With decades of experience providing research, evaluation,
large-scale data analysis, assessment, technical assistance, and
professional development, WestEd supports educational
reform that expands innovative learning opportunities for all
learners, especially those with diverse interests or facing multiple
challenges to success. It aims to identify and disseminate strategies
that foster academic achievement, deep engagement in learning,
social-emotional development, 21st Century skills, career readiness,
postsecondary transitions, and economic self-sufficiency. It also
supports the development of systems that enable Subject Matter Experts
(SMEs) and other industry professionals to engage effectively with
education to provide deeper and more authentic learning experiences
for students.
Pursuant to a large study in California on “work-based learning”,
since 2010 WestEd has committed to developing hands-on, “real world”
learning in STEM through the GLOBE program. WestEd focuses on
partnership development, research and evaluation, and students' career
preparation, and works closely with UC Berkeley to recruit and engage
teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, to implement GLOBE
protocols, activities, and projects. Through the NASA-funded GLOBE
Mission Earth program and other collaborations, it is also spreading
the work beyond the Bay Area.
Training, professional learning and other activities are offered in
partnership with UC Berkeley's Department of Chemistry,
Atmospheric Sciences. UCB has been working over the past 12
years to increase educational opportunities to engage K-12 educators
and their students in field-based data collection in order to gain
a better understanding of the Earth around them. UCB's GLOBE program
provides in-classroom student support, teacher professional learning,
and project-based learning tools and lessons. UCB and the partnership
actively support the implementation of the GLOBE Pacific Regional
Student Research Symposium, both in-person and virtually. UCB has an
in-house GLOBE Mentor Trainer, Tracy Ostrom, who is also a former high
school science teacher with 13 years of industry experience in
environmental management. This combined expertise has been used to
expand and deepen scientific understanding in K-12 schools who serve
students in STEM.
For more information on our involvement with GLOBE Mission Earth,
visit our webpage.
