Reimaging STEM Education – The Pathway to Convergence Education

Hosted by: Patti Curtis, Robert Noyce/Ellen Lettvin STEM Education Fellow, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education

Climate change, biotechnology, infectious disease, space, and entrepreneurship are all topics that require educators to lean into more than one discipline. Students are more likely to enjoy learning, retain knowledge, and build skills when taught in a transdisciplinary fashion embedded in real-world socio-scientific challenges and opportunities relevant to their experiences. Learn more about this pedagogical style that promotes scientific and systems thinking, student engagement, and innovative solution-creating and how you can implement it in your educational settings. Our panelists include classroom educators practicing convergence education who will share promising practices with you to engage today’s youth.

Speakers:

• Kelly Jo Day, STEM Specialist, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy
• Trey Smith, Chester Public School, Philadelphia, PA
• Laura Akesson, Einstein Fellow, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy
• Carol O’Donnell, Executive Director, Smithsonian Science Education Center, Smithsonian Institution
• Jorge Valdes, Ph.D. Education Advisor, United States Patent and Trademark Office