Washington Business Winter 2018 | Washington Business | Page 47

business backgrounder | education & workforce
“To find good professional
development focused on
science is so rare, and this
is that opportunity.”
— Heidi Hoiland, a sixth-grade
science teacher at Hockinson Middle
School in Brush Prairie, and a
STEM Institute participant
a natural collaboration
Ten teachers came from across the state to
the STEM Institute.
It was a meeting of the minds and a
natural collaboration. The AWB Institute wanted to bring
teachers into the world of business, to give them practical
experience and real-world context for their lessons.
Meanwhile, PNNL wants to spread the word about who
they are and what they do, said Amy Anderson, director of
the AWB Institute.
“We have a big disconnect in younger generations
in what their options and opportunities are in the work
— Meredith “Peggy” Willcuts, senior STEM education consultant in the
world,” Anderson said. The idea is to help teachers explore
Office of STEM Education at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
new occupational vistas, which they can then each share
with hundreds of students.
“It helps them think outside the box of their classroom
when developing curriculum for students,” Anderson said.
Heidi Hoiland, a sixth-grade science teacher at Hockinson Middle
School in Brush Prairie, said the STEM Institute made the teachers feel
like students, then had them put their “teacher hat” back on to figure
out how to translate the experience to their pupils.
“It’s a great way to get into a professional development opportunity
that is outside the walls of a conference room,” Hoiland said. “It
is content focused. We spend so much time on best practices in
education... to find good professional development focused on science
is so rare, and this is that opportunity.”
Steven Gjefle, an eighth-grade teacher at Frontier Middle School
Video Extra: Watch AWB’s PNNL STEM video at
in Moses Lake, said this was a good opportunity to see the world in a
www.bit.ly/PNNL-STEM-video
different way — a key trait that unites scientists, teachers and students.
AWB Institute:
“I live in the desert here in Moses Lake, but I haven’t gone out and
www.awbinstitute.com
looked at it with the eyes of a research scientist, leading you along and
PNNL STEM education:
allowing you to look at things through a different lens... That’s what we
externalaffairs.pnnl.gov/default aspx?topic=STEM_Programs
do as teachers.”
“You never know where your next patentable worker
will come from, your next Nobel Prize winner. The
value of exposing students to a passionate teacher
as early as kindergarten is so valuable. You never
know when it will turn their heads.”
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