Dartmouth College, the Montshire Museum of Science, and educators from local middle schools are participating in a five-year project to create new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs for students and teachers in rural New Hampshire and Vermont.

The initiative, funded by a $1.3 million Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is creating and implementing new, NGSS-aligned educational units, building a virtual STEM teacher network for rural New England, and developing a “near-peer” student mentorship program.

Faculty members from Dartmouth’s department of Biological Sciences, department of Education, and Thayer School of Engineering, students from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, and educators from the Montshire Museum, are working with local teachers and students on the project. The project is developing resources for teachers and students in grades 6 – 8 from the Claremont (NH) Middle School, the Indian River Middle School (Canaan NH), the Barnet (VT) Middle School, and the Tunbridge (VT) Central School.