Robert N. Noyce Center for Learning
A Professional Home for Teachers at The Tech
In honor of the late Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Intel, the Center for Learning (NCFL) supports K-12 education with outstanding professional development opportunities. The Center encourages creativity and innovation, bringing the unique resources of The Tech to the essential effort to improve and inspire teaching and learning in science and mathematics and to promote the effective use of technology.
The Center for Learning strives to engage participants in the process of innovation. To accomplish this, the NCFL employs a design-based, problem-solving approach called Design in Mind Learning. Through the NCFL, teachers can gain hands-on experiences with science and technology, explore methods to bring real-world design-based problems into their classrooms, and share experiences and collaborations with other teachers and industry experts.
NCFL Offerings
Design Challenge Summer Institutes for Teachers
Each summer, the Center for Learning offers weeklong, immersive, experiential institutes focused on Design Challenges and Design in Mind Learning. This exciting, design-based pedagogical approach to teaching and learning science, technology, and other subject areas, is highly motivational for students and teachers alike, and leads to an appreciation for and development of the skills and habits of mind of an innovator. The summer Institutes help teachers, with a focus on grades 4-8, learn to incorporate problem solving and design challenges into their science teaching.
Inspiring Educator Workshops
Inspiring Educators Workshops are offered throughout the year at The Tech or at the Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT). These 3 to 6 hour workshops focus on introducing teachers to The Tech's Design in Mind learning model, participating in one or more Design Challenges, as well as discussing the programs offered by the Noyce Center for Learning.
Participants are given a free Educator membership to The Tech, which includes a 10% discount in the store, and the option of signing up (through RAFT) for continuing education credits. To learn more about these workshops, please email cfl@thetech.org
Free Educator Membership Program
We invite you to become a member of our learning community and find a professional "home" here at The Tech. Ultimately, we hope you join us in promoting learning through design and innovation as part of your professional practice.
Curriculum Online
Design Challenge Curriculum
We have a growing number of Design Challenges matched with California State Science Standards available for download in PDF format. Design Challenges represent an essential aspect of The Tech's Design in Mind Learning pedagogy where students engage in the design process to solve a relevant, authentic, real-world problem. There were over 30,000 free downloads of Design Challenges in 2004.
Educational Collaborations
The Noyce Center for Learning is engaged in a number of collaborations with both local and national museums and other educational and service organizations.
RAFT (Resource Area for Teachers) www.raft.net: The Center for Learning and RAFT have collaborated on a number of workshops and institutes since 2003, including hosting our Design Challenge Institutes 2003 and 2004 @ RAFT and providing Design Challenge teacher professional development workshops on such topics as Electricity and Magnetism, Earthquakes, and Potential and Kinetic Energy.
Boston Museum of Science http://www.mos.org/doc/1545/ - The Tech is partnering with the Boston Museum of Science to pilot its innovative Engineering is Elementary curriculum.
University and Industry Partnerships
Preservice Teachers
- The NCFL collaborates with education professors from San Jose State and Santa Clara University to introduce Design in Mind Learning and Design Challenges to pre-service teachers.
Graduate Student and Teacher Internships
- The NCFL sponsors graduate student interns from Stanford University and San Jose State University and teacher summer internships in collaboration with Affymetrix through the IISME program.
