Rebecca Cummings has been an educator for 15 years, teaching fourth and fifth grade at Pelham Elementary School, then developing and teaching the STEAM program for 5 years.  She is currently the Lead STEAM Teacher and PBL Coach at Hampstead Academy.  Having worked on a three-year grant with teachers throughout New Hampshire to infuse inquiry into science education, she has helped to develop lessons, training, and mentorships in which children discover the value of their own wonderings, and their own ideas are celebrated as essential to the learning process. Rebecca's love of science has inspired her students to make connections that can be utilized in all subject areas throughout their education. When they are exploring, questioning, predicting, observing, researching, collecting data, and making sense of their findings, students' ideas blossom from simple questions such as, "What is inside this bean that will make it grow?" and "Does dead stuff have energy?" She refers to this as minds-on, rather than hands-on, learning. She loves to facilitate the process by allowing students the space and materials to grow as thoughtful scientists. Every year new ideas fuel her own excitement, such as augmenting her lessons with the latest technology. Rebecca has a B.A., cum laude, in English and child study from Tufts University, and a M.Ed., cum laude, from Rivier College, and is certified in kindergarten through sixth grade elementary education.