STEM

The Florida Center for Research in STEM (FCR-STEM) is leading the workforce and educational development FSU’s InSPIRE (Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, and Education) project. In June, the FCR-STEM staff conducted eight week-long professional learning courses throughout Coastal Northwest Florida. All the courses focused on AI and robotics and were provided free of charge as part of InSPIRE at FSU, a program funded by Triumph Gulf Coast.

FSU InSPIRE Executive Director Drew Allen interview discussing LSI, FCR-STEM, the goals of the InSPIRE project and the future of work in Coastal NWFL.

Beginning in 2022, the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at Florida State University provided guidance and support to the Florida Department of Education's first-ever PreK-2 assessment program. LSI's involvement in this phase of the project will be completed in August, but not before 4,000 test items have been created and 200 practitioners in Florida have been trained.

FCR-STEM staff will conduct seven professional learning courses for Gulf Coast teachers from June 2 to June 27. All the courses will focus on AI and robotics and will be provided for free as part of the Innovation for Strategic Partnerships for Innovation, Research and Education (InSPIRE) at FSU, a program funded by Triumph Gulf Coast. 

The FSU InSPIRE workforce development team received formal recognition for excellence in innovative education with the Ralph Stair Prize. A crucial part of InSPIRE’s mission, Carrie Meyers and Jim Reynolds co-lead the winning workforce development team together.

The Florida Center for Research in STEM (FCR-STEM) was created by the Florida Legislature and competitively awarded to Florida State University in 2006. Housed inside the Learning Systems Institute (LSI), FCR-STEM is shaping the future of STEM education in Florida from the panhandle to the peninsula.

More than 20,000 Florida educators have completed the Florida Department of Education's Civics Seal of Excellence course, which is hosted on a portal developed by LSI and FCR-STEM and built on the CPALMS platform.

After 20 hours of virtual instruction, teachers from Florida’s panhandle counties are returning to their classrooms with cutting-edge skills in AI Prompt Engineering. The AIENGIN102 course, "Leveraging AI Prompt Engineering for Engineering Design Pedagogy," is part of FSU’s InSPIRE activity and was administered by staff at Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute (LSI).

One of the impactful resources CPALMS offers is the Mathematics Formative Assessment System (MFAS). Teachers using MFAS ask students to perform mathematical tasks, explain their reasoning and justify their solutions.

The Florida Philanthropic Network (FPN) has awarded Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute (LSI) a grant to implement the “Afterschool Math Success: Developing the Vision and Support” project. The grant will be implemented by LSI’s Florida Center for Research in STEM (FCR-STEM), with Carrie Meyers, LSI’s Director of STEM Outreach, serving as the Principal Investigator.