MURFREESBORO — Middle Tennessee State University’s
Tennessee STEM Education Center has been selected to guide the work of the
Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub.
The Tennessee
STEM Innovation Network and Battelle Education formally announced the new
partnership for the leadership of the hub, moving it to MTSU from Nashville’s
Belmont University and further advancing the state’s recent growth in the
teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or
STEM.
MTSU was
selected to guide the work of the STEM hub, intended to bring together
stakeholders across Middle Tennessee to advance STEM education. Tennessee STEM
Education Center director Tom Cheatham will be director of the Middle Tennessee
STEM Innovation Hub.
The STEM hub
provides a valuable exchange network of ideas and resources for K-12 schools,
colleges and universities and network partners to serve the STEM needs in the
Midstate. The hub serves 25 to 30 counties and approximately 50 school
districts, Cheatham said.
“MTSU is
uniquely positioned to lead the Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub and we’re
excited to be able to partner to expand quality STEM teaching and learning
opportunities across the region,” said Wes Hall, director of the Tennessee STEM
Innovation Network. “The university has earned a reputation as a leader in STEM
education and this partnership both strengthens our work in the region and
continues to advance our vision for STEM in the state.”
Cheatham said
MTSU is excited to play a larger role in the hub.
“MTSU has been
a leader in STEM education for many years and is pleased to work with STEM
leaders across the Midstate to continue to move STEM forward,” he said. “We are
anxious to learn from the K-12 districts what the hub can do to assist them
with their STEM goals.”
The Middle
Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub will continue to serve as a resource for the
region to increase student interest and achievement in STEM fields. Some of the
many hub activities include providing professional development for Midstate
teachers, bringing STEM professionals into the classroom, teacher job shadowing
and student workplace learning.
In spring 2017
at a site to be determined, the hub will host the fifth annual STEM EXPO, an
exhibition open to regional middle and high school students, showcasing student
projects in STEM research, engineering, agricultural STEM and technology. MTSU
hosted the 2015 expo in the Science Building.
The new
partnership of the hub marks a year of major expansion for STEM in Tennessee,
with the network’s move to provide a supplemental STEM curriculum called
Learning Blade for free to all middle schools, the continuation of the third
annual Tennessee STEM Innovation Summit May 24-25, 2017, and the expansion of
the Innovative Leaders Institute, a professional development program designed to
train school leaders in effective STEM strategies.
Focusing
on a “kindergarten-to-jobs” philosophy, the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network
is developing high-quality programming to further ensure Tennessee students are
college and career ready upon graduation.
The
network utilizes STEM Platform Schools and regional STEM Innovation Hubs
located across Tennessee to increase student interest and participation in STEM
fields. The network is committed to helping the state of Tennessee inspire and
train the next generation of innovative leaders and is operated as a
partnership between the Tennessee Department of Education and Battelle
Education.
For
more information about the network, please visit www.TSIN.org. To learn more about the
Tennessee STEM Education Center at MTSU, visit http://capone.mtsu.edu/tsec/
or call 615-904-8573. It is located in Room 102 of the Fairview Building, 820
Fairview Ave., near Greenland Drive.
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