“Students have to be great researchers to be great problem-solvers, but they also have to be articulate communicators,” said Sally Steward, the STEM library media specialist. “During the artificial island project, students were asked to create an advertisement and marketing plan to sell the homes on their island. We went in-depth on persuasive writing, copyright laws, plagiarism, and how to analyze media when differentiating credible and non-credible sources.” Although Steward doesn’t teach one of the traditional STEM subjects, we view research and writing as a major aspect in the “big picture” focus for our STEM course.
Helping students and teachers focus
When it comes to content and grading rubrics, the team uses Defined STEM, an online curriculum supplement with hundreds of lessons that put student prompts, videos, and articles at their fingertips. The Huntingdon STEM team chooses four performance tasks to complete during the school year, and dissects the content to fit each of their strengths.
“I like that I am not ‘pretending’ to be the expert on certain topics or spending hours outside of class each week teaching myself about environmental impacts and muscular systems to teach my lessons,” explained math teacher Ben Young. “We use each other as references and to bounce ideas off of. But even better, the students use us in the same way and can easily see how our disciplines aren’t that different after all.”
The format forces the teachers and the students to use their time wisely, because they know it’s limited. Technology teacher Matt Rakar said that students are rarely bored or distracted because of all of the activity happening in the classrooms. And, Rakar said, hands-on projects that used to “scare” him have now become the most fulfilling part of his work.
To integrate their work with Huntingdon’s curriculum, the STEM team works with core teachers to align projects with standards. Math and science teachers have reported increased test scores and engagement in their courses thanks to the hands-on experience from the STEM team.
Dividing long-term projects into attainable tasks helps students grasp concepts at a rate they can keep up with, and also challenges them in a variety of subject areas. The multifaceted projects and the rotation model create an environment where students can relate their knowledge and skills to the real world, which makes the STEM course not only educational but fun.
- TC- What student choice and agency actually looks like - November 15, 2016
- What student choice and agency actually looks like - November 14, 2016
- App of the Week: Science sensor meets your smartphone - November 14, 2016
Comments are closed.