Making Connections with STEM Fall 2021 Cohort 8: Week 7

Week 7

Developing Empowered Learners through STEM

Read:

Reflect: Post your response to the prompt below by Monday morning.

Read the examples of empowering students in STEM and watch the 4 videos on supporting Empowered Learners. Considering everything you have learned about STEM, how do you see STEM being incorporated in your classroom?

How might empowering our students to take greater responsibility for their own learning be especially relevant during pandemic teaching?

Interact: On Monday, read your colleagues' reflections and respond to at least one other post by sharing a comment, insight, or interesting possibility by next Thursday.

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Ashleigh Rocco (TSD) · 180 weeks ago

I think the biggest change I see within my classroom is going to be how I integrate STEM into all areas of the day. Typically, I have used STEM activities in more of a “bonus” role within my classroom, while which it is fun, it is not the most impactful approach. In addition to this I believe that I need to provide more real-life examples for my students when we do incorporate STEM. Our curriculum does have opportunities for this, but some of it is not as relevant as current challenges we are facing in our community. By finding meaningful lessons to initiate our STEM instruction I believe the students will be more engaged and more likely to continue their STEM interest outside of the classroom as well. I think from my personal experience I always feel like there is such a time crunch to complete lessons and assessments, when in reality sometimes it is better to go rogue! After looking through the stories of educators who are empowering their students I think that it would be exciting to find some students who are developing and exploring STEM in a similar way. I think when we use examples a experiences from people their own age they may be more involved in the process.

2 replies · active 175 weeks ago

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JanineG (ISD) · 177 weeks ago

I do the same as you...I currently use the STEM activities as a 'bonus' and I need to take the excitement that it brings from the kids as a clue that i need to do more of it! :) I do think the students will be more involved in the process by seein examples of people their own age engaging in the activities. thanks for your insight!

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Hannah J (ISD) 35p · 175 weeks ago

Hi Ashleigh,

I agree with you, I feel like STEM is always a 'bonus' and often feels shortened because of other lessons/assignments. I loved reading about the stories of educators as well, it would be so powerful for students to see other peers in their community who are also exploring STEM. At my school, we have a robotics club but again, students have to meet outside of school hours. I am wondering what the best way to incorporate STEM into my classroom without it being just a 'bonus' activity.

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JanineG (ISD) · 175 weeks ago

I agree with what Ashliegh said in her comment. I tend to use STEM as a 'bonus' or when I have some extra time in my schedule. I also tend to base it around holidays, seasons, or the like. I need to try to integrate it in more of an every day time slot. Although, I do feel my hands are tied and I also feel that we are expected to 'stick to the curriculum' in such a strict way that I have to find a way to do this with what time and supplies I am given.
I appreciate the article highlighting the 5 leaders that are part of the movement to make STEM accessible to all. I also feel that the article is right when it says, "STEM is the future of education and every student deserves a high-quality education and the opportunity to shape the world!
I truly hope I can revamp my classroom and my teaching to help make this happen with the students I have!

2 replies · active 175 weeks ago

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Erin K. (TSD) · 175 weeks ago

Janine,
I relate to the desire to time our STEM activities with holidays. Thinking ahead to December, I always create Borax snowflakes with my students and lead them through an experiment related to crystalization. I do not want to nix this activity as a result of my new thinking around STEM but rather want to consider how I could redesign and extend the activity so that students engage in the full STEM framework rather than "make and dump". I want my students to find meaning from the experience of this activity rather than see the actual product as the only worthwhile result of their effort. Another quote Tara Tran shared I took note of was, "Beyond formulas, when you teach math, you’re teaching students critical thinking skills. You’re teaching them perseverance, grit, and how to work through problems. I was able to teach integral life skills through my content". The learning behind the activities we do, when intentional, is much more than we could ever hope. It is our duty, as educators, to ensure our students take away a plethora of new skills and opportunities through the incorporation of STEM in our teaching.

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Eric Richards, TSD · 175 weeks ago

I wonder about using STEM as a part of a math rotation for kids to do. It seems like every time I try to fit it in when I have time, it is almost always the first to go. That would be so disappointing for them to miss it and if I can make it part of our daily ritual, like I have with number talks and make it just part of what we do, then we have a much better chance of it becoming routine.

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Erin K. (TSD) · 175 weeks ago

I appreciated seeing STEM connected to the general learning processes of our students through goal-setting and granting students the autonomy to choose how to demonstrate their understanding through self-selected projects in the first two "Empowered Learner" YouTube videos. This led me to grant a little more credit to myself in terms of the level of STEM incorporated into my current practice. My students set intentional goals for themselves and reflect upon the goals at the end of a lesson by attributing the highest level of understanding to their confidence in teaching another person how to meet our learning target and success criteria. The concept of empowering students to teach others, knowing that each of us bears different strengths in different areas, was the focus of the first video. I find this to be especially true when we engage in STEM learning in the classroom. Students find themselves challenged in new ways and some find themselves able to grasp new concepts and methods quicker than others. Oftentimes, I find these students are those that may find difficulty shining in typical core academic subjects. Granting students opportunities to lead, teach, and tutor others is one meaningful way to embrace the unique design of STEM and its power to give voice to every student. Students are speaking and doing more than any teacher is in any given STEM activity. As Tara Tran shared in the "One Day" article, "We are missing so many voices, so many thoughts, so many profound views, when certain people are left out of the conversation in STEM". The pandemic limited opportunities for sharing and fostering genuine connections in learning. As we settle into the more "normal" routines of school, STEM provides the space for those voices to be heard again.

1 reply · active 175 weeks ago

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Meg H. · 175 weeks ago

I agree to the thoughts on having students teaching students. I do have to be a little careful as some of the students just end up doing it for them. I do not want to miss out on so many voices, so many thoughts and profound views.

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Meg H. · 175 weeks ago

I agree with with others that we tend to do STEM activities around the holidays. Watching the videos made me want to look into doing some kind of summer program for our students, maybe in conjuncton with our coding teacher. Team building is so important right now and I would love to foster that in our library through the study of diverse cultures and STEM challenges

1 reply · active 175 weeks ago

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flaggna 34p · 175 weeks ago

I agree with you Meg. STEM activities need to occur outside of the holiday times. It makes me think of how we can support students in every learning environments. It would be amazing to see a librarian approach inquiry based learning practice and STEM during their mini-lessons. It would also be great to showcase different aspects of STEM and maybe even STEAM...

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Stephen Elms · 175 weeks ago

I think the biggest challenge with STEM is actually finding the time necessary to have the students engage properly, with enough time to really collaborate instead of rushing them through a lesson - they could be getting so much more out of it. Every example we just read about and watched, students were so engaged and you can see all the wonderful work the students are really excited about doing. Imagine if, as a public school system, we could actually change the way we think about what is most important the students are learning, and HOW they are learning. So much time wasted on testing for data collection, when the students could be collecting data while working a STEM problem! Imagine if every school district could see the opportunity they have to create an entire 4 year program pathway dedicated to a technical degree like Ben Nguyen has helped achieve in Nevada. This hits so close to home for me as my oldest son loved any type of school, but my youngest was only inspired by the tech courses and hands-on courses he took in high school. If he had been able to pursue just those during high school, it wouldn't have been such a struggle for him. Yet we force our HS students with 4 years of English, History, etc. Let's give these students the optional classes that they may/do want to pursue and we may see far less drop outs if they can see a pathway to a career.
In this pandemic year, I have found that giving students more opportunities to reflect on their learning, to set goals, to assess what they need to know, and to give them more choices in how they plan out their time and responsibilities has gone a long way in keeping them motivated and has allowed them to reset their "how to do school" again instead of a pressured timeline driven environment. They have craved working together with their friends so this is the perfect time to work with STEM activities - the collaboration is through the roof!

1 reply · active 175 weeks ago

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Hannah J (ISD) 35p · 175 weeks ago

Hi Stephen,

I agree with you, it is hard to find the time to allow students to properly engage in a STEM lesson/activity. I wonder how we could better incorporate STEM learning into our classrooms because I agree, there is definitely a pressure to perform and there are lots of other requirements/activities that are deemed essential. I have been reflecting on this a lot since this book study.

You have an interesting point about drop outs, I wonder if there is any research in other countries about this.

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Hannah J (ISD) 35p · 175 weeks ago

I see STEM being incorporated into my classroom through my math stations. However, like some of you have already said, the biggest challenge is finding the time to have students properly engage. I like everyone's idea of incorporating STEM into the holidays, I was also thinking about what I could do during the week of Hour of Code. Maybe I could incorporate STEM stations into my science time. I really enjoyed the video where students had the opportunity to explore and discover how to repair their laptops, you could tell that students were engaged and felt a sense of pride and purpose toward the activity.

I think empowering students to take greater risks in their learning is very important during the pandemic because each student is at very different places in their learning experience. By helping students set goals and providing them frequent feedback, students can have an active involvement in their learning. I think another part to that is also creating a safe space where students feel comfortable taking risks and sharing their idea with others.

1 reply · active 175 weeks ago

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Ashleigh Rocco · 175 weeks ago

Oh I really like the station idea. This also makes the prep manageable if only a portion of your class is working on it at a given time. I feel like sometimes the struggle with my 2nd graders is that everyone needs my attention at once, but this would help rectify that scenario. Thanks for the idea!

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Rachael S (ISD) · 175 weeks ago

I see STEM fitting in to my learning center time without many changes. By providing students questions and authentic problems, learning center time is a natural fit to have them build and construct solutions. My "stretch" goal for myself is to go beyond the curriculum and develop integrated STEM units for math and science. I am looking forward to challenging my students to think creatively and own their final products. Pandemic learners are already struggling with independence, so any project or method to foster independence and responsibility is hugely helpful.

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Eric Richards, TSD · 175 weeks ago

Happy Holidays,

I am looking at working with our STEM teacher and seeing how I can incorporate and build on what she is already doing with my students and further enhance the great learning they are doing there. It seems like so many of the students are already introduced to coding in some form or fashion, so can we take it to the next level for them? We have Science time at the end of the day and this could easily fit into that block. There is so much we could do and I look forward to coordinating with our building experts.

2 replies · active 174 weeks ago

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Rachael S (ISD) · 175 weeks ago

That's awesome that you have a STEM teacher as a resource for you to lean on. My district has prioritized other student supports, but I wish we had STEM teachers in our school. It is such an important outlet for students to develop so many essential skills. I agree that my science time seems like a natural fit for STEM, and hopefully that adding it there will build both my confidence and the student's confidence to branch out to use STEM in other subjects as well.

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Stephen Elms · 174 weeks ago

This makes me think I should do more connecting with the coding teacher that we are lucky enough to have as a specialist each week. I teach the STEMscopes curriculum in my classroom, but now I'm thinking that there could be some type of connection between the two to support one another. Thanks for bringing this up!

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Megan Mitchell · 175 weeks ago

I feel the tendency for many of my fellow teachers this year from what I’ve seen and heard, is to use less technology after using so much for remote learning last year, to limit the screen time for younger students. I think this is potentially a step backward in the progression of STEM at our school. Not only did students become more independent with using technology last year, teachers were also trained to use programs that not only encourage student independence, but allow innovative ways to customize the learning experience for our students and provide feedback. Along with this, student have the opportunity to take the wheel in their own learning experience, which is empowering to them as a leader. I know personally, while I have stepped back a little from the use of technology as students acclimate to being back in the classroom, I am excited to start reintroducing a number of these programs and the use of technology back in my classroom. I think this is an amazing way to introduce STEM throughout the curriculum, as well as giving students more responsibility in their learning process.

1 reply · active 175 weeks ago

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Danielle S. (SVSD) · 175 weeks ago

I think that's a really interesting observation, trying to lessen "screen time" as a result of the last few years. I agree that kids were way more resilient than we guessed and were able to be independent with technology. There are some really great programs out there, some that even came out as a result of Covid that would be so useful.

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flaggna 34p · 175 weeks ago

STEM can be incorporated in classrooms in a variety of ways. In general education there are many opportunities to integrate STEM lessons. However, in special education, this is much more of a challenge. I find that the best way to incorporate STEM into my special education classroom is through problem solving. Problem solving is a goal for many students with behavioral and social/emotional needs. One idea I am toying with is using STEM projects as a way to help students learn problem solving and collaboration. I'm not sure where I want to take it from there, nor have I put a plan together, but it is definitely something I'm working on. Another area to incorporate STEM is during math. I likes the video where the teacher had students set goals for themselves and then monitor their own progress. I feel this is something that will empower students with disabilities and also help students have more buy-in with their math. Empowering our students to take greater responsibility for their own learning is especially relevant during pandemic teaching as many students are struggling with stamina and problem solving. Social/Emotional needs are key. Students know they are behind, they understand this stress. What students need to see is all of the growth they are making.

1 reply · active 175 weeks ago

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Megan Mitchell SVSD · 175 weeks ago

I think this is a great question in regards to using STEM in special education and something I hadn't previously considered. I think STEM could be really amazing for special education classrooms because it does have so much flexibility and involves life skills students will need.

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Danielle S. (SVSD) · 175 weeks ago

I think it's really interesting to read these articles and watch these videos to see what STEM looks like in various classrooms and schools. The hard part is then applying it to the youngest of learners. It's so fun seeing these older students creating these amazing projects, or read about these high school teachers and their robotics clubs, but I haven't read much or anything about the way to incorporate STEM into our beginning learners classrooms. In Kinder we try to incorporate play based opportunities as much as possible. During literacy time, we have various tools and manipulative they can use to build letters or words (wiki sticks, snap cubes, play dough, shapes that snap together). In Math we have choice time which switches with each unit. Currently we are learning about measurement so our tools consist of cubes, bears, paper clips etc... Students can choose different math jobs and are problem solving, creating or measuring. I think with the littles we are just entering into what a goal is, how to set one and how to know if you achieved it. This comes from lots of practice and modeling. I agree with everyone above that time feels rushed and it doesn't allow for the space that is needed to really engage in STEM. Especially when we are dealing with so much behavior and learning how to be in school for the first few months. I do want to incorporate more STEM in a way that is engaging and authentic. I just need to take the time to look into more models of how that is done in Kindergarten vs. the older grades.

Making Connections with STEM Fall 2021 Cohort 8

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