UAH’s Institute for Science Education brings RE-SEED Program to Huntsville

Professor Christos Zahopoulos, founder and executive director of Northeastern University’s Center for STEM Education, is leading a four-day workshop to train members of the Retirees Enhancing Science Education through Experiments and Demonstrations (RE-SEED) Program.

Outreach is a central tenet of the Institute for Science Education at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH ISEd), a non-profit organization that seeks to raise awareness of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields in education.

Pursuant to that objective, the Institute is pleased to announce its participation in the Retirees Enhancing Science Education through Experiments and Demonstrations (RE-SEED) Program. The highly successful, free initiative enlists retired STEM professionals to promote greater interest in science and engineering among students at the middle-school level (grades 6, 7, and 8).

Candidates for the Huntsville program have already been selected and are currently undergoing a four-day professional development workshop led by Professor Christos Zahopoulos (College of Engineering), founder and executive director of Northeastern University's Center for STEM Education. The curriculum will familiarize them with the supporting roles they can play in the classroom, the process for assisting teachers and students, and examples of exemplary hands-on, inquiry-based learning activities.

Upon completion, the RE-SEED volunteers will then be introduced to Huntsville-area classrooms, where they will work closely with the host science teachers to help them enrich and implement their school curriculum throughout the academic year.

Though new to the Huntsville area, the RE-SEED Program has been in existence since 1991. More than 750 retired scientists and engineers in 14 states have been trained to assist science teachers in the classroom, delivering more than 800,000 hours of classroom assistance.