The San Diego STEM Collaboratory—which includes SDWP’s Life Sciences Summer Institute—was featured as a “Spotlight Booth” at the recent STEAMConnect Ascend Conference. The annual event highlights science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) education.
The San Diego STEM Collaboratory strives to help San Diego County prepare California’s most STEM-capable graduates and fuel STEM talent in the local K-16 educational pipeline. As part of these efforts, the Collaboratory partners with the STEAMConnect Conference, which brings together educators, administrators, nonprofit and business leaders, and regional policymakers to further the movement from STEM to STEAM. The +a in STE[+a]M integrates arts with STEM education, sparking the interplay between left-brain convergent thinking and right-brain divergent thinking.
Nearly 600 attended the March 5 conference, held at the Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall. The event featured a host of speakers, including Yvonne Spicer from the Museum of Science in Boston, Jeff Poulin from the Americans for the Arts, Chris Roe from the CA STEM Learning Network, and Craig Watson from the CA Arts Council.
The event included two case studies sessions, a session on STEAM in San Diego, and a session on industry engagement.
STEAMConnect is a collaborative effort between UCSD Extension and KDR PR to discuss hot topics around STEAM, forge new partnerships and pinpoint key action items to help turn STEAM ideas into reality. To learn more, visit http://steamconnect.org.