NEOMED’s STEM+M academy selected as training center

Staff report

ROOTSTOWN

As a result of its ongoing success in developing learning opportunities for students, Bio-Med Science Academy, a year-round public high school on the Northeast Ohio Medical University campus, has been selected by the Ohio STEM Learning Network to serve as one of its regional training centers.

The Ohio STEM Learning Network training centers were developed to meet the growing demand for STEM professional development and provide educators at every school with the support they need to implement effective STEM education strategies.

Each training-center site highlights the strengths of the STEM schools in that region, allowing educators to focus on proven and effective STEM education and learning methodologies.

Trainings cover topics such as problem- and project-based learning, student-led conferences, technology integration and mastery learning.

“From the start, Bio-Med’s team has been dedicated to serving as a resource for the region. That focus on a ‘big footprint’ is one of the reasons we have been so excited to see the school grow,” said Dustin Pyles, director of operations for Ohio STEM Learning Network. “Bio-Med’s selection as a training center recognizes the school’s success at preparing students and its value as a demonstration site of innovative teaching and learning. The number of new and emerging STEM schools and programs in Ohio has doubled since Bio-Med first opened, and the need for these services has never been higher.”

The Ohio STEM Learning Network is supported and managed by BattelleEd, a nonprofit venture of Battelle Memorial Institute, as the state’s official public-private STEM education partner. Bio-Med Science Academy is among eight schools within the Ohio STEM Learning Network to serve as regional training-center sites.

As a training-center site, Bio-Med Science Academy will offer training and consultation to teachers all across Ohio in identified areas of expertise, including Google Apps for educators, literacy-design collaborative, math-design collaborative, restorative practices and engineering concepts.

“As a relatively young STEM school, we are honored by our selection as one of the Ohio STEM Learning Network’s regional training center sites,” said Stephanie Lammlein, director of the academy. “We have certainly benefited from the insights of our peers as we have developed our own best practices, and it is in that spirit we look forward to sharing our successful instruction techniques with our colleagues from around the state.”

Bio-Med Science Academy is a tuition-free public STEM+M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine) high school open to any student in Ohio but was developed to serve students primarily from rural communities in Portage County and other surrounding counties.

The academy’s course themes are developed based on current trends in science and medicine as well as the research and education being conducted at NEOMED.

The academy also develops educational experiences around community health and the environment in both urban and rural communities.

For information on the academy or to fill out an application for the wait list, visit www.biomedscienceacademy.org or call 330-325-6186.