INL News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2015
NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Misty Benjamin, 208-351-9900, misty.benjamin@inl.gov
Emily Nichols, 208-201-1532, emily.nichols@inl.gov
Registration opens for summer i-STEM Teacher Institutes
IDAHO FALLS – Idaho educators have an opportunity to take summer courses in science, technology, engineering and math-based topics with information on how to use the information in their classrooms during six low-cost workshops held around the state in June.
Nearly 700 educators are expected to attend this year’s i-STEM Teacher Institutes, which will be held:
June 15-18 at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene
June 15-18 at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston
June 16-19 at Eastern Idaho Technical College in Idaho Falls
June 22-25 at Idaho State University in Pocatello
June 22-25 at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls
June 23-26 at the College of Western Idaho in Nampa
The workshops are organized by the Idaho STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) initiative, or i-STEM – a partnership of educators, government agencies, organizations and private companies working to improve STEM education in the state. i-STEM members include Idaho National Laboratory, universities and community colleges, Idaho State Department of Education, Idaho State Board of Education, Hewlett Packard, Intermountain Gas, Micron and Idaho Power. More information is available at www.sde.idaho.gov/site/istem.
This is the sixth year i-STEM has sponsored the K-12 teacher professional development summer institutes. Since 2010, the number of workshops has expanded from two to six and hundreds of educators and administrators have participated.
“The i-STEM program helps educators enhance their STEM content knowledge through context,” said Anne Seifert, executive director of i-STEM and INL’s K-12 education coordinator. “We are proud to support a wonderful team from across the state that is helping sponsor and support this important professional development opportunity.”
During the workshops, participants choose a specific topic to study such as energy, aerospace, space, sustainability, food safety, computer science, manufacturing, robotics, environment, agriculture, gold mining or health care. They attend sessions taught by STEM experts. Educators also participate in general sessions to learn how to integrate STEM, 21st century skills, career awareness, and the practices of the Idaho Core Standards into all the subjects they teach. Participants receive continuing education credits and resource kits.
The i-STEM institutes are funded and supported by a state of Idaho Math and Science Partnership Grant; Idaho’s state-run universities, community colleges and technical schools; Northwest Council for Computer Education; DEQ; and industry partners like Micron, Hewlett-Packard, Idaho Power, Intermountain Gas, Simplot, Battelle Energy Alliance and others.
INL is one of the DOE’s national laboratories. The laboratory performs work in each of the strategic goal areas of DOE: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation’s leading center for nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.
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