Strategic Initiatives

Developing teacher knowledge, capacity, and confidence in STEM

  • Provide on-demand teacher professional learning.- Lack of STEM professional development, especially at the elementary level, was identified as a top barrier to teaching STEM. Starting in 2018, OSIT will offer customized, on-demand STEM professional learning to individual teachers and schools upon request.

    • Engineering Fellows Program- A unique opportunity for 5th grade teachers to partner with local professional engineers and engineering students from UNLV and UNR to develop and integrate NGSS-aligned engineering design challenges with real-world applications into everyday teaching and existing curricula. OSIT plans to train between 15-18 teachers during the 2018-2019 schoolyear. Each participating teacher will receive a grant for supplies to implement engineering design lessons in the classroom.

      • STEM Workforce Pathways Teacher Grants- OSIT encourages high schools to put in place high-demand STEM programs of study that lead to students earning industry recognized credentials and training before graduation. These grants fund the training and credentialing of teachers in the certification programs they teach.

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