Teaching New Teachers New Tricks

Maui Economic Development Board’s Women in Technology Project hosted a two-day STEMworks Professional Development for upcoming teachers from across the state who want to implement and integrate the STEMworks program into their classrooms.

The first day started with students from Maui Waena Intermediate School, King Kekaulike High School, and Maui High School showcasing their various projects and the different programs they use to create them. The different programs ranged from Photoshop, Sketchup, ArcGIS online, and Final Cut Pro. This was only a small list of the different programs students can use to create their projects.

There was also a panel which allowed the new teachers and five seasoned STEMworks teachers to have a panel session to discuss the difference between taking on a teacher role versus an advisor role in the classroom and allowing students to learn problem solving and critical thinking in their projects to come up with solutions in a student-driven environment.

The second edition of our STEMworks Curriculum was also handed out along with a preview of the GIS and CAD Drone Design and Build Curriculum.

The second day had the new STEMworks teachers learn about different projects students can come up to help the community, whether it’s school-based or on a larger scale, and what the students can create to create a voice to raise community awareness.

Women in Technology staff overviewed the key pieces of the STEMworks Program which includes Software Training for students, Industry Connections, a College Toolkit to guide students to prepare for higher education, Summer Internships for high school students, and the STEM Conference which showcases what STEM students achieved throughout the school year from all of Hawaii state.