KID Museum, Amazon Future Engineer Offering Professional Development to Educators

As schools continue to navigate virtual, hybrid and in-person teaching, educators across the greater Washington region now have access to KID Museum’s Maker Learning Professional Development Program, an initiative created by KID Museum and supported through a collaboration with Amazon Future Engineer. Through this pilot program, 50 teachers from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) will be trained to deliver high-impact, maker-based learning curriculum to more than 2,000 elementary and middle school students.

The program helps teachers deliver real skills development coupled with confidence building, creative problem solving and youth agency.

The program kicked off in mid-February with the first cohort, including 50 educators from MCPS and DCPS—primarily elementary and middle school teachers, STEM teachers and media specialists—from Title I schools and schools with a high percentage of students who receive Free and Reduced-price Meals. Teachers will participate in professional development, individualized coaching and a ready-to-implement series of hands-on maker learning experiences that are aligned to the districts’ curricula and can be delivered to students virtually or in hybrid learning. Teachers will also share best practices for maker learning.

“Every time I walk away from a KID Museum professional development session, I have something I can take into my classroom and use,” said Jo Belyea-Doerrman, a 7th grade teacher at Shady Grove Middle School. “I get to experience what the kids are doing; I get to do the hands-on activities myself, so I’m engaged. I always look forward to it.”

Funding is being provided by Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon’s childhood-to-career program that inspires, educates and prepares students from underserved communities and groups underrepresented in the tech fields. Amazon Future Engineer has donated more than $20 million to organizations that promote computer science and STEM education.