The drumbeat for STEM learning ”“ focused on science, technology, engineering and math ”“ sounded for the second year recently at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.
Thirty STEM educators attended the second annual Materials & Manufacturing Summer Teachers”™ Institute. The keynote speaker was James Gildea, plant manager for Bigelow Tea in Fairfield.
Educators haled from regional middle schools and high schools, including in Fairfield County. They received hands-on lessons in modern manufacturing techniques.
Kerstin Rao, a Westport Public Schools teacher, said the workshop will help her do a better job preparing students to be workers, leaders and innovators. “I learned that math skills are of utmost importance, as well as the ”˜soft skills,”™ which include personal responsibility, clear communication with people, taking initiative to solve problems and being continually willing to learn,” Rao said.
The event included tours of Platt Technical High School in Milford and several New Haven-centric manufacturers. Participants also included the New Haven Manufacturers Association, the Southern Connecticut Chapter of the American Society for Materials and the joint-effort Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena at Yale and Southern Connecticut State universities.
