Regional partnership receives STEMflorida 2010 STEM program awards

The regional partnership formed in 2008 by Florida State University Panama City, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, AT&T, Bay District Schools, Gulf County Schools and Holmes District School Board was recognized for excellence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education and delivery by STEMflorida at the organization’s 2010 STEM Business & Education Conference held in Orlando on July 25-27. STEMflorida is a business-led initiative to make Florida a leader in market relevant STEM talent development and retention.

During the conference, awards were presented to 22 businesses, organizations and education initiatives from across Florida. The regional partnership, described by STEMflorida “as a multi-district public/private partnership that is producing the highly qualified workforce needed to meet the demand of the Northwest Florida region’s local employers”, received a Business – Education Partnership award, one of 14 in that category. The partnership also received one of only two Excellence in Instructional Staff Development awards presented. The award recognized the partnership’s excellence in providing teachers with in-depth hands-on learning experiences to increase content knowledge in STEM and providing over 100 teachers access to materials including rocket launchers, Van de Graaf generators, probes and other materials needed to improve classroom instruction.

Nearly 500 middle and high school students from the region have participated in the STEM activities made possible by the partnership since 2008. Summer camps and institutes held at Florida State University Panama City provide students and teachers the opportunity to utilize state-of-the art engineering and computer labs and other campus facilities and to interface with engineering instructors, students pursuing academic degrees in STEM programs and practicing scientists and engineers from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division.

Florida State also plays a key role in another partnership recognized at the STEMflorida conference. The Partnership to Rejuvenate and Optimize Mathematics and Science Education in Florida (PROMiSE) received an award for Excellence in Instructional Staff Development. The partnership includes Florida State (through its Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) , the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, four school districts, the state’s three educational consortia and others. PROMiSE’s focus is on deepening the content knowledge of math and science educators. Over the past three years, the partnership has accomplished this by training more than 1,800 teachers at summer math and science institutes, providing professional development for more than 500 principals and teachers, and compiling an online collection of reviewed instructional resources for math and science teachers, called CPALMS , that has attracted more than 19 million visits.