According to the federal Committee on STEM Education, the future is in the hands of STEM--science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professionals who will find solutions to the needs of a growing population and the complex systems with which it interacts.
In response, educators are working to develop interest in STEM career opportunities to meet the demands of labor projections that show STEM careers outpacing other career paths. In addition to job growth, STEM has become a national tagline for improving the economy and the quality of life in our nation and around the world. Just search STEM online, and you will find its significance is far-reaching.
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| Source: National Science Foundation, "STEM Education Data and Trends 2014." |
Purpose
Building more interest in STEM careers goes beyond traditional education paradigms; doing what we have done will not increase students' interest in these career paths. Instead, educators are tasked with reforming educational settings to create a context that allows for long-term interdisciplinary and inquiry-based projects that build students' skills as they create students' sense of efficacy and interest in pursuing STEM degrees and professional opportunities in STEM fields. To that end, this site addresses how a small cohort of teachers can implement a STEM-based
interdisciplinary curriculum.
For three years, I’ve taught during a STEM summer camp for
middle school students, but it's important for you to know that I am not a science teacher: I teach high school language arts. Each year during camp, I see ways that
language arts could be incorporated into the science content to add another dimension,
one that results in a description of processes or a problem-solution rationale or and an evaluation and reflection of results, in addition to the potential to publish findings for an outside audience willing to critique and evaluate students' work. So, my perspective of STEM education is from the outside looking in.
Perhaps it is this perspective that shapes my understanding and urgency to involve my curricula with STEM, creating interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students. In addition to building more relevance with my discipline, the transfer of skills can reinforce learning in science, as well.
My school, like many, has a local community of working scientists with which we can collaborate, building relationships with stakeholders. In three years, my school will have a new building based on open-classroom concepts, and teachers will need to adapt to a new learning environment, so I believe that we need to begin altering our curricula now to accommodate these impending changes and experience success rather than frustration when we make this shift.
For these reasons, the local and the national, I propose this model interdisciplinary STEM project for inclusion in the science and language arts curricula next year.
Perhaps it is this perspective that shapes my understanding and urgency to involve my curricula with STEM, creating interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students. In addition to building more relevance with my discipline, the transfer of skills can reinforce learning in science, as well.
My school, like many, has a local community of working scientists with which we can collaborate, building relationships with stakeholders. In three years, my school will have a new building based on open-classroom concepts, and teachers will need to adapt to a new learning environment, so I believe that we need to begin altering our curricula now to accommodate these impending changes and experience success rather than frustration when we make this shift.
For these reasons, the local and the national, I propose this model interdisciplinary STEM project for inclusion in the science and language arts curricula next year.
Audience
If you are a teacher who needs to “imagine” herself working in different roles in the classroom, this model will offer several paradigms to move you from your stage in front of students to your guide beside them.
If you are a parent or community stakeholder, we need your expertise and access to resources. We invite you to participate as evaluators of the final projects or to provide feedback about the content and processes of the project.
If you are an administrator who is concerned about the "politics" of this shift in teaching and learning, please visit the classrooms and talk with teachers and students about their experiences. This will help you develop talking points and evidence for any criticisms of the program, as well as prepare to lead teachers in the shift to an open-concept environment.
Finally, if you are a student, you are the most important participant on this journey and your voice needs to be heard. As you participate in this new learning context and use the materials and supports that my colleagues and I provide, please be candid and suggest helpful revisions that could be made to produce better results and meet the needs of all students.
If you are a parent or community stakeholder, we need your expertise and access to resources. We invite you to participate as evaluators of the final projects or to provide feedback about the content and processes of the project.
If you are an administrator who is concerned about the "politics" of this shift in teaching and learning, please visit the classrooms and talk with teachers and students about their experiences. This will help you develop talking points and evidence for any criticisms of the program, as well as prepare to lead teachers in the shift to an open-concept environment.
Finally, if you are a student, you are the most important participant on this journey and your voice needs to be heard. As you participate in this new learning context and use the materials and supports that my colleagues and I provide, please be candid and suggest helpful revisions that could be made to produce better results and meet the needs of all students.
Resources
Throughout this site, I have shared and bookmarked sites and examples that will help all of us develop a more concrete idea about the look and feel of a long-term interdisciplinary STEM project. I've included research about best practices and curricular topics, standards,
resources, timelines, and outcomes. Please reference these sources for more information or utilize them in your own practice. I will continue to update them and add new ones that further the conversation, but please use the comment feature to suggest sources of your own.
