Teach ME Outside is excited to announce that the 2022 Census of Community-Based Environmental Learning in Maine will be opening in August. This statewide outdoor and environmental learning survey is a follow up to the wildly successful 2019 Census. This follow up to the 2019 Census will help us understand how our field has changed… [Read More]
Educators gather in Augusta for Numeracy in Nature event
The Numeracy in Nature project team gathered 40 enthusiastic educators at the Viles Arboretum in Augusta on a brisk Saturday morning in early May. For a full day, MMSA staff facilitated experiences where educators were outside, experiencing Numeracy in Nature and then reflecting with their colleagues on how to implement lessons in their classrooms. One… [Read More]
A Community Conversation in collaboration with Cross Cultural Community Services
For the past year, MMSA has been working with funding from UNUM that allowed us to focus on understanding the assets and needs of the BIOPOC and New Mainer communities in the Greater Portland area. To do this, MMSA partnered with Cross Cultural Community Services (CCCS), a Portland-based group that helps organizations address issues of… [Read More]
The Station is available for download in the App Store
The STEMports team is thrilled to announce that their app is now available to the public through the Apple App Store. The Station is an augmented-reality app (for iOS) for community-based STEM learning and workforce development. Created through an NSF grant, and partnership with Field Day Lab in Madison, WI, players can take on location-based… [Read More]
WeatherBlur presents at international citizen science conference in Aarhus, Denmark
MMSA’s Rebecca Clark Uchenna and Barton Academy teacher Megan McCall recently traveled to Aarhus, Denmark, to present at the Engaging Citizen Science Conference. They shared how MMSA’s place-based citizen science program, WeatherBlur, is unique within the field. McCall is a current WeatherBlur teacher and has been implementing the program in her classrooms for three years…. [Read More]
That’s a wrap: Math4ME’s 5th cohort finishes up this month
The 5th cohort of Math4ME, a project led in collaboration with MMSA math team members and Maine DOE project coaches, wrapped up their final professional learning session this month. The Math4ME cohort consisted of 10 teachers and 9 educational technicians who committed to the fully virtual year-long program. Educators participated in approximately 23 hours of… [Read More]
WeatherBlur presents at the NARST Annual Conference
MMSA’s Dr. Ruth Kermish-Allen and Alexandria Brasili recently presented their research findings from the WeatherBlur project at the NARST Annual Conference. NARST is a global organization of professionals committed to the improvement of science teaching and learning through research. The presentation, titled “Weatherblur: Powering the Science Learning Process with Co-Created Citizen Science” was a part… [Read More]
Maine State Science Fair returns to in-person after a two-year virtual hiatus
McKayla Kendall and Maya Elkadi show off the clay filtration tablets they made to remediate industrial pollution in water. Colby College’s new Alfond Athletics Center was abuzz with excitement on Saturday, March 26. Scientific posters and lab notebooks replaced sports equipment; spiffily-dressed high school students stood in for college athletes. It was a Maine State… [Read More]
Destination Imagination Maine State Tournament 2022
This year, the Reach Project at MMSA held the Destination Imagination Maine State Tournament for the first time. Destination Imagination (DI) is a creative, team-focused STEAM competition for K-12 and university students. Each year teams choose between seven different Team Challenges, and spend months working together to design, build, and create solutions that they present… [Read More]