For our 2025 Science and Engineering Program for Teachers, we will be opening the application process to a new cohort for an on-campus event from Sunday, July 6th through Friday, July 11th. If you have any questions about the program please reach out to sept@mit.edu.
More information about our program:
For one week each summer, teachers from around the world are meeting each other at MIT for the annual Science and Engineering Program for Teachers (SEPT)!
Since 1989, over 2,000 middle and high school teachers have been selected to participate in SEPT - all recognized as innovative, creative, and dedicated leaders in their schools and communities. Each year, SEPT teachers attend lectures from top scientists, try out the latest technology developed on campus, and talk shop with an outstanding group of passionate educators - professors, students, researchers, and teachers at sessions together all week long!
SEPT Class of 2024. Thank you for joining us for our week-long Professional Development on campus!
Update September 2024:
Science and Engineering Program for Teachers 2024
Each summer, the SEPT program offers teachers a chance to participate in lectures from world leading scientists, try out the latest technology on campus, and get the chance to network with a like minded group of innovative educators for the week.
We were thrilled to host the 35th annual program on campus at MIT July 7th-July 12th. This group of teachers were selected during our application process. Most teachers were selected by MIT Alumni Clubs in their area, while a handful were selected by our team.
This year's sessions included a mix of lectures delivered from MIT’s top lecturers and afternoon tracks of Broadening Participation in STEM and Games and Simulations in the classroom.. We started our program off with a catered dinner on campus Sunday evening, introductions and an ice breaker game to get to know the cohort.
Monday morning started with a wonderful talk and campus tour with John Ochsendorf (Professor of Architecture and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering). The other morning lectures throughout the week were given by Eric Klopfer (Director, Scheller Teacher Education Program and Game Lab), MIT Admissions, David Kaiser (Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics), Sarah Williams (Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning, Director, Civic Data Design Lab), Rupal Jain (Lifelong Kindergarten Group: MIT Media Lab), and Angie Belcher (James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering, Materials Science and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT). The group also got to take a walking tour of Angie Belcher’s lab which seeks to understand and harness nature’s own processes in order to design technologically important materials and devices for energy, the environment, and medicine.
We also had hands-on practical workshops with the Scheller Teacher Education Programs RAICA and XQ teams. The Responsible AI for Computational Action (RAICA)The Responsible AI for Computational Action (RAICA) project is a project-centered curriculum that prepares middle and high school students to be responsible producers and informed users of AI. The group talked with our RAICA team on how their students create projects using AI tools and responsible design to deepen their understanding of AI literacy and take computational action in their communities. In this workshop, the cohort went through RAICA’s design process and utilized AI to prototype a project that is meaningful to their community.
Our CAIL: Collaborative AI for Learning presentation had the teachers Interact with our labs XQ Team on a collaborative AI bot they are currently working on, and to share their feedback on the experience and help us iterate on our design.
In our afternoon sessions, the cohort could choose between one of the following two tracks, Broadening Participation in the Classroom or Games and Simulations, with a subset of the participants. The Games and Simulations track had teachers play and learn about games, and work on lesson plans/create curriculum around existing games, and possibly design or modify games themselves. Teachers' final presentations were like a gallery walkthrough with a poster session, where the teachers in the other tracks play their games and give feedback. The Broadening Participation Track was a discussion-oriented track, with the final group presentation to the rest of the cohort about what they covered and learned.
The cohort also had a behind the scenes look at the Boston Museum of Science where we explored the museum after our session and then after the museum closed, had a private dinner overlooking the charles in a private dining room.. After dinner, the group took part in an engineering design process session, where we engaged in a collaborative problem-solving challenge together with some basic materials.
It was excellent to have this group of teachers together on campus for SEPT this summer. We hope to hear from teachers throughout the school year how they are implementing skills and resources learned during their week at MIT in their classrooms.
Quotes from teachers:
“The lectures were one of my favorite parts. The professors were so inspiring. The tour with Dr. Ochsendorf was really helpful to understand the nature of MIT. I'm using pictures I took of the dorm made of clinker bricks as a notice and wonder activity. The talk about dark matter being in primordial microscopic black holes by Dr. Kaiser was really interesting. My students always ask me about dark matter and black holes. Dr. Kaiser's ability to talk about such an advanced topic in an accessible way is remarkable. Dr. Belcher was so inspiring with her creativity, interdisciplinary background, and her willingness to let us tour her lab. Finally, Dr. Klopfer made a great point that games need to make learning playful while avoiding "edutainment" and to infuse pleasant frustration into my lessons.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the night at the Museum of Science. I would not change anything. The food was delicious and the activities were engaging.”
“I was so honored to be a part of this cohort and can't wait to see how we can continue this community and grow our learning!”
“Thank you so much for the most incredible experience, both personally and professionally. If we are ever able to attend again, please let me know!!!”
“OMG! I absolutely loved this track (Broadening Participation in STEM).. Moody is phenomenal! Some of the ideas I will implement into my class are:
Inclusive Curriculum - become more intentional about representing the diversity of my students
- Cultural Competence - making sure I'm aware of the different backgrounds and experiences my students bring to the classroom
- Safe Learning Environment - It is important for students to feel safe and brave when they are in my presence. Students will feel safe, respected and valued
- Representation Matters - I have always made sure my students see people who look like them in lessons and guest speakers
- Bias Awareness - this topic was a huge eye-opener for me!!
- Lifelong Learning - I am always seeking to learn how to continually adapt and learn ways to meet the needs of my students.”
“I came into this experience with the belief that games are very helpful for engaging diverse learners. I loved this workshop, especially the time we spent playing different games and the people running it were great!”
“Adding gaming and game design into the classroom can help students of all abilities become engaged with the material.”