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So, I'm Starting a STEM Course........

Over the past year and half I have served as a Senior STEM Fellow for the Dayton Regional STEM Center. As a Fellow, I have worked with professors from local universities, engineers from the AFRL, business leaders, and other classroom teachers to help develop STEM curriculum for our schools. This in itself started off as quite a challenge, due to the fact that we were initially stuck on what was exactly was a STEM lesson? We eventually agreed on something very similar to a Problem Based Lesson that we have been discussing in Mary's Blog. After a year of hard work, our clusters (I was in one called "Sensors") developed something in the area of 50 lessons for grade levels K-12.

Through this process, one of the things that I noticed was that vast majority of our area STEM programs are at the high school level and that there were very few at Middle/Elementary levels. So I talked to my district administration and we decided to start a STEM program at our Middle School. Since it's still evolving, the details are kind of fuzzy at this point. As of this moment it will probably start out as 15-20, 5th and 6th graders. The students will mostly be identified as gifted. However, I encouraged them to include some students that have shown problem solving abilities, but underachieve in the classroom as far as traditional testing/grades/behavior. I do this because experience has taught me that sometimes the kids that are the best problem solvers are the ones that may have never heard of Pascal, but have siphoned gas before...........

Anyway- I'm starting this program from scratch. It's our districts hope that this evolves and improves into an exemplar program. That's why I am writing this blog. I'm fortunate to have support and access to unreleased lesson plans (they will be released, once vetted), but I would love to have input from educators that have been or may soon be in my shoes. How do I create an incredible STEM program?

I am putting the wheels in motion for our first thematic unit- Energy. To be more specific "In a time that our school district is making cuts to save money, how can we help through energy conservation at Indian Valley Middle School?"

It’s my intent to create a quarter long unit whereas the students:
- Break down real numbers relating to energy consumption in our building- including actual cost
(Working with bills, a school wide energy audit, etc.)
- Explore how energy is created, stored, transferred, and consumed
(Labs, field trips, speakers, etc.)
- Develop a detailed plan for the building to become more energy friendly
(Students will present to school board)

I'm sure that I’ll add more/tweak as we go through the process, but I figured that empowering 10-12 year olds would be a good place to start. I welcome any feedback regarding this plan or any other ideas that you may offer. Thanks

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Comment by Tom Jenkins on November 20, 2009 at 11:08am: So....Funny thing. I was prepared to have the kids create a nice, easy, clean cut PowerPoint. However, the students had other plans. We ended up making a Star Wars themed video to present some of our findings. We shared the video along with additonal aspects of our study with the school board last week and it ended up being pretty awesome. Here's the link to the video that kids made Tom Jenkins School Page.

Comment by Tom Jenkins on November 8, 2009 at 8:18pm: So, we finished our labs, experiments, discussions, and data collection and I'm ready to wrap it up in a PowerPoint to present our findings to the school board......Thats when my students decide that they wanted to make a Star Wars themed movie. So now our STEM class has added a little bit of theater to it!? I was hesitant to spend the time at first, but the kids are really into it. It's fun. I'll post a link when we are done.

If you're working on any STEM projects that you'd like to share, please let us know. Thanks

Comment by Tom Jenkins on September 7, 2009 at 5:22pm: Hello,

Here are a handful of lessons that we created at the Dayton Regional STEM Center. Hopefully this will be a good starting point for the both of you. As you go through the year, please stop back and share some of your favorite activities.

Tom

Comment by Helen M. Fitz on September 7, 2009 at 8:08am: HI Jennifer--I am also new to STEM curriculum. I am hoping you get alot of good responses to your request for trid and true lesssons! I could certainly use them also. I will be glad to share with you also! Best of luck.

Comment by Jennifer Gleason on September 7, 2009 at 12:32am: I am very excited and also a bit overwhelmed. I too am starting a new Middle School STEM Program! I recently took a new position within a charter school to implement the latest 21st Century advances for future careers in the STEM areas. I was not aware that the school had minimal resources and that I am heading this program blind. I am seeking lessons that have been tested to be effective. Any other advice is also more than welcome! i have four 8th grade classes and two 7th grade classes, each 50 minutes long. Please provide any links, resources or additional info you feel may be of use. Thank you in advance!

Comment by Tom Jenkins on August 20, 2009 at 8:48pm: Your assumption is correct. As it stands this year my class will be 5th and 6th grade students that function at a very high level and students of the same age that have demonstrated problem solving skills, but are underachievers in the classroom.

That being said, if I were self contained or had a team teacher to work with I wouldn't hesitate to shelve a traditional math class in favor of STEM projects. You can still hit all of the standards and at the same time provide a real life example for each. If they have a better understanding of "why," then hopefully things will "stick" better.

I would like to add the qualifier that I would still do quarterly assessments and remediate in a traditional setting when needed and that to structure your entire year in this fashion would take a tremendous amount of planning.

Comment by Helen M. Fitz on August 20, 2009 at 5:18pm: Thank you so much for the prompt response. And I think I understand that you are not replacing a traditional math class, but also logically including it with the other classes? Helen

Comment by Tom Jenkins on August 20, 2009 at 4:51pm: Hi Helen. Its funny that you mention the "M." As we were developing our first round of 50+ lessons for the Dayton Regional STEM Center. Some of the group were asking the same thing.........

My response was if its done correctly the "M" will be ever present, but won't stand out (Just like the S,T,and E). I think that it's easier for the science folks to see as compared to most of the math people, due to the fact that most science labs involve some form of mathematics while comparetively few math labs contain science. If that makes sense ;)

So to provide a concrete example- How will I integrate "M" into my electricity unit?

Using our buildings bills, monitoring usage, and the tranasfer of electricity itself- I will address many of 5th and 6th grade ohio standards for the math. Here are a few from just the 5th grade...

5th Grade
Represent and compare numbers less than 0 by extending the
number line and using familiar applications; e.g., temperature,
owing money

Explain how place value is related to addition and subtraction of
decimals; e.g., 0.2 + 0.14; the two tenths is added to the one tenth
because they are both tenths

Estimate the results of computations involving whole numbers,
fractions and decimals, using a variety of strategies.

Model problems with physical materials and visual representations,
and use models, graphs and tables to draw conclusions and make
predictions.

Determine appropriate data to be collected to answer questions
posed by students or teacher, collect and display data, and clearly
communicate findings.

Determine and use the range, mean, median and mode, and explain
what each does and does not indicate about the set of data.

Compare what should happen (theoretical/expected results)
with what did happen (experimental/actual results) in a simple
experiment.

In my opinion, the best way to approach STEM is to have the standards with you when plan your lesson. I think that you'll be suprised how many facets of all four letters that you can work into your lesson. Plus, you have us if you need a little help. I try to post a couple of links for STEM later. Tom

Comment by Helen M. Fitz on August 19, 2009 at 4:11pm: Tom, My question is probably too elementary for this site, but I am just beginning to research STEM curriculum. I am having a hard time determining how the M fits into a STEM curriculum. Is it just good science teaching and BEST practices which certainly include math? Will you be having separate middle school math classes that will follow traditional textbook scope and sequence, so as to prepare them for "high school" math classes-? Feel free to point me toward a different "beginner's site" if you think that is more appropriate. I have done alot of searching today, and it is much easier for me to see the STE portion--although maybe I am misunderstanding the blending of the four. Thanks so much for helping me with my beginner question! Helen

Comment by Tom Jenkins on August 1, 2009 at 10:21pm: Thanks Marie- Thats a great idea. In fact, I like that its along the same lines and not energy. I think that i'm going to add in some water quality test around the building too. Could lead to some interesting results. Thanks again for your help.