Teach Maine Tuesday: In Evolving STEM Education, Collaboration Is Key

June 08, 2026 · Two Maine Educators Offer Strategies On a National Stage

Teachers know that some of their most valued support comes from other teachers! It's especially important in the evolving universe of STEM teaching. This spring
Tonya Prentice, the 2020 Oxford County Teacher of the Year, and Laurie Spooner, 2025 Aroostook County Teacher of the Year, shared their strategies for supporting STEM educators at the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conference in Anaheim, Calif. To Tonya and Laurie it's all about collaborative peer leadership and professional community building.

Their session, Fostering Educator Belonging Through Safe and Supportive Peer Leadership, highlighted the important role that Connected Learning Ecosystems (CLEs) play in supporting educators as they navigate STEM teaching and climate education.

Both presenters serve as active leaders within the Learning Ecosystems Northeast (LENE) network; a network stewarded by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) alongside local lead educators with funding from NASA's Science Activation program. LENE supports peer communities, called Connected Learning Ecosystems (CLEs), made up of formal and informal educators and learning experience designers from across the Northeast. These educators are committed to strengthening STEM teaching and learning while helping to build a climate-literate generation and enrich local learning pathways for youth.

Through regular online and in-person collaboration, CLE members learn with and from one another to increase educator comfort, confidence, and capacity around environmental topics for both youth and adults. These communities support educators in designing meaningful, place-based learning experiences that engage students in locally relevant investigations of ecosystems across classrooms, community settings, and informal learning environments.

During their NSTA presentation, Prentice and Spooner focused on how CLEs foster educator belonging, create psychologically safe spaces for professional growth, and empower STEM educators through supportive peer leadership. They shared examples of how collaborative educator networks can reduce professional isolation, encourage innovation in teaching, and strengthen educators' ability to bring authentic, community-connected STEM learning experiences to students.

Presenting at the national conference provided an opportunity to showcase the impact of educator-led professional communities and the value of collaborative leadership in advancing STEM and our work in Maine.

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