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UMass Amherst Team Featured in the 2020 STEM for All Video Showcase: Learning from Research and Practice

Rick Adrion

Rick Adrion, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was featured along with eight co-presenters in the 2020 STEM for All Video Showcase from May 5–12, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition to Adrion, the presenters included Florence Sullivan, professor, and Annie Leonard, instructor and doctoral student from the UMass Amherst College of Education, and colleagues from Springfield Public Schools in Massachusetts.

Their presentation, “CS4All Springfield: A Research-Practice Partnership to Integrate Computer Science and Computational Thinking in Diverse, Urban K-5 Classrooms,” looks at developing integrated computer science and computational thinking curricula for kindergarten through 5th grade. The project was funded by the NSF Division for Research on Learning.

Adrion, a computer science faculty member in the College of Information and Computer Sciences, notes that “this ambitious project is bringing integrated computer science and computational thinking curricula to all 12,000 K-5 students in Springfield, Massachusetts, with a very strong emphasis on creating equitable and inclusive teaching and learning to engage all students from a highly diverse, urban school system.”

Now in its sixth year, the annual showcase featured over 170 innovative projects aimed at improving STEM learning and teaching, which have been funded by the NSF and other federal agencies. During the week-long event, researchers, practitioners, policymakers and members of the public were invited to view the short videos, discuss them with the presenters online, and vote for their favorites. 

The STEM for All Video Showcase is hosted by TERC in partnership with STEM Teacher Leadership Network, Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education, Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning, STEM Learning and Research Center, CS for All Teachers, NARST, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Science Teaching Association, NSF INCLUDES, and Quality Education for Minorities Network.