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GEMS-Net (Guiding Education in Math and Science Network) is a sustained research-practice partnership that offers comprehensive support for science education throughout Rhode Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Feinstein College of Education, the GEMS-Net partnership supports science programming in school districts across Rhode Island. The program started with just a handful of school districts in the 1990s, supported by an Eisenhower grant, and later the National Science Foundation. 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty member emerita Betty Young established the program, intent on preparing teachers to enact active hands-on science learning in their classrooms. GEMS-Net is now a national leader in professional learning for science educators, sharing their work and model with organizations and universities across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Today, GEMS-Net has expanded to support 15 school districts across Rhode Island and is currently partnering with Burrillville, Chariho, Cumberland, Exeter-West Greenwich, Foster, Jamestown, Narragansett, New Shoreham, North Kingstown, Paul Cuffee, South Kingstown, Warwick, and Westerly; Central Falls and West Warwick joined this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Program staff say it takes more than a 1-2 day workshop to support quality science education. GEMS-Net offers curriculum-based professional learning for all teachers throughout their career. This includes teacher workshops, classroom coaching and support for school and district leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alison D\u2019Angeli, a GEMS-Net program specialist who spent 10 years in the classroom, says the professional learning offered is immersive and practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now on the Pastore building\u2019s third floor \u2014 the former home of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s chemistry program \u2014 GEMS-Net is staying close to the University\u2019s scientific roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GEMS-Net supports science education programming that emphasizes phenomena-based learning \u2014 engaging students with a puzzling phenomenon, helping them consider what they know, and more importantly what they don\u2019t know. This establishes an authentic context to pursue robust science learning as students seek to figure out how the phenomenon works and develop explanatory models. The goal of science education is not to mimic the work of scientists, but to engage in the practices of science as those practices are productive for sensemaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know a lot about teaching and learning and work collaboratively with teachers to reflect on and continually develop their science teaching practice,\u201d says Caroline Stabile, director of GEMS-Net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they tailor programs to help teachers advance their practice, faculty from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, College of Engineering and other STEM departments round out the program. When researchers partner with GEMS-Net, it helps teachers make connections between what their students are learning in science and the research going on at the University. It also helps researchers share their work with educators and their students in ways that have a broad reach and lasting impact through the longstanding GEMS-Net partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STEM impact for students<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The fall semester found a swirl of activity in GEMS-Net\u2019s new office as a team of veteran teachers on assignment with the program as teachers in residence were preparing to support 766 teachers across the state in districts from Burrillville to Westerly. Through these teachers, the program is supporting 19,739 students in their classrooms this school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program\u2019s teachers in residence say the move had them energized and excited at the start of the new school year. They work directly with teachers in each partner district to help them prepare for and enact high-quality science curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop robust science ideas, it also underscores teaching students in a way that invites wonder and enthusiasm as students work together to figure things out. Stabile and D\u2019Angeli say that the intent of GEMS-Net is to help young students become independent thinkers, pose questions and make sense of the world around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want students to do<\/em> science,\u201d says Stabile, \u201cnot just learn about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is important not only for school success, but also regional scientific readiness. A collaboration between GEMS-Net and the College of Engineering\u2019s Navy\/STEM program is helping to address STEM workforce development needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis kind of partnership between K-12, higher ed, and industry serves an important role,\u201d Stabile says, to help grow the pipeline for future job candidates and thinkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to ensure that teachers and students know about the wide variety of career and college pathways in STEM fields, and we know we need to start that work with our youngest grades. Kids need to see how their school learning connects to exciting careers and opportunities in higher education,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re here to meet the needs of teachers and STEM fields,\u201d says Stabile. \u201cWe are proud to partner with school districts and organizations across the state to support 溏心vlog免费B站 in its mission as a land-grant institution, serving our communities in ways that make them more just and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n