Arthur H. Camins is a lifelong educator. He works part-time with curriculum developers at UC Berkeley as an assessment specialist. He retired recently as Director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology. He has taught and been an administrator in New York City, Massachusetts, and Louisville, Kentucky.
When Arthur tried to enter the teaching force in 1973 New York City during the financial crisis there were no jobs, so he helped open a daycare center in the East New York section of Brooklyn where he was a volunteer in a local community center. For six years, he drove the school bus and taught preschool and kindergarten. From 1979 to 1990 he taught first, fifth grade and science in schools on Long Island and then Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Next, he served as the district science coordinator and directed a National Science Foundation (NSF) professional development project, Science in the Seamless Day. He then moved on to be the Associate Director of the New York City Urban Systemic Initiative, a citywide K–12 math and science NSF program.
An advertisement in Education Week led Camins to Hudson, Massachusetts, where he stayed for eleven years. He directed district programs that focused on enhancing the synergy between science and mathematics, established an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning, and developed diagnostic and formative uses of assessment. In Hudson, he served as Principal Investigator of two National Science Foundation projects. Critical Math and Science Synergy (Critical MASS) was a Local Systemic Change project that supported professional development for K-8 Mathematics and Science. Formative Assessment in Science Through Technology (FAST), an NSF Research on Learning in Education project, investigated the affordances of embedded formative assessment strategies.
In 2008, a career turn led Arthur to Louisville, Kentucky where he initiated and served as the Executive Director of the Gheens Institute for Innovation in the Jefferson County Public Schools, where he developed the US Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) project, Making Time for What Matters Most.
His next career turn led him to Stevens Institute of Technology, where he was the Director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) from 2011-2017. There, he led several NSF projects including an Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP).
