STEM PRIDE Year 2 Funding

A consortium of colleges and centers from the University of Kentucky (UK), including the Colleges of Education; Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE); Engineering; Arts & Sciences (A&S); Medicine; Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES); and the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) are implementing a two-year professional development program for middle and high school pre-service and in-service teachers that will prepare them to better guide Kentucky students to STEM-related 21st century careers. Science, mathematics and career and technical education teachers from low-performing central and southeast Kentucky districts are participating in one-week summer industry externships and university research internships. These opportunities will allow participating teachers to (1) develop their understanding of 21st century STEM careers and the skills needed to guide students toward those careers and (2) integrate that understanding into curricular materials focused on work-based and real-world problems. In addition, pre-service teachers are participating along with the in-service teachers. The overarching goal of this project is to develop teachers who are able to enact the key principles, disciplinary core ideas and practices of the Common Core Math and Next Generation Science Standards in a way that, in turn, produces better prepared, college and career ready students.