Director: Center for Science & Technology in Education

Mission

Our mission is to advance knowledge and understanding in science, technology, and STEM education for researchers and practitioners and to develop educational leaders who will inform policy and practice toward making STEM education more equitable, accessible, and effective at preparing learners to address grand challenges.*

*In accordance with President Pines’ Grand Challenges, these include Climate Change (includes clean energy, sustainability, food and water insecurity) Social and Racial Injustice (includes poverty, education disparities, and structural inequity) Global Health (includes health equity, pandemic preparedness, mental health, and wellness) Threats to Democracy.

Value and Impact (Activities and Products)

There are two doctoral programs that are associated with CSTE. Our faculty supports doctoral students through CSTE in a variety of ways including offering part-time assistantships (when allowed) that allow these students to engage with practitioner and research partners in a variety of ways. One of the most impactful programs from CSTE is the M.Ed. STEM Teacher Leadership program. This Innovative Partnership Program (IPP) was initiated through a Race to the Top grant from MSTE in 2012 as a partnership with MCPS. It is now an open-cohort program that serves teachers from all public and private school systems in our region. Last spring, we were named a resident program of the new Biomedical Sciences and Engineering (BSE)Education Facility at the Universities at Shady Grove. Content partners include Maryland Sea Grant College, Maryland Environmental Service, MSDE, NASA office of STEM engagement, KID Museum, and more. The flexibility of the IPP format allows us to better serve the needs of our in-service teacher audience. The program provides a productive infrastructure for a variety of research programs on teaching, learning, teacher education, and curriculum design. The program has also been a consistent revenue generator for CSTE and TLPL. Our fifth cohort began the program in the fall of 2024.

Amy Green serves as the Director of the Center for Science and Technology in Education (CSTE) where she coordinates and oversees innovations and partnerships to advance teacher education in science, technology, and STEM. This includes coordinating the M.Ed. in STEM Teacher Leadership program, which was established in 2015 to support in-service elementary and middle school teachers to advance STEM leadership in school communities. Amy first joined the University of Maryland as an undergraduate, graduating with a degree in Elementary Education in 2002. She went on to teach elementary school in Montgomery County Maryland for nine years before returning to UMD to pursue her graduate degrees. She graduated with her Ph.D. in Science Education in 2017. Her dissertation is titled The 'Next Generation' of Constructivist Reform in Science and STEM: Case study explorations of the practices of students and the perspectives of teachers. Her work focuses on advancing sustainability and environmental literacy in STEM teaching and learning.