STEM and Mathematics Recovery Resources

Challenge

The Palestine National STEM Education Framework is a forward-looking commitment to strengthen education and ensure youth are prepared for increasingly technical workplaces. Yet prolonged crisis has eroded much of the education system’s historically strong capacity, and disruptions caused by COVID-19 caused many children to fall even farther behind. Today, roughly half of primary-aged Palestinian children lack foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Three-fourths of 15-year-olds lack the minimal proficiency in math and science they will need for higher levels of education and STEM careers.

EDC is helping to bring the Framework to life and supporting the Ministry of Education & Higher Education’s aspirations for improvement by providing evidence-based classroom resources in STEM and primary mathematics for teachers and learners. Drawing on EDC’s long history of global leadership in STEM, these resources will help teachers and students to innovate, improve, and recover from systemic challenges. This work is part of a larger initiative: Supporting an Education Reform Agenda for Improving Teaching, Assessment and Career Pathways.

Key Activities

The project is carrying out the following activities:

• Developing priority learning outcomes frameworks for mathematics in Grades 1–6 and for integrated STEM in Grades 5 and 6
• Creating teacher resource guides and learner materials for classroom-based integrated STEM instruction for Grades 5 and 6
• Designing a recovery/support program for primary grade mathematics (Grades 1–6) to be implemented in classrooms by teachers and teaching assistants
• Producing mathematics support materials for use by teachers and teaching assistants in Grades 1–6 classrooms
• Training a team of STEM specialists to train, coach, and support teachers to implement integrated STEM activities in Grades 5 and 6
• Training a team of mathematics specialists to train and support teachers and assistant teachers to implement recovery/support mathematics programming in Grades 1–6 classrooms
• Planning for integrating classroom-based STEM teaching and learning in pre-service teacher education programming

Our Impact

• The project will create first-time pathways to STEM experiences for in-school learners
• Resources will support improved teaching and learning across all public schools