The Naval Historical Foundation is pleased to again offer two-week teacher fellowships for summer 2012 to science, technology, engineering, math and U.S. History (STEM-H) teachers in support of the Washington, DC National Museum of the United States Navy and the Cold War Gallery exhibit, highlighting the Navy’s efforts from 1946 – 1991.
DOWNLOAD THE 2012 STEM-H APPLICATION
2011 teachers receive instruction in the Covert Submarine Operations exhibit
Background: The Navy has partnered with the non-profit 501 (c)(3) Naval Historical Foundation to design and fabricate state-of-the-art exhibits telling the story of the Navy’s role in achieving a peaceful outcome in the Cold War. For a virtual tour of the exhibit, visit www.usnavymuseum.org. The exhibit recognizes the contributions and sacrifices of the brave men and women who served their country so well. Just as important were the significant STEM advances of the period, many pioneered by the Navy. During this era, the naval technological initiatives made in nuclear propulsion, inertial guidance, electronics, mathematical systems, aerodynamics, chemistry, metallurgy, underwater physics, satellite communications, and computing, gave the United States an edge during the Cold War and led to many non-military applications that are commonplace in today’s world. The exhibit design team recognizes a tremendous potential for educators to not only use the Cold War Gallery to teach STEM concepts through hands-on, minds-on exhibits located both on site and on the web, but to enhance the exhibits through an extension of applicable history and STEM-H unit/lesson plans that can be transferred to the classroom. The work of last year’s STEM teachers is found in the “Education” section of the website. Addition of a U.S. History teacher is new this summer.
With the completion in June 2011 of a 2500 square foot exhibit focused on Cold War submarine operations and expansion of our website to include all naval aspects of the Cold War using the design to complete the gallery, an opportunity exists for educators to work with the Navy to develop STEM educational applications accompanied by a compelling historical story line: STEM-H. Working in partnership with teachers, the goal of the Naval Historical Foundation is that this exhibit and its supporting educational initiatives will use the past to inform the present and the past to advance the future of educational programs. Our Fellowship teachers in July-August 2011 were successful in meeting this goal.
STEM-H Teacher Fellowship Opportunity: The Naval Historical Foundation offers fellowships for high school teachers of science, technology, engineering, math and U.S. History to work in teams at the National Museum of the United States Navy in the historic Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC during three overlapping summer 2012 periods: July 9-20, July 16-27, and July 23-Aug 3. A stipend of $2,000 will be paid to successful applicants for the program, upon fellowship completion. Documented travel expenses, up to $500, will be provided during the first week of the fellowship. The Naval Historical Foundation will arrange and provide local hotel accommodations.
Fellowship Expectations: Fellows will receive a rewarding immersion experience involving a general orientation about the Navy in the Cold War, including detailed tours of the corresponding exhibits. In addition, Fellows will visit nearby naval units: aircraft, surface ships, and/or submarines. By tapping these resources, the Fellows will develop unit/lesson plans across the full spectrum of naval capabilities, research and development. The unit/lesson plans must also meet common core objectives and teacher’s state/local Standards of Learning requirements. These plans can be utilized by visiting school groups and accessed nation-wide via the website.
At the conclusion of the program, teacher Fellows will have the opportunity to showcase their work to a panel of Navy and Naval Historical Foundation leaders and the on-site Fellowship teams. At that time, Fellows will be awarded a certificate certifying that they have successfully completed the program. Since it is expected that the Fellows will share their products with colleagues at the local level, and (depending on acceptance) at state and national professional educator conferences, Fellows may share their preliminary presentation plans with the panel. The Naval Historical Foundation is happy to support Fellows with an additional stipend to accomplish this goal. In 2011, Fellows who applied in advance for presentations at future fall conferences were generally successful in being accepted.
Eligibility: The Naval Historical Foundation seeks certified high school educators with at least five years of experience teaching in the areas of science, technology, engineering, math and U.S. History. National Board Certification is a plus. Educators who are military veterans are encouraged to submit applications, but whether the educator has military experience or not, the selection committee is looking for enthusiastic, creative individuals capable of developing interesting and challenging unit/lesson plans.
Applications: The application should be submitted with attachments consisting of a resume, a sample unit and/or lesson plan developed by the applicant, a letter of support from their school Principal and Department Chairperson, and a commitment to share their work with colleagues at local, state or national levels. The application deadline is midnight March 29, 2012. Send applications as scanned pdf attachments to John Paulson at jpaulson@navyhistory.org or fax them to his attention at (202) 889-3565. John Paulson can answer questions about the program at this e-mail or at (202) 678-4333. Selectees will be notified by April 20, 2012.
Recap: 2011 Inaugural STEM Teacher Fellowship Program
Teachers were chosen for the inaugural summer 2011 fellowship program from dozens of superb applicants using a detailed selection criteria. The eight STEM teachers focused lesson planning on the Covert Submarine Operations exhibit of the new Cold War Gallery, which opened on June 18, 2011. The ribbon cutting ceremony was concurrent with the opening of a supporting website, www.usnavymuseum.org, detailing the Cold War Gallery in the Washington Navy Yard.
Our first group of 2011 STEM teachers (left to right): Rhonda Lott Crawford, Jeffrey D. Derda, Alan J. Skripsky, Tisha N. Jones.
Our second group of 2011 STEM teachers (left to right): Rich Gill, Ken Nagel, Ryan Gardner, Mark Clemente.
Working for two-week periods, our groups of four STEM teachers, shown on this page, received briefings on each exhibit from experts across a broad range of submarine-related topics, including sonar, periscopes, torpedoes, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, fire control, communications, electronics, nuclear propulsion, attack submarine operations, ballistic missile submarine operations, ship control, environmental control, and navigation. The teachers developed innovative plans tied to common core and state standards for algebra, geometry, statistics, biology, chemistry, environmental science, technology, and engineering. Not only are these lesson plans hosted on the new website developed for the Cold War Gallery, the website also includes the completed and planned exhibits in the gallery, has a prominent education section, and enables viewers to take virtual tours of the completed exhibits. Using real world STEM examples provides a challenging and stimulating basis for student learning. Please visit the Education page of the Cold War Gallery website to see the lesson plans, expected to launch in September 2011.
In addition to the work at the WNY museum, the teams travelled to Norfolk, VA to tour a fast attack nuclear submarine homeported at the Norfolk Naval Base. This helped teachers to tie together the submarine tutorials, Cold War submarine exhibits, and their inspirations for STEM lessons, by seeing the combined submarine-systems integrated within a submarine hull.
