WM School of Ed Leads STEM Training with $2.5M Grant

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The College of William and Mary School of Education has received a three year, $2.5 million Department of Defense grant to help train future scientists and engineers through a unique outreach and training program.

The contract will fund science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) outreach and training for Naval scientists and engineers who volunteer in school divisions through the School of Education’s STEM Education Alliance. The Alliance, which grew out of the college’s 2004 program called the Virginia Demonstration Project, pairs teachers with professional engineers and scientists from the DOD so they can co-teach STEM classes. It also offers STEM awareness training to scientists and engineers.

Since that time the Alliance has worked with more than 19,000 students in seven school districts and engineers from four naval commands.

“I am delighted that the STEM Education Alliance will be able to continue and expand its excellent work with the help of this grant,” said Virginia McLaughlin, dean of the School of Education.

“The alliance plays an important role in advocating STEM careers among today’s youth and preparing them to become tomorrow’s leading scientists and engineers.”

The new grant will allow the alliance to expand its reach. The alliance will now be able to offer follow-up training to scientists, engineers and teachers online. In the past, staff members had to travel to schools to conduct follow-up training.

“We will provide a combination of face-to-face and distance training, and we’re developing online modules for the Department of Defense,” said Gail Hardinge, the Alliance’s executive director. “Our goal is to broaden the reach beyond the labs.

“For example, it’s very costly for us to conduct all follow-up trainings, and the bigger we become, the more demand there is to have face-to-face. So, what we’re going to do is combine initial face-to-face sessions with follow-up distance sessions, and they’ll be synchronous.”

Jake Joseph, the project’s assistant director, will direct the alliance’s first pilot synchronous training this fall with the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in Charleston, S.C. The upcoming session is a follow-up to training the Alliance did for the group in Charleston in July.

The grant funding will also allow the group to publish a second edition of its magazine, “Explore.” The first edition focused on college careers only, but the second will also explore skilled labor needs through college.

The grant will facilitate the creation of a Hampton Roads Regional STEM Coalition that will partner with teachers, engineers and scientists in the area.

Money will also be used to expand the STEM Attitude and Awareness Scale, which assesses students’ knowledge and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and math. The assessment tool has been used in the state on over 5,000 students and will soon be used to evaluate Charleston, S.C. STEM programs.