The Staten Island Greenbelt Education Program is about teaching and learning that is focused on student-centered inquiry, it provides a project-based approach to STEM education that integrates the skills of creativity and innovation. The Master Teaching Fellows Academy at the College of Staten Island is partnering with the Staten Island Greenbelt Education Program with the goal of exploring and revealing naïve conceptions and misconceptions about science embedded in elementary school students’ knowledge to improve science teaching at elementary schools. The Staten Island Greenbelt Education Program’s mission “To provide innovative environmental education programming promoting science, stewardship, and sustainability, to instill a sense of wonder and responsibility for the natural world” aligns very well with the goals of our NSF project. In the first two years of our project, we worked closely with the staff of Makerspace to educate our fellows about Maker Movement and how to use Makerspace in their classrooms. As part of this professional development, our fellows planned and tested the projects they designed for their students. This year we are expanding our collaboration to the Greenbelt, New York City’s largest and most extraordinary natural resource, unique to Staten Island. We will work closely with the staff of the Greenbelt Education Program to educate our fellows about how to use the Greenbelt in their classrooms. Our fellows will plan and test the projects they will design for their students at the Greenbelt.

NSF Awards: 1657755