Cultivating Excellence in STEM Teaching
“Promoting deep understanding and success for students through innovative, teacher-led professional development.”
How do we recognize excellence?
Our philosophy draws wisdom from two key figures who shaped our understanding of teaching.
1. Heraclitus
Change is always upon us; the river is constantly changing, just like the STEM classroom.
We are humble in our workshops: teachers cannot simply “transfer” lessons. They must dynamically adapt what they learn to work with their specific students.
2. Bob Karplus
A quantum field theorist turned science educator who invented the “learning cycle.” He taught us that students must uncover models behind phenomena themselves.
We connect teachers with a community to cook up innovative ideas, test them, and debug them in the tradition of Karplus.
Our Future & Leader Huddles
We have institutionalized “Leader Huddles” to preserve our signature qualities of personalization and interaction. We are investing big time in the quality and quantity of our primary engine of success: the commitment and expertise of our leaders.
Evolution & Growth
The Organic Process
Students and teachers get stronger gradually. Teachers gain appreciation for students’ struggles by taking on the student role first.
Addressing Misconceptions
We explore key content and pedagogy, specifically targeting common naïve conceptions held by students (and sometimes teachers).
Real Classroom Experience
Workshops are led by experienced teachers with real kids “always on tap,” supported by a community testing and debugging ideas together.
