Carnegie Mellon University
Gelfand Center  ›  STEM Education  ›  K-12 Teachers  ›  Professional Development Programs

Carnegie Mellon professional development programs for K-12 Teachers include, but are not limited to:

Alice is an innovative block-based programming environment that makes it easy to create animations, build interactive narratives, or program simple games in 3D. Unlike many of the puzzle-based coding applications, Alice motivates learning through creative exploration. Alice is designed to teach logical and computational thinking skills, fundamental principles of programming and to be a first exposure to object-oriented programming. The Alice Project provides supplemental tools and materials for teaching, using Alice across a spectrum of ages and subject matter with proven benefits in engaging and retaining diverse and underserved groups in computer science education. Alice is a free to download, innovative software tool that allows students who have never programmed before to easily create animations for telling stories, creating an interactive game, or making a video to share on the web.
The goal of this program is to build connections between the CMU Department of Physics and Pennsylvania high school physics teachers. We want the best young minds to be motivated to pursue careers in physics. You, as high school physics teachers, play the most important part in achieving this and we would like to help provide you with resources that you need.

CS Academy offers professional development opportunites for teachers interested in incorporating CS Academy curriculum into the classroom. CMU CS Academy currently offers three different graphics-based computer science curricula in Python. Each curriculum uses interactive notes, autograded exercises, creative tasks, and projects. The notes help explain various topics and include interactive checkpoints to help check for students’ understanding of the concepts covered. Additionally, our autograded exercises help students practice concepts learned directly from the notes and our creative and collaborative tasks help students apply what they have learned to create something of their own! 

Since 2006 the Gelfand Center has created opportunities for middle and high school teachers of STEM subjects to meet with Carnegie Mellon faculty and students. These workshops are held on Saturdays during the academic year or in the summer. Teachers gain a broader understanding of what it means to conduct research and how research is integrated into the work of a scientist or engineer. The format includes presentations, hands-on activities, tours of research facilities and panel discussions. Participants also learn about opportunities for middle and high school students to become engaged in research activities and how students can share their work through regional competitions and programs. In many cases the Carnegie Mellon faculty members are hoping that teachers will help them to understand the connections between their research and content that is taught in schools. This information is frequently used to design broader impacts stratgies for National Science Foundation Proposals.

 Recent programs have included both in-person and remote sessions. 

The Robotics Academy is a world leader in robotics education and trains teachers here in Pittsburgh and beyond in online, face to face, or in programs  at your location.

Check out the Robotics Academy to learn more about the extensive programming they offer! 

The SUCCEED Teacher Workshop is a 2-day program during which CMU faculty and students work with teachers to better understand how much they already know about climate/energy. Our goal is to help teachers incorporate these materials into their curriculum to address issues related to sustainable energy systems and climate change. The SUCCEED program is supported in part by the Leonard Gelfand Center and by the National Science Foundation.