We hope everyone has been enjoying the spring! The GEMS-Net team has been busy working with teachers during the life science initial and advanced sessions. Check out some of the photos below!

As we approach the end of another school year, the GEMS-Net team is really looking forward to seeing how our learning community continues to grow. Be sure to read through the newsletter as we have updates about new team members and partnerships that we know will enrich the GEMS-Net community!

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or need support, please reach out to the team by emailing gemsnet@etal.uri.edu.

In partnership!

The GEMS-Net Team

Teacher-in-Residence Updates

We are excited to announce that Cathy Knasas will be joining the GEMS-Net team as a Teacher-in-Residence starting in the 2023-2024 school year! Cathy is a 4th grade teacher in Cumberland, RI, and has been a member of the GEMS-Net Teacher Leader program since 2016. Cathy has extensive knowledge of the 4th grade curriculum and has been a leader in her school’s effort to connect science to the use of their outdoor learning spaces. She has been a longtime collaborator with the Rhode Island Environmental Education Association (RIEEA) partner organizations, bringing the best of local environmental learning to her students. Cathy also developed her own understanding of geosciences and related research methods as a participant in the URI Graduate School of Oceanography’s Teacher-at-Sea program. We are so excited that Cathy will be joining the team and that she has a chance to share her experience and expertise throughout the GEMS-Net community!

We are also so happy and fortunate that Holly Emery will be staying on in her roles as a Teacher-in-Residence for the next school year! Holly has been a Teacher-in-Residence with GEMS-Net for the past 2 years and she comes to us from Exeter/West Greenwich Junior High School, where she has taught science for 20 years. Her experience includes participation in Fulbright Teachers of Global Classroom and the Trans-Atlantic Outreach Program’s (TOP) study tour of science and environmental education in Germany. Her educational focus is facilitating opportunities that promote climate literacy in students as well as developing global competencies that will prepare students to effectively engage and solve problems in our changing world. You'll continue to have the chance to work with Holly as she facilitates GEMS-Net workshops and supports teachers through coaching.

Chris Cochran has served as a Teacher-in-Residence with GEMS-Net for the 2021-2022 and 2022- 2023 school years. We are thrilled to announce that Chris has been selected by the URI College of Engineering and GEMS-Net to serve as a Teacher-in Residence for the Navy STEM Coalition partnership during the 2023-2024 school year. In this role, Chris will help lead the GEMS-Net team in developing curricular materials and professional learning for teachers that connect core science learning to Naval science engineering projects at URI and UCONN. Chris is a 5th and 6th grade science teacher in Narragansett, RI, and has served as a Teacher Leader with GEMS-Net since 2014. Chris has also taught 3rd grade, and several grades as a special education teacher. As a classroom teacher, he has made it a priority to integrate technology and media literacy into his work with students. Chris has also worked with community partners such as the Audubon Society of RI and The Rhode Island Natural History Museum to engage his students in local and relevant learning opportunities. This summer Chris will be co-facilitating a Building Climate Literacy workshop hosted by RIEEA on August 15th and 16th. He also recently received his National Certificate in STEM Teaching from the National Institute for STEM Education and will be receiving his Masters in STEM Education from the American College of Education this June.

How can we connect current STEM research to the teaching and learning going on in our classrooms?

One of the recent strategic priority areas for the GEMS-Net team has been to help connect the exciting STEM research going on at the University of Rhode Island (URI) with the science teaching and learning that is happening in our PreK-8 classrooms. As students make connections between their own learning and actual problems and questions that local researchers are working to solve, their experiences in the science classroom become more relevant. Students begin to think more deeply about the issues that impact their lives, community, and the world. They will hopefully start contributing to solving these problems now and see the field of STEM as a possible career and college pathway in the future.

As previously mentioned, to help support this goal GEMS-Net recently partnered with the Navy STEM Coalition project, a joint program between URI and UCONN that supports university students to explore a variety of careers related to Naval science and technology. URI and UCONN lead some of the nation’s cutting edge engineering research in submarine technology, acoustics, advanced manufacturing and materials science, propulsion technologies, cybersecurity, underwater energy systems and more.

In collaboration with the Navy STEM Coalition project, GEMS-Net will learn about the defense industry-related research happening at both universities and develop professional learning activities and classroom resources that connect the research to the NGSS and core STEM coursework across the grade levels. The goal is to make connections to what students are already working on so that it is integrated and not one more activity to complete. These resources may include video learning journeys, case study materials, and classroom activities connected to existing coursework. As part of this partnership, GEMS-Net and the Navy STEM Coalition project will be hosting a 2023 Summer Institute. Teachers from RI and CT will have a chance to meet with URI researchers and learn more about their engineering projects. Teachers will also spend some time working with GEMS-Net and the Navy STEM Coalition project to brainstorm and define our scope of work related to developing relevant curricular connections over the upcoming school year.

STEM Teaching Tools: Why should students investigate contemporary science topics - and not just "settled" science

Check out the STEM Teaching Tool, Practice Brief # 2, to learn about the benefits of connecting your science teaching to local and relevant science research going on right now!

Pre-School

I’m excited to start bringing this into my classroom!

- PreK Teacher, Warwick

Preschool teachers joined us at the Bay Campus in March. The workshop focused on digital literacy and outdoor teaching and learning for our youngest students. We engaged in outdoor lessons inspired by the Elinor Wonders Why teaching materials. Teachers worked together to align their existing curriculum with the open access STEM resources to enhance science instruction opportunities. We look forward to continuing to support our preschool teachers so that more RI preschoolers have the opportunity to explore the outdoors, investigate their curiosities, and communicate their learning.

Elementary

I really appreciate taking the learning outdoors-it's so important!

- Kindergarten Teacher, North Kingstown

I value science for our kids to learn and explore the world around them. This training will help me help the kids think deeply.

- First Grade Teacher, Cumberland

It was great to meet with our experts, fellow teachers, learn better ways to implement our science curriculum, and learn how to better access materials.

- Second Grade Teacher, Chariho

This May, K-2 elementary school teachers joined the GEMS-Net team at URI’s Bay Campus for advanced sessions focused on diving deeper into the life science courses. We continued supporting teachers on identifying opportunities within the curriculum where we can localize learning for our students. Visiting the schoolyard together creates a common experience for your class. Capitalize on student observations and questions as they investigate the outdoor spaces at school. These observations and questions can be used to make connections between what students are learning in the classroom and what’s happening in their community and the world.

The GEMS-Net team also introduced a Navigate, Investigate, Sense-Make (NIS) Instructional Framework that will help teachers streamline instruction and prepare for the pedagogical shifts that will be coming with the adoption of a new science curriculum. These resources identify the most critical components of each lesson while also promoting an instructional routine that allows students’ questions, ideas, and decision making to guide the investigations moving towards more student-driven inquiry that engages students in the process of “doing science.” Currently these resources have been developed for the K-2 life science courses so that we could share them with teachers at the advanced sessions and get their feedback. Our goal is to use the teacher feedback to develop similar resources for other grade levels and FOSS courses moving forward. If you are interested in checking out the documents we’ve created so far, they’ve been included below:

• Kindergarten - NIS Implementation Guide (Animals 2X2)

• Grade 1 - NIS Implementation Guide (Plants and Animals)

• Grade 2 - NIS Implementation Guide (Insects and Plants)

Middle School

The pictures above capture some of the fun we had with middle school teachers during their advanced sessions in February! Similar to the K-2 advanced sessions, middle school teachers spent the morning diving into the Navigate, Investigate, Sense-Make (NIS) Instructional Framework. We examined how teacher questioning during each phase of the NIS routine supports students to be the decision-makers in the classroom. By asking strategic questions, student ideas and wonderings can guide the investigating and sense-making going on in your classrooms.

Then in the afternoon, the middle school teachers engaged in a Climate Action Summit simulation using the En-ROADS climate action simulation model. Teachers were divided into representative community groups (clean energy, conventional energy, transportation, agriculture/forestry, justice hawks, and government). Despite different priorities and perspectives, these groups had to work together making policy decisions that would limit the average global temperature rise by 2100 to under 2 degrees Celsius with the ultimate goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Take a look at the results below! What do you notice? What are you wondering about? (HINT: Click on the Expand Arrows in the top right corner of each picture to get a better view)

As you can see, each grade level was able to reach the goal of limiting the average global temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius by 2100, although it was quite challenging to reach the ultimate goal of 1.5 degree Celsius! The interesting thing is that while each group of teachers chose to focus on similar factors to manipulate, they made different policy decisions based on these factors and still reached their first goal. Some of the critical takeaways from this simulation are that there is no one solution that will solve our current climate crisis and that it will take a multi-pronged approach to reach an effective solution.

The Climate Action Summit simulation and En-ROADS model provide opportunities for your students to engage in and discuss important climate issues that are impacting our world right now. This interactive simulation also encourages interdisciplinary connections between science, math, literacy, and social studies. Please reach out to GEMS-Net if you or your middle school grade-level team would be interested in hosting a Climate Action Summit for your students. We can provide support with planning the event and would also enjoy co-facilitating the simulation with you!

Take a look at what some of your colleagues said about their experience engaging in the En-ROADS Climate Action Summit simulation:

The mock climate action activity was really fun and informative!

- Middle School Teacher, Narragansett

Enjoyed the simulation on such an important topic.

- Middle School Teacher, Burrillville

Loved the simulation; can’t wait to try it!

- Middle School Teacher, North Kingstown

GEMS-Net Strategic Planning Team

GEMS-Net is committed to continuous improvement in science education. As part of this goal, the GEMS-Net Strategic Planning Team recently developed and distributed a survey to the members of our partnership. We want to know which aspects of science education are important to our community because in the coming months, in partnership with the RI Department of Education, all Rhode Island school districts will be adopting high quality curriculum materials for science. Knowing what is important to our community will help us select a science curriculum that affords us the opportunity to meet our larger program goals.

We are seeking feedback from teachers, building administrators, central office administrators, environmental educators, university researchers, community partners, and family members. Thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to complete the survey. If you were emailed as a community representative and have not yet submitted a survey, please do so by May 31st. Your input and perspectives about priorities for science education are needed as we make decisions about the future of GEMS-Net programming. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

Enjoy your summer and we look forward to working with everyone again in the 23-24 school year!