HP Catalyst Initiative: A Fresh Approach to STEM+ Education
I am VERY excited - more than 35 amazing education institutions from 11 countries have been awarded HP Catalyst grants to explore innovations in STEM learning and teaching. But this time, our grant-making is emphasizing global collaboration among institutions, educators, and students…
First, let me applaud ALL the institutions that submitted applications for the HP Catalyst initiative grants. The field of fantastic proposals made the selection process very challenging. We were so impressed by so many proposals that we not only selected the formal grantees, but we also invited many organizations to participate as associate members, just to expand the field of great ideas.
So if you haven’t already seen the list of Awardees for 2010, they are organized into 5 consortia, each of which will an “innovation sandbox” focusing on a specific STEM+ theme. The complete list of members is included below.
So why am I so excited?
Amazing Educators & Organizations – I have been blessed with a new dose of optimism as a result of reading the proposals of the organizations that applied to be part of the Catalyst network. Their passion is palpable, and their expertise is poised to make a significant difference. Obviously working together in new ways will be a challenge (since when is innovation easy?), but I am very optimistic that we will meet our goal of demonstrating what the future of STEM+ learning and teaching can look like.
Global Collaboration is key - The only way STEM+ learning and teaching will give us the ultimate results we’re all dreaming about is if traditional “silo thinking” is replaced by “engaged networks”. This is true at the institutional level (how often to secondary system leaders meet with higher education leaders? are country policies sufficiently aligned?); it is true at the educator level (secondary school teachers and university faculty have a lot to learn from one another); and it’s true for students themselves.
Each HP Catalyst consortium is intentionally designed to include organizations that serve both secondary and tertiary level students (grades 6-16), each consortium is international, and the focus is on creating new and powerful STEM+ learning experiences for students.
So I extend my heartfelt congratulations and appreciation to the members of the new HP Catalyst network. I am also very grateful to the Catalyst Consortium Leaders and our Executive Advisors, for their support and commitment.
STEM+ learning and teaching will never be the same…
Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Education Program Manager
HP Office of Global Social Innovation
Hewlett-Packard
www.hp.com/go/socialinnovation
Follow me on Twitter @jgvanides
The Multi-Versity consortium will be led lead by the Sloan Consortium (USA)
Consortium Members:
- Empire State College, State University of New York (Saratoga Springs, New York, USA) “ Empowering STEM Faculty for Teaching the 21st Century Student”
- National University (La Jolla, California, USA) “ Game Design and Technology for STEM+ Learning Collaborative”
- Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois, USA) “ Science Lab Server Farms”
- Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) “Blended On Line Collaboration for Global Engineering Education Excellence”
- Renmin University of China, School of Information (Beijing, China) “Research and Promotion of Online Collaborative Learning Education”
- Western Washington University (Bellingham, Washington, USA) “Remote Access to Scientific Instrumentation and Online Labs for STEM Education: Building Laboratory Parity throughout the Curriculum”
Associate Members:
- East Carolina University
- Moscow Gymnasia #1540
- University of Eastern Africa, Baraton
- University of KwaZulu-Natal
- University of Massachusetts, Lowell (invited)
- West Chester University of Pennsylvania
The Pedagogy 3.0 consortium will led by Futurelab (UK)
Consortium Members:
- California State University, Dominguez Hills (Carson, California, USA) “Virtual Exchange Program: Connecting, Collaborating and Constructing STEM+ Learning”
- Fraunhofer Institute (Stuttgart, Germany) “Future Learning Environments”
- Kenyatta University (Nairobi, Kenya) “Using Technology to Support Teacher and Student Conceptual Learning in Mathematics and Science”
- Learning Games Network (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) “Design Corps”
- University of Exeter (Exeter, United Kingdom) “Inter-teaching: Developing dialogic approaches to STEM+ education through digital practitioner networks”
- University of Bristol, Graduate School of Education (Bristol, United Kingdom) “E-Scapes”
Associate Members:
- LSN
- Northern Arizona University
The Global Collaboratory consortium will be led by the CSIR Meraka Institute (South Africa)
Consortium Members:
- Cairo University, Faculty of Computers and Information (Giza, Egypt) “Cairo Cloud Computer”
- Coventry University (Coventry, United Kingdom) “Learning to create a better built environment: Activity led learning with information and communication technology for a 21st century collaborative global education”
- Del Mar College (Corpus Christi,Texas, USA) “Thinking Global - Acting Local: Engaging Learners in Geospatial Technology Projects through the HP Collaboratory”
- East Carolina University (Greenville, North Carolina, USA) “Hands-on information technology virtual laboratory powered by cloud computing for global collaboration”
- Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (Kakamega, Kenya) “Development of an East African computational chemistry infrastructure at Masinde Muliro University of Science and technology”
- Stamford Public Schools (Stamford, Connecticut, USA) “The Challenge of Water Quality: China and United States ‘Sister Schools’ Seek Solutions Together”
Associate Members:
- China University of Geosciences, Beijing
- Strathmore University, Kenya
- University of Washington
- Westerly Public Schools (Invited)
The New Learner consortium will be led by the Agastya International Foundation (India)
Consortium Members:
- India Council for Integral Education (Pondicherry, India) “The Ringtones Student-Designed Learning Content for Mobile Devices Project”
- Longwood Institute for Teaching through Technology & Innovative Practices – ITTIP of Longwood University (South Boston, Virginia, USA) “Global Innovation in Science and Technology (GIST)”
- Sheffield City Council (Sheffield, United Kingdom) “BLADE - Building learning as a distributed experience”
- Reach the World, in partnership with P.S. 218 / the Rafael Hernandez Dual Language Magnet School (Bronx, New York, USA) “Reaching the World, Mapping the Mind: Global STEM+ Collaborations between College Study-Abroad Students, At-Risk Youth, Pre-Service Educators and Career Teachers”
- University of Fort Hare (Alice, South Africa) “ STEM+ Innovations for under-represented rural-based schools”
- Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA) “ Virtual Laboratory for Engineering and Applied Sciences Education (EASE)”
Associate members:
- CSIR Meraka Institute, South Africa (Invited)
- Detroit Edison Public School Academy (Invited)
- Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Maranho - IFMA, Brazil (Invited)
- World Wide Workshop Foundation
The Measuring Learning consortium will be led by Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
Consortium Members:
- Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colorado, USA) “ Measuring Learning in STEM+ Classrooms Using Tablet PCs for Real-Time Formative Assessment at an Engineering University: Diverse Explorations to A.) Establish Best Practices for Enhancing Learning, and B.) Nurture and Assess Creativity and Innovation”
- Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Écully, France) “Centrale EAT innovation framework: to adapt training to companies’ needs”
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong, China) “A Quality-Aware Evaluation System for STEM+ Education”
- National Research Irkutsk State Technical University (Irkutsk, Russia) “Mobile grid platform for STEM subjects social learning and knowledge measurement (MoPS)”
- North-west University (Gauteng, South Africa) “ Using machine learning to measure student learning”
- Rancocas Valley Regional High School (Mount Holly, New Jersey, USA) “Real-Time Assessment of Standards-Based Declarative & Procedural Knowledge of Students”
Associate Members:
- Clemson University (Invited)
- Grove City College
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
- University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
- Western Governors University
