In April 2021, Merredith Portsmore, director of Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) shared her experience running and developing the Teacher Engineering Education Program (TEEP) as a panelist in the webinar Technology, Science, and Engineering: How can STEM help make the next generation of changemakers? along with Amanda Strawhacker from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development and Berri Jacque from the School of Medicine Center for Science Education. Like Merredith, Amanda and Berri both run online programs for teachers. Amanda leads a program on Early Childhood Technology (ECT) and Berri runs the Teaching the Great Diseases program.

The webinar explored many topics relating to STEM education and how learning will look after the pandemic. The pandemic challenged teachers and students to be more creative with the available tools and how they used them in the classroom, especially regarding the hands-on aspects of science and engineering. Many teachers were pushed to use technology in ways they had been unwilling to do before and the panelists hope this trend of integrating technology and learning continues post-pandemic.

The webinar also addressed incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) issues into STEM education. The panelists discussed both the importance and the challenges of making STEM education and technology accessible to diverse populations of students and for students as future changemakers to not only develop math and science skills, but to develop the empathy and understanding needed to do good in the world.
The full webinar is available after you sign up here