Starting on Wednesday June 16 until the 20th, St. Thomas University will be populated by more than 200 science teachers from Miami Dade-County middle, elementary and high schools. For one week they will discuss, along with representatives of the Miami Dade-County Public School System, ways to advance the quality of science teaching in the county.

The science workshop is organized by the Miami Dade-County Public School System with the collaboration of St. Thomas University aiming at enhancing the K-12 science program by connecting all the teachers from different grades.  

The end product of this institute will be a stronger vertical collaboration to generate students ready to enter STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers and to compete in the global economy.  This initiative is being unfolded by the administrative staff of M-DCPS Curriculum and Instruction (Science): Ms. Colleen Del Terzo, Administrative Director, Dr. Gladys A. Barrio and Dr. Cyd Heyliger-Browne, Executive Directors, Ms. Ava Rosales, Ms. Paula Nelson-Shokar, and Mr. Juan Sebastian Oddone, Secondary and Elementary Science Supervisors.

“St. Thomas is very gratified for this event because we want to help strengthen our younger students in the areas of science and math…they will come to our School of Science much more prepared,” said Dr. John Carpenter, a professor at St. Thomas University’s Institute of Education who has been involved in organizing the conference along with the Institute of Education’s Chair Dr. Edward Blackwell.  

This is the second conference on science education to take place inside the St. Thomas campus in the past month. This May, the Florida Department of Education presented an on campus conference on the new science standards for the State of Florida.