The STEM Center at Henderson State University

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The STEM Center is located in this house which is named The Oliver House. We are one block off campus.

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The South Arkansas Math and Science STEM Center is dedicated to improving science and mathematics literacy in K-12 and pre-service students.

Teachers College Henderson, Henderson State University
Established: 1999

http://www.hsu.edu/stemcenter

Vision and Goals

The STEM Center at Henderson State University is dedicated to improve student understanding and achievement in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Center/Program Structure

The STEM Center is a department within Teachers College Henderson. Henderson State University supports the center by providing housing, utilities, and the director's salary. All other funding for office materials, a portion of the office manager's salary, and equipment must be obtained by the center. This funding is found through grants and professional development registration fees. The center's staff consists of a director, one mathematics specialist, one science specialist, and a part-time office manager (when funds are available). The specialists' salaries are provided through grant funding from the Arkansas Department of Education. The director and specialists are considered "non-teaching" faculty. The director teaches the STEM/Science in Elementary Grades methods course. The center director also serves as a university supervisor for science teachers enrolled in the Master of Arts of Teaching program for non-traditional majors. The director and specialists are approved to teach graduate classes through the center's programs.

Description of Programming

In mathematics, the director and mathematics specialist have taught programs such as Landscapes on Learning and Fostering Geometric Thinking to large numbers of teachers. Several professional development sessions have been facilitated in learning to use calculators, functions, elementary mathematics and educational technology in support of the Common Core standards.

Professional developments in science have focused up until the present on teaching our state frameworks in inquiry-style methods. For four years, a science teacher collaborative was established which was funded by grants. Science sessions have included instruction in particular disciplines of science, pedagogy, integrating mathematics and literacy with science, using technology such as hand-held data collectors,and preparing teachers for the new Arkansas Science Standards based on the Next Generation Science Standards. Our audience includes K-12 teachers, Henderson State University faculty in both Teachers College and The Ellis College of Arts and Sciences, pre-service teachers, and informal educators.

The STEM Center hosts a three-day Junior Academy of Math and Science each summer for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. A summer camp was held in July, 2012 for 9th graders which was centered around solar energy. This camp was funded for one year by a grant. We work with the campus Talent Search program in providing a summer STEM camp for 7th and 8th graders. Coding camps for teachers and students are held each summer in preparation for Arkansas' governor's initiative that all students will have completed a computer science course by the end of high school.

Successes and Impacts

The South Arkansas Science Teachers' Collaborative was very successful. This program impacted 25 teachers and scores of students. The teachers became proficient in the use of notebooks, inquiry-style teaching, and science investigations. The Landscapes on Learning program for mathematics teachers impacted 25 mathematics teachers over a three year period. The STEM Center has directed several No Child Left Behind grants which have impacted over 1000 teachers several thousand students over a 13-year period in the mathematics and science.

Elements Contributing to Success

Our center is centrally located to most of our service area. The campus community has become a supporter of STEM and the center. Faculty collaborates with the STEM center staff in presenting professional developments and helping with graduate classes. The university president, provost, dean and associate dean of Teachers College Henderson are very supportive of our programs and collaborate with the center staff in faculty professional developments.