigating STEM.” (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.) She is a national and international speaker and advocate for pre-college STEM education. She was honored in 2009 by Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology as one of 10 “Women to Watch.”

With expertise in technology and engineering education standards development, assessment and strategic school leadership, Dr. Spicer served on the technology and engineering steering committee for the frontrunner of the first national assessment for technology and engineering in the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Most recently, she served on the technology and engineering design team
for the National Research Council (NRC) “Next Generation: Framework for
Science Education,” which was approved July 19, 2011.

In January 2010, Dr. Spicer was appointed to the Massachusetts Governor’s STEM Advisory Council as the co-chair of the council’s teacher development committee. She was instrumental in establishing the 2001 Massachusetts technology/engineering curriculum framework with Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, president and director of the Museum of Science. She is also an advisor to the National Governors Association.

In addition, Dr. Spicer directs the Gateway Project, which originated in Massachusetts and is being replicated across the U.S. as a model to build leadership capacity for technological literacy.

Designed to guide systemic change, the Gateway Project helps school
districts develop a strategic plan of action to implement K-12 technology
and engineering programs. The Gateway community totals over 400
educational leaders representing 80 urban, suburban and rural school
districts.

The science and engineering fair, including Dr. Spicer’s speech, is open to the public.

STEM Summit

The second event, the STEM Summit, will provide free workshops for parents and teachers on those subject areas.

The workshops for the teachers – presented by The Gateway Project by representatives from the Museum of Science in Boston – will focus on engineering as a way to engage students in science.

MCLA is encouraging all interested parents to attend, and all those interested in participating in the workshops should report to the Amsler Campus Center gymnasium at 9:30 a.m.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on April 25, 2013. Filed under Education News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry