Citizen Schools has been awarded a $2M grant from the Biogen Foundation as part of the foundation's recently announced STAR Initiative. As 1 of 6 recipients of the STAR (Science, Teacher Support, Access and Readiness) Initiative, Citizen Schools will expand its signature apprenticeship program to provide hands-on STEM courses, taught by experts, to thousands of middle school students in the Somerville district, and to support classroom teacher instruction during the school day.
Read MoreIn the spring of 2011, Jose Melo, a fifth grader at the Dever McCormack School in Dorchester, MA, took his first apprenticeships with Citizen Schools: It’s All About Gummy Bears and Bootstrap. In the midst of learning the science behind what makes gummy bears gummy and what it takes to program a video game, he discovered an appetite for science and math. By the time he graduated from eighth grade three years later, Jose had completed a total of twelve apprenticeships through Citizen Schools - all of which had a focus on STEM.
Read MoreA memory popped up on my Facebook feed this morning of an event five years ago today at Neal Middle School in Durham.
Students gathered in the gym to make contact with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut Nancy Currie was there to share her experiences living in space, and students asked questions of Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineer Don Pettit aboard the station.
Read More
