The MIT Full STEAM Ahead Educators Immersion Program was an in-person summer enrichment opportunity that combined hands-on exploration, project-based learning principles, and program co-design with the development of a pilot program.
This program focused on building the capacities of schools and organizations by working with cohorts of educators from Massachusetts. Beginning with a two-week summer engagement, the FSA team unpacked the lessons learned from Full Steam Ahead and presented these ideas as learning “building blocks” that participating educators used to develop new programs that they will implement within their classrooms, schools, or organizations.
Participating educators received a stipend for their participation in the two-week summer program and initial funding of materials for implementing their new programs during the fall semester.
Who: Full STEAM Ahead is open to Massachusetts school-based and out-of-school time educators who work with middle and high school students. We encourage groups of educators to apply together and work as a cohort to develop something new for their classroom, school, or organization.
When: July 15 – 26, 2024, Monday – Friday, Morning to Early Afternoon with Full Detailed Schedule with Times TBA
Where: In person, on MIT’s campus in Cambridge, MA
Registration for this program has closed.
If you have any questions, please email us at fsa-team@mit.edu.
About the Program
During the two-week summer program, the FSA team will collaborate with the educators other schools or organizations. We will engage with these educators to co-design programs that best match their schools’ logistics and students’ needs, whether it is a one-week program during the Cambridge Science Festival, a multi-week after-school engagement, or an in-classroom enrichment program.
The educator program will generally be grouped into three key areas: 1) a “fire hose” introduction to the learning sciences and principles that guide the work of FSA and co-design, 2) resource adaptation and program development through coaching as well as the opportunity to playtest key activities before final program presentations, and 3) fall/spring implementation of your ideas with materials support.
Continuing into the fall, our team will support the implementation of the programs and activities the educators created over the summer by providing some funding in the form of classroom materials and periodic check ins.
Throughout this program, we will be conducting research to assess the impact of each cohorts’ programming on their students through surveys, interviews with educators, and artifact collection.