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Kathryn Atkins
Director | The Wade Institute at Manomet Conservation Sciences
In late August of this year, Governor Healy’s Executive Office of Education (EOE) awarded a STEM Challenge Grant to the Wade Institute to design and deliver free curriculum and training to Massachusetts teachers, supporting them in bringing hands-on, engaging STEM learning to their students. Massachusetts STEM Week is an annual event organized by the EOE in conjunction with the state’s STEM Advisory Council and the state’s Regional STEM networks. The Wade Institute has been a proud participant for the past six years.
This year’s theme, “STEM Starts Now,” could not have aligned better with our own timeline. The grant challenged us to design a complete curriculum and teacher training experience for Massachusetts STEM Week beginning October 20—a fast turn-around that our team embraced with enthusiasm.
Working with our partner Katie Koerten, Education Director at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, the Wade Institute team got to work. Within just a few weeks, we:
- Developed a full curriculum packet, H2Whoa! Hydroengineers at Work;
- Ordered and assembled 100 classroom materials kits—each containing $150 in free supplies (thanks to an impressively efficient packing line at Manomet HQ!);
- Coordinated pickup locations across the state and staffed them for distribution; and,
- Designed, scheduled, and delivered two full days of teacher training.
The result was a fast-paced, collaborative effort that brought high-quality STEM learning directly to classrooms across Massachusetts—demonstrating, once again, the power of strong partnerships and the dedication of educators who inspire the next generation of problem-solvers.
At the heart of the H2Whoa! Hydroengineers at Work Challenge is a real-world problem that students can tackle with science and engineering knowledge and skills – access to clean water in a changing ecosystem. We asked students a simple, powerful question: How would you collect and clean water when it’s scarce or polluted?
Students answered by designing and building their own systems to capture rainwater or snowmelt and filter it to make it cleaner. The curriculum packet guided students step by step—through lessons on the water cycle, watersheds and pollution, water filtration systems, materials testing, and ultimately, the Water Capture Challenge. We expect the curriculum packets and kits to reach close to 5,000 students this year alone, with the potential to reach thousands more in future years! Teachers loved the workshop and materials, with one teacher saying, “[The training was] so well organized. I loved the student activities and appreciated the STEM materials.” The STEM Challenge Grant always makes an exciting fall for the Wade team, but it’s work we truly love. We hope to continue supporting Massachusetts educators through this program for years to come.
