Games, Apps and Entertainment in STEM Education

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. Two Week Professional Development Program in November 2013. We are looking for proposals from US based organizations with substantial experience in the area of international exchange management to run a professional development and leadership program which would take 8 – 10 participants, half from Northern Ireland and half from the Republic of Ireland to four US cities over 12-14 days to look at the future role of Games, Apps and Tech in teaching STEM subjects. Focus is generally on Grades 6 – 12. The group would be a mix of developers, educators and experts. The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have real strengths to bring to the table in the tech and creative industry area. Both are home to growing tech clusters. With strong film, ICT, music and animation industries already emerging, the games industry is next to take off as a strength in both economies. Some exciting work is being done on innovative STEM education for marginalized students which would be of interest to US educators, but the U.S. has many lessons to share from President Obama’s Innovate to Educate Program, and Research and development in gamification and STEM education. Deadline for budget proposal is August 9, 2013A sample itinerary might be the following:Sunday: Depart Ireland for Washington DC;Mon/Tuesday: Meetings in DC; Weds/Thurs/Friday/Sat: Seattle or San Francisco; Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed: New Jersey/New York; Thursday/Friday: Boston; Saturday: Depart for Ireland.Proposals should include a draft budget which would include international and domestic airfare, ground transportation, per diem, local transportation, insurance if relevant and program admin costs. Please include the cost of an escort. The substance of the program would include a mix of visits to game developers, innovative schools, educational policy makers and experts, universities and other science and STEM ed organizations and NGOs. Possible meetings might include organization like the following:University of Washington's Center for Game Science;Quest to Learn, a middle school in Manhattan, extensively uses games for teaching; National Science Foundation;Educate to Innovate;US Department of Education;McKinley Technology High School, Washington DC;The Institute of Play;MIT, Boston Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP);Zinga.org social gaming and host of new learning games accelerator program with New Schools venture.

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