action network

Regional Gatherings Enable Local Connection in a National Network

At Regional Gatherings (originally dubbed “Back-to-School Breakfasts”), partners get the chance to connect with others working nearby: discussing their work, sharing challenges, and collectively brainstorming solutions. Through learning about each other’s work and ideating around how to solve challenges, partners can walk away with immediate next steps to implement - whether that be to have an internal conversation, follow up with a regional partner, or research a particular program to learn more.

At the 2019 Regional Gathering in Southern California, the California Science Center was able to connect with folks from Torrance Unified School District, and a new partnership was born. The Science Center had been eager to connect with local school districts in their state to support STEM educators with their resources and expertise, so they applied for a 100Kin10 Collaboration Grant to support a meeting directly with Torrance. Ramona Chang, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Torrance, attended the gathering and reflected on what it’s been like for schools to build partnerships with organizations outside of the traditional education sector:

"

“I have found that working with organizations such as the Science Center provides us the opportunity to see beyond the K-12 sector. Collaborations with groups outside the K-12 sector is vital for both the school district and the other organizations such as the Science Center. We all have extended our science knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and Next Generation Science Standards knowledge. While we have always known that this is a vital component, it has been because of 100Kin10 that we have been able to expand our professional network.”

"