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Reaching STEM Educators: From Awareness to Action

NCWIT Aspirations Leaders

August 10, 2022

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Carol L. Fletcher, Ph.D.�Director, EPIC�Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) The University of TX @ Austin �Founder, WeTeach_CS�weteachcs.orgcfletcher@tacc.utexas.edu�@drfletcher88

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Relationships�

Relationships�

Relationships�

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One Size Does Not Fit All

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Potential Connectors

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District Connectors

  • Get to know the point person in your most innovative districts
    • Superstar Teacher
    • CTE Director
    • Math or Science Coordinator
    • Counselor
    • CS Teacher

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Leverage Existing Organizations

  • Focus on existing STEM organizations
    • Math Teachers org (NCTM), Science Teachers org (NSTA), CTE state orgs, ISTE state affiliates
  • Out of School Time
    • Girls Scouts
    • Boys and Girls Clubs
    • Girls Who Code
  • Microsoft TEALS
  • State education intermediaries (in TX, Education Service Centers; in PA, Intermediate Units)

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Nudge Theory – �“If you want to encourage someone to do something, make it easy.”�-- Richard Thaler

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

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https://blog.saberr.com/how-to-encourage-good-teamwork-habits-with-behavioural-nudges

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Strategies

Sponsor

Sponsor an event at a teacher conference to build your teacher network

Host

Host a virtual “how to apply” session with incentives or door prizes

Sponsor

Sponsor a lunch or event at school so you can get directly in front of students and work with teachers/administrators to promote

Create

Create brief, pithy messages that can be shared by email with more details at a link

Create

Create template for a letter to send to students and parents saying they’ve been nominated by a teacher to apply

Create

Create sample text messages, tweets, etc with memes to share with students