by Anne Jolly

“I wish I knew the answer to your question.”

That was my reaction when I read a comment on my recent post, STEM Summer Activities, from Caroline (Cal) Goode, a STEM curriculum writer and science education consultant who’s been a guest author here at STEM Imagineering. She wondered:

“How do we get the message out to parents? I find that many parents still don’t understand what STEM even means. So, how can we do more to educate parents? Does anyone know of a successful working model?”

Inspired by Cal’s wonderings, I set out on Google to see what answers I might find. Here’s some of what I discovered:

• A few clicks of the mouse and I located a document from the Committee on K-12 Education titled “A Letter on STEM Education to America’s Parents.” This two-page letter makes the case for STEM education (world-class education, decent jobs, etc.) It then proceeds to ask parents to force policymakers to take necessary steps to improve the education system so that STEM can be better taught. For example, parents are asked to demand everything from charter schools, to better-prepared teachers, to adoption of the Common Core Standards. I couldn’t actually decide how they got this letter out to parents. I noticed that some newspapers (“Diverse Issues in Higher Education,” for example) did make mention of it. So there’s that. Moving right along . . .

• Then a flash of inspiration hit and I clicked my way over to the National PTA site. I learned that Samsung and the National PTA have partnered on a STEM video competition. The PTA has also formed an alliance with the FIRST program to promote the importance of STEM in K-12 education. Since the PTA offers monthly e-newsletters to those who sign up, I’m assuming that these contain STEM information. I signed up, of course, but haven’t received a newsletter in the last 10 minutes so I can’t say for sure.

• Further searching brought up a newsletter – The Daily in Depth Cause News – that reported on PTA STEM advocacy activities in California, Delaware, and Connecticut. Obviously the PTA is working to get the information out to parents.

• Aha! Finally I clicked my way to a research study, “Parents Are an ‘Untapped Resource’ to Push STEM,” reported on in the Curriculum Matters blog at Education Week (May 30, 2013). The sentence that caught my eye: “A new study suggests that a fairly simple intervention with parents can translate into their teenage children getting more STEM education.”

Simple intervention? I was hooked.

Cover of the 10th grade brochure

Turns out that the “intervention” was two glossy brochures and a link to a website. These resources highlighted the value of studying STEM subjects and suggested ways to talk with teenage children (10^th and 11^th graders) about STEM. Students of parents who received this information in the mail, the study found, took one semester more of science and math in the last two years of high school than students from a control group of families who did not get the brochures and website link.

The effect of this simple intervention led to a real difference in the number of elective, advanced math and science courses taken such as calculus, statistics, and physics. (You can download the actual brochures used in this study here and see the website here.)

 Design Your Own STEM Brochure

The research cited in the EdWeek article suggests a doable plan for getting the STEM message out to parents. These seem to be the steps needed:

Having experienced some initial success in answering Cal’s questions, my clicking energy level took on new life. I discovered something that makes the brochure approach even more valid as a parent communication method.

According to an article in the Journal of Technology Education, parents have limited knowledge of STEM careers, especially in regard to information technology and engineering. Parent influence is especially important to teens during the high school years when they are thinking about careers. Teens do value their parents’ input. Voila, parents need basic information to nurture and support their teens during this critical time in college and career exploration.

Short version: Parents don’t know what they need to know about STEM and it’s hurting their kids. So put a “thumbs-up” by the Parent-STEM Plan above: (1) Find out what parents need to know and (2) put it in a basic, usable STEM guide that can be (3) successfully distributed to parents.

Who should provide the info?

If that seems like a workable procedure, then let’s explore the “who” question. I suggest a partnership between a knowledgeable teacher and a passionate parent to develop the information, identify the web links, and design the STEM-guide brochure.

The next hurdle will be getting a bunch of these brochures run off. The first ones will probably go to the parents of 10^th graders. Depending on how large the school is, this could be a significant amount of printing. Consider bringing business and industry in as STEM partners at this point. After all, they will reap the benefits of students with good STEM skills. If you don’t have a printing business in your community to run these off for you, try asking some businesses that have their own copy machines if they will run these off for parents in their community.

Now tackle the distribution problem. How are you going to get these STEM guides into parents’ hands? If you have a PTA or PTO, then that organization might mail them.  Or you could ask a business for money to mail them. Discourage anyone from deciding to give them to the students to give to their parents. These will be more effective if they come directly from the school (or another organization you represent) to the parents. However, it might be a good idea to give students a look at STEM guides since they will be the ones taking the coursework.

from “A Letter on STEM Education to America’s Parents” (click for PDF)

We have a place to begin

Hopefully I’ve answered some of Cal’s questions. I’ve enjoyed fishing for the answers and I think the EdWeek article offers a first step in solving this problem. To summarize: now we know one way of getting the message out; we have a procedure for educating parents; and we have research that says this is a working model.

Questions, anyone? What implications might all of this have for teachers, parents and STEM studies in the middle years?

by Anne Jolly

Summer is upon us and it’s time for kids to officially forget everything they learned during the school year. Right? Well, maybe not right – if schools, communities, and families can keep the learning going.

This summer let’s involve kids in creative and engaging learning. I’m campaigning for a STEM summer – a sunny time filled with kids looking around (really looking) with curiosity. A summer in which kids ask questions, seek answers, and design solutions to problems.

This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Thinking in terms of middle schoolers, what kinds of activities will stimulate their curiosity and help to develop critical thinking and problem-solving mindsets? What kind of approach might adults take to keep the adolescent “summer brain” excited about learning?

My previous blog post, 10 STEM Tips for Parents, and this article at WikiHow, How to Impart STEM Education to Your Children, offer procedures for parents to use as they encourage STEM-related learning that’s fun and engaging. I’ve taken the liberty of tailoring some of the WikiHow suggestions for middle school kids (and a wider adult audience) and adding some more ideas for consideration.

Let’s start with some ideas for how you can support STEM learning for kids.

1. Know where each child is with regard to STEM understanding and interest. Some middle schoolers may naturally gravitate toward the sciences, while others gravitate toward the arts. Science, math, and the arts can all be used to involve students in STEM ways of thinking. Take time to discover each child’s natural interests and talents, and make use of these.

2. Provide a supportive environment for STEM learning to occur. Make your home or classroom (or other location) a comfortable and encouraging place for learning. If you have set up a STEM activity (some are listed below) expect these results.

• Middle schoolers will definitely make mistakes.

• They will come up with wrong answers and probably fail the first time or two they try to make a working model or usable solution.

• That’s okay. Heck, that’s even good!

• No one learns much from getting something right the first time. It’s the mistakes we make that keep us learning and growing. In STEM work, “failure” is simply a normal step in the learning process, so keep your learning environment risk free.

• Also remember that your rapidly changing middle schooler will find it difficult to learn if hungry or tired or upset.

3. Point out applications of science and technology in everyday life. As opportunities arise, point out that engineers have used science and technology to create most of the things around them – things that they take for granted. TVs, computers, and personal devices are givens. But do your middle schoolers understand that products such as soap, fabrics, automobiles, running water, electricity, and refrigeration were developed to meet needs and wants that people have? Consider asking them to begin identifying everything they see that was engineered and developed to meet a human need. That would be everything in their line of sight, most likely.  Pencils, furniture, door knobs, paint – all of these have been invented to meet human wants and needs.Regularly engage them in conversation about STEM-related topics in way that pertains to their everyday life experiences.

4. Keep your middle grades students thinking creatively and critically. Converse with them about science-related topics as part of normal conversation. Rather than giving an answer or a solution to a problem, encourage them to research information and come up with several possible solutions for the problem. Demonstrate how to carefully observe something, ask thoughtful questions about it, and make an informed guess about what the answers to those questions might be. Think out loud so that your kids can hear you thinking through possible solutions for a problem. (Trust me, they are more likely to listen to you talk to yourself than to listen to you talk to them.)

5. Continually build interest in STEM careers. Talk with children about ways that STEM adds value to the quality of human lives. Make sure they can relate to the examples you pick. You might talk about curing illnesses, creating plastics that don’t pollute, developing increasingly powerful computers, developing improved skin and hair products, building artistic skyscrapers, or engineering new ways to bring clothing designs to the marketplace. STEM/STEAM fields offer opportunities for all.

6. Organize groups of kids in working together on STEM projects and activities. Help them with interpersonal skills by building teamwork skills. Before they begin working in teams, ask them to share behaviors they value in other team members. Guide them to develop a list of ground rules they agree to follow, based on their valued behaviors.

7. Need resources and activity ideas? Challenge your middle school kids to conduct Internet searches for STEM activities they can do. They can locate these on their own using a search engine, or you might direct them to sites such as Discover Engineering, Design Squad Nation, National Geographic Activities and Games, and Bring Science Home. I’m excited about all of those sites, although not every activity is strictly a STEM activity – some are strictly science experiments. To get a feel for the difference, go to the Discover Engineering site and click on the “What’s Engineering” tab.

8. Encourage your middle schoolers to start a STEM group. They might start a local club or they could start a STEM group on a social network such as Facebook if they already use the social network. Using social networks productively is a skill you can help them learn. (Tip: monitor, monitor, monitor!) You might even be in contact with other adults regarding STEM work through online communities.

9. Remember that some middle schoolers like academics. Finally, do you have middle schoolers with more academic interests? No problem. Send them to Khan Academy or similar sites where they can “learn almost anything for free.”

I know you have some activities and ideas in mind for keeping kids engaged over the summer. Are you going to start Lego academies? Just throw a bunch of odds and ends into an area and tell kids to “have at it” and build something? What kinds of ideas do you have that you can share with our readers? I’d love your input.

by Anne Jolly

This week I enthusiastically invite you to meet Jeff Charbonneau, the 2013 National Teacher of the Year (NTOY), and a science teacher at 400-student Zillah High School in south-central Washington State.

Like you, I admire knowledgeable, energetic and caring teachers, and Jeff takes these traits to a whole new level. Jeff’s goal is to set his students up for success. His classroom has become their entrance into a world of knowledge, experiences, interactions, productive relationships, and a culture of success. How could it be otherwise when he welcomes each student each day with the greeting: “Welcome back to another day in paradise.”

Jeff involves his high school students in a number of successful STEM lessons, programs and initiatives. He has acquired adjunct faculty status with several local universities and can award his students college credit through their classes in chemistry, physics, engineering and architecture. Outside the classroom, Jeff founded a state robotics competition and helped to create an ecology program to keep his students immersed in real-world activities and solutions. Of course, Jeff’s resume extends beyond these activities, but his teaching revolves around preparing students to meet the next phase of their lives through a variety of STEM experiences.

In my mind, Jeff is a real model for STEM teaching and learning. In addition to his innovative performance-based instruction, he’s the kind of person that I’d simply like to get to know. I believe you will enjoy getting to know Jeff better as well.

1. Tell us about the STEM programs you have spearheaded at Zillah High and elsewhere.

In 2007 I began working with several parent volunteers (who grouped together to form the Zillah Science Boosters). From that group, we started the Zillah Robot Challenge. The program serves as an introduction to robotics; however, the goals are much wider in scope.

I aim to provide free, hands-on experiences in math and science education to any willing student, regardless of what school they attend. I maintain an open invitation to all schools in Washington State to participate in the program at no cost. Public, private, alternative and home schools are eligible. Through multiple years of fundraising, the Zillah Science Boosters have secured funding to purchase 100 Boe-Bot robot kits. The first 50 high school teams and the first 50 middle school teams that register for each competition are accepted. Each school can register a maximum of 4 teams, and the teams range in size from one to eight students.

Zillah High loans a kit to each team. Teams then work as part of an in-class, club or after-school program for about 6 weeks to learn how to assemble, program, test and modify their robots before the competition. Competition day features keynote speakers from around the state. Past presentations include the Washington State Patrol’s Bomb Squad Unit, the 53rd Explosives Ordinance Disposal unit of the US Army, and representatives from the Hanford Nuclear Facility.

Over 1200 students from more than 75 different middle and high schools throughout Washington State have participated in the 12 competitions so far. This past fall saw the most growth in the program — more than 85 teams from 27 different high schools and 59 teams from 17 middle schools paticipated in our December competitions.

2. How does the engineering design process change what happens in the classroom for your students?

Honestly I see the engineering design process as something that everyone can and should apply to their everyday lives. The basics of the design process can be broken down simply to asking some key questions about the part or scenario: What is working well? What needs to be improved? How can we improve it? And finally, did our improvements work, or do they need refinement?

In essence, that is what I teach my students to do, and that is how I run my classroom. I am constantly praising my students for what they have done correctly, while gently showing areas of need. Together we then work out our course of action to address that need. As such, I am constantly modifying and adapting my lesson plans to meet the individual needs of my students, by following the design process.

3. Do you find that all students can do STEM work? Do you have strategies to encourage girls, minorities, and students with special challenges?

Anyone can be successful in STEM – or any field for that matter. Anyone. I firmly believe that all individuals can and will be successful if given the opportunity, the support, and the confidence they need. I teach students from all backgrounds and all abilities. Often I find that my best students are ones whose academic histories would have suggested otherwise.

Why do these students succeed in my classroom? The answer is simple. When students walk through my door, I seek the positive in them first. I place my students as my absolute first priority. Content comes second. By learning first about my students – their history, culture, current ability, future goals, activities, etc, I am able to modify my instruction so that they can see the relevance of what they are learning in class to the things that matter to them in their lives.

Once that connection is made, it is the students who drive the instruction. They push me to show them more, and then I step to the side and allow them to do the work. Ironically, by placing positive student relationships before content in my priorities – we are studying subjects to a much deeper level; content rises when relationships come first.

So how do I encourage girls, minorities and students with special challenges? The same way I encourage all of my students – by getting to know them and showing them that I respect them as individuals, who bring value to not only my classroom, but to my own education as well.

4. What results do you see? Are more students going on to pursue STEM studies in college or careers?

I have seen a lot of positive coming from the STEM programs at my school. I can count several pharmacists, doctors, nurses, mechanical engineers, research microbiologists and chemists among my former students. Certainly I am proud of them. But I am equally proud of the musicians, beauticians, accountants, and business managers that have been my students too.

I see my job as a STEM teacher as not simply teaching the next generation of scientists, but as teaching the next generation as a whole. Every graduate today needs to be STEM-literate, regardless of profession. I take great pride in knowing that my students who are not in “STEM fields” can still see the connection to STEM in their lives and use that for their own advancement. Beauticians can and do benefit tremendously from a background in chemistry.

The reality is that paradise must be built, maintained and improved each day. It removes the words ‘can’t,’ ‘too hard’ and ‘impossible’ from our vocabulary. This concept has become my philosophy of teaching, as I foster self-confidence, academic success, collaboration and dedication within my classroom, school and greater community.” – Jeff Charbonneau

5. Tell us about your approach to teaching. What do you each day to be the best teacher you can be?

From my application, you will see my six strategies that I try to follow. There really is no order to them, though the first one is certainly the most important – I try to remember that “today is the most important day for every one of my students.” If I can remember that, really internalize it, then it drives me to do my best.

It means doing the simple things – greeting each person I see with a hello and a look in the eyes, making sure that I point out the positives in others, and that I am as consistent in my approach as possible, while still being flexible to each student’s needs. Stated another way, I try to remind myself that what I do today matters not just for one day, but can have a lasting impact for a lifetime for each of my students.

6. What, in your mind, are our most pressing concerns in strengthening STEM programs?

There are three main areas we need to address:

Student confidence. Far too many of our students dismiss upper division STEM offerings due to a lack of confidence in their own abilities. We need a combined voice from educators, parents and administration to convince students that they are, in fact, very capable of being successful in STEM fields. In my own classes, I have found that once I get a student in the door, they continue to come back. More importantly, they succeed.

Teachers. We need more STEM teachers. At the same time we need to understand and communicate the value of a well-rounded education from other fields. In my engineering classes, students with a background in art are better equipped to create perspective drawings. Students with a strong writing background create better design briefs and research papers. So as we continue to push for more STEM teachers, let us also recognize the need for quality teachers in all areas.

Funding. Unfortunately, STEM education is expensive. Particularly the “T” – Technology. A large number of our schools use grants and other similar programs to fund their STEM offerings. While this certainly is appreciated by those schools and has been a tremendous help in improving STEM education across our nation (and world), grants do not typically cover the on-going costs of replacing and upgrading programs.

Our engineering students need to have access to current technology – ranging from appropriate CAD software to robotics to CNC machinery. If our students are to leave school ready to contribute to their field, then they need to be learning current technology. Specific funding plans need to be in place in every school district to address STEM needs over the course of multiple years, taking into account technology upgrades and replacements.

7. What else would you like to share with us?

One of my goals this next year is to talk with pre-service teachers or those who are considering going into education. If given the opportunity to share a few words with those individuals, I would like to say the following:

First and foremost, choose your career and your area of expertise based on what you love; those who are greatest at their profession – whether teacher, nurse, accountant, or musician – see their work as their calling. If teaching is calling you, do not hesitate!

In the path to becoming a teacher, remember two things:

• Content is secondary. Building positive relationships with students always comes first. Connect with your students – learn about them as individuals who should be celebrated for their similarities and their differences. Be genuine in your interest in their backgrounds and utilize the information you learn about them in your lessons, as appropriate, to increase the relevance and impact of those lessons.

• Do more, expect more. Once those relationships are built with students, they will work hard for you. Have high expectations for what your students can do – in fact set the bar higher than even you expect them to reach. Then watch them reach the bar anyway. The surprising thing about making content secondary and putting relationships first is that you will be able to teach to a much greater depth, with more rigor than you ever expected. So challenge your students and challenge yourself to continue to improve every single day.

That’s what I’d like to share with all my colleagues, present and future.

Anne: It’s hard for me to pinpoint which of Jeff’s responses touches me the most…which would offer the best value for me as a teacher. I believe that the 6 teaching strategies that Jeff shared in his NTOY application (mentioned in his response to Question 4) were particularly powerful, as were his comments about the importance of a well-rounded education for STEM-focused students in middle and high school. You can hook up with Jeff by following him on Twitter @jeffcharbonneau

Photos: © Zillah High School, used with permission.

by Anne Jolly

Suppose I invited you to watch a class of students who were really engaged in solving a STEM problem. What would you expect to see?

I might expect to see students brainstorming, working hands-on to construct things, talking together with others, and generally looking as if they were enjoying their work. I would also expect the teacher to be supporting and guiding the students. I think that one of the things I would most look for might be evidence of creative ideas and innovative thinking.

Creating an environment that fosters student innovation can be a tall order. It may depend on how collaborative the school culture is, the stress that students might encounter before arriving in your room, and the demands the curriculum and testing make on you as a teacher. Nevertheless, with some deliberate and dedicated effort, you can set the stage for innovative action and learning in your STEM classes.

Read these five innovation sparkers and see if they make sense for you.

1. Create a risk-free, comfortable classroom environment

Cultivate a classroom with a positive atmosphere – one that promotes out-of-the-box and flexible thinking. Keep the stress level low by downplaying competition and promoting cooperation and collaboration. To be truly innovative, your students must feel comfortable in taking a risk and failing. In fact, innovators fail more often than they succeed. Let students know that it’s okay to take risks and fail as long as they learn from their mistakes and work to correct them. Above all, maintain a supportive attitude and avoid belittling their efforts or embarrassing them.

Recently I worked with students on a STEM lesson. One student sighed in frustration when her air cushion design failed to safely catch a falling object. She then announced that she was glad that she could try again because she thought she knew what had gone wrong. She was soon busily exploring and trying new ideas. She felt safe and supported, and innovation had a chance to take root and flourish.

2. Teach and model strategies for innovative thinking

Innovative thinking skills can be taught, say the authors of The Innovators’ DNA. As you work with students, focus on these skills and ways of thinking:

Habits of mind: Students can practice being open-minded, flexible, and inviting of others’ ideas.

The right questions: Students can learn to ask questions that challenge the status quo and allow them to consider new possibilities. (In fact, working to build students’ abilities to ask the right kinds of questions is the best way to build innovative mindsets.)

Alternative solutions: Students can learn to search for alternative solutions – not just during STEM lessons but anytime something doesn’t work well – even a behavior.

Brainstorming: Student brainstorming sessions will get many different ideas on the table and bring out a variety of ways of looking at an issue, a problem, or a solution.

Connections: Innovative thinkers can learn to make unexpected connections between unrelated fields.

Innovation starts with a question. Are you asking enough questions of the right kind?  If a person’s questioning skills are low, that’s the place to start. – Hal Gregersen

3. Focus on a variety of student strengths

According to Professor Hal Gregersen, some students are naturally good observers – they love to look, see, watch, and hear. Some are good networkers. They like talking with others to get ideas and information. Some students are doers. They like to experiment and get their fingers into things, try new things, and try constructing prototypes. Put students with different strengths on each team and these students can leverage their signature skills to come up with innovative solutions to problems.

4. Plan a creative STEM adventure

One of the most challenging dilemmas I encounter when I plan STEM lessons is coming up with an authentic STEM challenge. Needless to say, I don’t plan these by myself. I regularly engage science teachers, math teachers, and other smart folks in planning. When writing modules for the Engaging Youth through Engineering initiative, the writing staff might met for an entire day with engineers, college professors, business and industry leaders, school system administrators, and teachers to brainstorm doable challenges to fit with the math and science objectives for a quarter. Innovation, I learned, works best in concert with others.

As STEM increases in popularity, more websites are putting up good ideas for STEM challenges. Take a look at Science of Innovation for some creative lesson ideas and videos to introduce challenges to students.  These are designed to whet the innovative appetite. CPO Science also lists some good topics for STEM challenges.  You can find more by typing in a number of descriptors, including “creative STEM lessons.” To develop some of your own ideas, check out my post 12 Steps to Great STEM Lessons.

Note that innovators must have opportunities to relentlessly try out new experiences, take things apart, put them back together, and test new ideas. Remember not to make the challenge too easy. They must have opportunities to grow. Also avoid giving students a step-by-step canned process. They don’t need spoon-feeding; they need freedom to reflect and engage with the challenge.

5. Foster communication

Did someone say “teamwork” again? That theme seems to occupy a recurring place in my blog posts of late. And if it seems trendy, well, check out this article in a 1993 issue of the Stanford U. newsletter, Speaking of Teaching. It documents that teamwork is an extremely useful skill to class members. Students understand and retain material better when they discuss it with peers. They also develop better communication skills. As they study, investigate, and experiment with other students, they become aware the value of other students in terms of learning.

Innovation doesn’t occur in a vacuum, or in a silo. It occurs in productive teams of students who feel comfortable sharing their ideas and trying them out. Of course, good teamwork skills must be learned and regularly practiced, and this effort is well worth the time and energy.

In a nutshell . . .

When I try to spark innovation in students, I start this way:

• I make sure they feel safe in my class, know it’s okay to fail, and have opportunities to get it “right.”

• I teach and model specific strategies for innovative thinking, and do this throughout all lessons, not just STEM lessons, so that these become second nature.

• I focus on pulling together an exciting, intriguing lesson around a real-life problem that interests the students. I’d even let students help me research and decide on the issue.

• I put students in teams, give them plenty of instruction and practice in good teamwork skills, and give them ample time to work together.

If you feel that your STEM lessons (or any lessons) lack pizzazz, try infusing them with these opportunities for innovation in a supportive environment. Your ideas have real value for all of us, so please share some of your thinking on ways we can teach students to innovate.

Photo Credit: Su℮ ❥ via Compfight cc

by Anne Jolly

My guest blogger this week is Caroline (Cal) Goode. Over a year ago, Cal joined me in writing STEM lessons for Engaging Youth through Engineering (EYE) and the large Mobile County Public School System. What a valuable colleague she is, whether we are working together virtually or face to face to create strong middle school STEM lessons.

Great science teaching is Cal’s trademark. She was a Christa McAuliffe Center Teacher of the Year and also a Challenger Center for Space Education Teacher of the Year. Currently Cal is the State Coordinator for NSTA’s Science Matters Massachusetts. I am most fascinated by Cal’s work with the New Teacher Center’s e-Mentoring for Student Success program. As a STEM Learning Consultant, Cal works with teachers virtually and mentors them through challenges with STEM teaching (among other teaching challenges.) I asked her to write about her eMentoring in this blog post. Take it away, Cal!

STEM Students Learn Best in Collaborative Teams

by Caroline Goode

As I skimmed the recently published Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) the other day, I realized that the inclusion of STEM’s “E” (engineering) throughout the standards will be a game-changer for both new and veteran science teachers.

As an online mentor for The New Teacher Center in Santa Cruz, CA, I work frequently with novice and out-of-field teachers involved in STEM-related teaching. I’m able to share my experiences, strategies and best practices with as many as eight new teachers each year. In our private discussion area, called Our Place, mentees can openly share frustrations, ask for help and ideas, and know that they are not alone. Over time, as you might imagine, I’ve gained some insight into STEM teacher preparedness.

Drawing on this background, as well as my work as a STEM curriculum writer, I began to think about the tools and skills every STEM teacher will need to possess to be prepared for the shifts in classroom practice implied by NGSS — including the expectation that they will routinely incorporate the engineering design process into their lesson planning.

Creating a strong, harmonious STEM classroom will require many different teaching capacities, including STEM-specific classroom management skills that in my experience are not routinely found in middle grades teachers’ pedagogical toolkits — especially those of novices.

Expectations for 21st Century learners

Let’s think about where a new teacher begins to acquire the skills and tools she needs to provide today’s students with the ability to become successful members of the 21^st century workforce.

The Framework for 21^st Century Learning overview outlines the student outcomes for success in today’s global markets. First and foremost, STEM teachers will need to build a strong foundation for what the framework labels as “Learning and Innovation Skills.” These are the skills students will need to pursue careers in the “increasingly complex life and work environments in today’s world.”

And it’s equally critical that teachers are prepared to model these skills in the STEM classroom so that, over time, students assimilate the skills into their daily lives. Having the capacity to adequately model and teach these essential skills will create a STEM environment that engages students in Creativity & Innovation, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, and Communication & Collaboration.

As I think about NGSS and the engineering design process, Communication & Collaboration immediately leap to the top of the toolbox for me. Without the ability to work as a team and communicate effectively, the skills associated with Creativity & Innovation and Critical Thinking & Problem Solving will be very difficult to achieve.

Teamwork is a top priority in business and industry today, and if we are not teaching the art of collaboration in our classrooms, we are failing to prepare our students for success in the today’s world. Anne Jolly’s MiddleWeb blog post “Effective Student STEM Teams” details the importance of teamwork, and I recommend that every teacher download her “Seven Student Teaming Tips and Tools” guide to assist as they integrate collaboration skills into their classrooms.

Knowing how to get students to work together effectively is the first and most basic tool every in STEM teacher’s best-practice toolkit.

The basics of student collaboration

“As a new STEM teacher, what comes to your mind when you hear the words collaboration or teamwork?” When I ask my e-mentees this question, I get responses that run the gamut from “working in groups” or “working with a partner” all the way to “losing control,” “too much chaos” and “too much bickering.”

These responses tell me that these teachers have had little if any pre-service training or PD on how to establish a collaborative environment in their classrooms. Assuming that this is the case with most new teachers (and many experienced teachers who are newly assigned to the STEM classroom), I begin with the basics.

So what are the basics? Let me share the model that I found works best for me and see what you think. After trying groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5, I found that the 6/3 model was the most effective because it allowed teams (teams, not groups) of students to come together in a grouping of 6 for brainstorming and idea-sharing and to split off into subgroups of 3 for labs and more focused work. The beauty of this model is that when the subgroups come back together, they are able share, communicate, and learn from each other. (Here’s a detailed description of the 6/3 Model.)

Here’s what I say to my mentees: Gone are the days when talking to another student or sharing work was a punishable offense. We are working with students who are used to speaking their minds, questioning things they don’t understand (or sometimes don’t agree with). The 21^st century student comes to us seeking structure and knowledge, not as vessels to be filled by the transfer of our knowledge into their minds.

So I’ve got the 6/3 model – but I’ve got 30 kids!

Many teachers wonder, of course, how in the world they’ll manage a class of 30 or so students working together. It’s a great question, and I quickly admit that teaching and modeling teamwork with middle school students takes time. These are some tips I offer:

• Teams should be heterogeneously grouped. Taking the time and effort to look at your student’s ability levels helps to insure that your classroom reflects the “all students can learn” philosophy. You will be amazed at the relationships that form among students of varying talents and experience when all ability levels come together to solve problems and think creatively.

• Establish protocols. Before embarking on the road to teamwork, think about how comfortable you are with student interaction. When you have 30+ students brainstorming, discussing, sharing and working, expect the noise level in the classroom to rise. Giving my students fair warning that when working as a team they are to use their “one-foot voices” (meaning that their voice should only be heard by a person one foot away) has helped to keep me in my comfort zone. When the noise level rises, be ready to remind the too-loud team or teams to use their “one foot voice.” If this isn’t sinking in, feel free to shut the lab or discussion down.

• Assign team roles. In order to function as a “team,” students need to know that everyone contributes to the end product. By defining roles, you are giving each member of team ownership in the work to be done. Roles change weekly so that each member of the team assumes responsibility of the work on a rotating basis. This system prevents the shy, quiet student from being shut down by the more aggressive students on the team. Everyone has a voice and everyone is respected.

Creating an effective STEM classroom that has rich content, incorporates 21^st century skills, and is inquiry-based will be a challenge for both new and veteran teachers, but mastering the process of effective teaming and collaboration is a tremendous first “tool” for the teacher’s STEM toolkit.

Developing a collaborative model that works for a particular teacher in a particular classroom in a particular school takes time. I spent many years “stealing from the best” to tweak and develop the model that worked well for me. Every successful STEM teacher will do the same. I hope these ideas and resources will help accelerate the process!

by Anne Jolly

Our teams of 8^th grade science students stared at the piles of paint stirrers with expressions ranging from bafflement to careful calculation. Their challenge was to construct a catapult that would thrust a projectile onto a specific area marked on the floor. They discussed the problem, picked up the materials, shuffled them around, and finally began taping them together.

In the lab across the hall, teams of 8^th grade math students were busily constructing impact barriers. They grimaced in dismay or cheered with success as they measured their barriers’ effectiveness in reducing the impact of the crashes when their model cars sped down ramps and into the barriers. Several teams suggested changes they would make in the barrier’s “stuffing” so that the barriers would absorb more shock.

Another group of 8^th grade math teams were frowning in puzzlement as their experiments with bungee cord construction hit a snag. One team suggested that we (curriculum writers and teachers) make sure the three objects they were testing have different but proportional masses. Currently one object weighed four times as much as the other two, and this was making it impossible to get data to predict how the cords they designed would perform with objects of other sizes.

Still other teams of 8^th grade science students were cheering as a marble sped along the roller coaster track they had constructed – complete with loops and hills – and dropped safely into a small cup at the end of the ride. Some nearby teams found themselves adjusting the height or the hills on their coasters after their marbles went flying off the end, or stopped midway through the ride.

Giving students a role in STEM lesson development

All this experimentation took place just this past week in the Mobile public schools. Our student teams were doing important work in two ways. As STEM students, they were learning how certain science and math concepts applied to real engineering challenges. Just as important (at least from our perspective!) they were piloting some STEM lessons that might eventually be used with many other students.

The experimental lessons had first been outlined by math and science teachers working together with writers. Now they were being piloted in classrooms with student help to determine if the lessons accomplished their purpose and were clear, and if the activities worked.

In every case, as we worked through the pilot activities, the lessons were tweaked – often in significant ways – and new approaches and materials were substituted for things that didn’t pan out as expected. Now the lessons will go to the curriculum writers who will describe them in detail, format them, and run them by the lead teachers again before the final copies are distributed. These lessons will join others that are being distributed to middle school teachers system-wide to be field-implemented in classrooms next year. During the first rollout year, the lessons will be observed and adjusted again so that the final products will be as effective and polished as possible.

What doesn’t work matters!

As one of the two STEM lesson writers, I thoroughly enjoyed being with students in classrooms this past week, seeing how well the original lessons played out. Neither teachers nor writers were concerned that the lessons didn’t go smoothly – we expected that. Indeed, we learned a lot from this pilot and happily anticipate the new ideas and possibilities these STEM pilots revealed. All in all I’d give the whole week a big “thumbs up!”

The students also thought the lessons deserved a “thumbs up.” They gave us plenty of suggestions and feedback that we will certainly consider, such as . . .

“Give us more information about the catapults before we build them. You don’t have to show us pictures, just give us more information. And we need stronger rubber bands.”

“We don’t know why teams are using different sizes of rubber bands for our bungee cord construction. And we need to calculate the mass of the objects we are dropping ourselves.”

“We need more time on the construction part. We didn’t have time to test our roller coaster.”

“The graphs are too small to plot our data points, and we don’t have enough room on the worksheets to write.”

What students are saying about STEM

My favorite part of the week was seeing students become increasingly engaged in the STEM lessons and learning process. One student, in particular, didn’t like the STEM lessons at first. Frankly, she said, “I don’t know what to do.” But as she became more involved with her teammates, she began offering ideas, and by the end of the second day she was participating with confidence.

STEM is a growth experience for students in several different ways. I wrote down some of their comments to me as they went through the lessons.

“Wow! We’re going to the lab in math class . . . math class. ”

“I really love this! But it’s so frustrating when it doesn’t work and then we have to start over again. But then it’s so cool when we figure it out.”

“I really like STEM but it’s hard. It’s really hard.”

“I like getting to try things over and over until I figure them out and they work.”

“I learn more when I can do something. I like doing real things.”

“I like hands-on. It makes what I learn in class make sense. We used Newton’s Third Law of Motion today. I mean, we really used it and saw it work. Kinetic and potential energy, too.”

“Usually no one else wants to work with me, but in here they are working with me and copying my design because it works.”

“I made a catapult and I was so proud. I love this. At first it didn’t work but I got to change it and try again and figure it out. I called my sister last night and told her about it.”

 “STEM is fun. It’s challenging for me. I like trying to figure things out.”

Teamwork is too often the missing ingredient

So, it sounds as if everything went swimmingly.

Well, not quite.

One thing simply doesn’t happen naturally – teamwork. We know that from past experience, but there was no time in this experimental phase to teach students the value of working smoothly as a team, and to provide guidance for how to bring that about. So it was rough at times. And realistic, I’m sad to say.

In many STEM classrooms and settings, the fundamentals of becoming an effective team get short circuited. And yet it would make a lot of difference in student participation and learning if students could work together smoothly.

They don’t have to start out wanting to work as a team, but if they have some guidelines built directly into the lessons on how to become a team, including checkpoints where they measure their progress, then they will have more successful experiences as teams. That has value for them, for teachers, and for the workforce they will enter.

How we help groups of students become teams of students will be the topic of future posts here. I consider teamwork to be the most underrated and undervalued part of the STEM initiative.

In the meantime, I can say that things actually went quite well with the pilot. This process is a useful and methodical approach for developing STEM lessons that all middle grades teachers can use with the knowledge that they’ve been student-tested and approved!

by Anne Jolly

For some years now, I’ve been involved in writing STEM curriculum modules. The modules, developed with support from a National Science Foundation grant, are designed for 3 to 5 days, with math and science thoroughly intertwined around the engineering design process. (These modules are written by a team of writers, BTW, not just me.)

The math and science teachers who implement each module go through professional development together, and their students should have a seamless experience as they travel from math to science classrooms, working on their engineering challenge.

Recently I’ve also been partnering with Caroline Goode who is (among other things) a teaching eMentor for a joint project of the National Science Teachers Association and the New Teacher Center. Caroline (who answers to “Cal”) and I are writing STEM lessons for middle school science and math teachers in the Mobile County (AL) Public School System, with the talented staff of Engaging Youth through Engineering facilitating this effort. For this particular STEM initiative, the science and math teachers do not collaborate on the same challenge, although each challenge includes all four STEM core areas.

The kick-off

In the NSTA/NTC work, we start each round of lessons by working with selected math and science teachers from a particular grade level. Together we map out  the math, science, and engineering objectives for the quarter. Then we start brainstorming ideas. When we settle on a challenge, we match that to the engineering design process (EDP). More preliminary work goes into this, but I want to show you an example of a lesson that’s been developed using the EDP as the frame. So let’s cut to the chase.

The Challenge: Stop the Drop!

This lesson was written for 8^th grade science teachers. The science objectives included chemistry, physical and chemical changes, and acid-base reactions. Math objectives involved using scatter plots for bivariate measurement data to look at patterns of association between two quantities and also using straight lines to model relationships between two variables. The engineering content included applying technological tools and systems to solve practical problems with an understanding of societal issues.

So the question was: What real world challenge might we come up with that involves chemistry, scatter plots and line graphs and focuses on designing technologies or systems to solve practical problems in society? We needed to address a real-world issue. Here’s what the teachers decided:

Engineering is used to design technology to meet human needs, including methods of keeping people safe. Today, airbags are at the forefront of the effort to keep automotive travelers safe. What if airbag technology could be expanded to create something that could help rescue people who are trapped in burning buildings or in other high structures? This challenge (Stop the Drop!) focuses on designing an air cushion that would safely catch and protect a person jumping or falling from a building.

Mapping the Lesson to the EDP

Using the engineering design process as our organizer, we developed the following lesson. (I should note that before writing the lesson, teachers fleshed out the ideas and tried them in their classrooms. Cal and I did feasibility testing in our homes. We figured the cost of materials before recommending the approach. In other words, you don’t just jump from a brainstorming session to a finished product.)

GOAL: Design and develop an air cushion that will successfully prevent injury to a person falling from a building or other high elevation.  Obviously the teams can’t actually test this on a person, so the problem they work with must be more specific than that.

PROBLEM: Design and create a prototype air cushion using safe chemicals to inflate it enough to protect an object dropped from a height of 1.5 meters. To launch this challenge, kids watched a 30 second video clip that shows how airbags play a role in safety. Several good choices were out there, but we used this one.

RESEARCH: Investigate current airbag technology and how an acid (acetic acid, or vinegar) and a base (sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda) react to produce a gas (carbon dioxide) that will inflate a bag. Team members researched this on the Internet. I also made a handout with the information in the event that a class did not have Internet access.

To start students thinking about how they might use baking soda and vinegar, teachers showed this engaging 2-minute video.

DEVELOP: Brainstorm how to determine the ratios of acid–base combinations that produce the needed amount of gas to deploy their air cushions. We set some criteria and constraints (see graphic). Then we provided each team with a tub of materials (baking soda, vinegar, gallon-size zip-seal bag, metric ruler, paper cupcake liners, string, a plastic portion cup, etc.). Teams brainstormed and tested different ratios of these chemicals, and measured results (how much the different ratios cause their bag to inflate). We gave them these instructions.

One of their toughest decisions was how to get the sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid to come together after the bag is zipped so that no gas escapes. They also struggled a bit trying to figure out how to measure the bag’s circumference. Note that we didn’t give them a lot of information about things like that. Instead, we gave them a variety of materials and let them muck about and come up with their own ideas. Also notice that I could have correctly labeled this as part of the Research phase since the information students are gathering will help them decide on a prototype to test. The EDP steps are quite flexible, and are not necessarily linear.

CHOOSE: Decide on the system your team members believe has the most effective ratio of chemicals to inflate the air cushion based on plotting and estimating data from a line graph. Team members agreed that they were unlikely to stumble on the best ratio(s) by accident, so how could they use math to help them? They made a scatterplot of their data points; then informally fit a straight line as close to their data points as possible. From the graph they estimated the amount of sodium bicarbonate they would need to construct an air cushion that would be inflated just the right amount. (It’s not magic, but it gives them a starting point for making a choice about the ratio they will use.)

CREATE: Construct a prototype of your chosen air cushion system using the amounts of baking soda and vinegar you believe to be optimal. Each team only got to construct one prototype, so they wanted to get it right.

TEST AND EVALUATE: Conduct a test to determine if an object representing a person might survive intact without bouncing off the air cushion or sinking so deeply that it hits the ground. Collect, record, and analyze data. All students watched as each team tested its air cushion and recorded their observations on an observation sheet. To do the test, a team placed the air cushion on the floor. From a height of 1 ½ meters (~5 ft.) a team member dropped a 2 oz. portion cup (without a top) containing 10 pennies. The cup represented the “faller” — the person who is falling or jumping. To pass the test their air cushion must stop the cup without spilling any pennies. Pennies will fall out if the cup hits the floor (the air cushion is underinflated) or if the cup bounces off (the air cushion is overinflated).

COMMUNICATE: Discuss the results of the test with other team members. What were the results? Did the faller survive? What worked well? What could be improved? As usual, we reminded teams that they have not “failed” if their prototype doesn’t pass the test. They have “learned.” Like good engineers, they will use what they learned to design another prototype.

REDESIGN: Redesign your air cushion deployment system so that it will more efficiently protect a person falling from a building or other high structure. As time allows, student teams can repeat elements of the design process as they use their data and observations to improve their prototype.

COMMUNICATE: Make recommendations for a follow-up redesign and produce a report. Ask each team to choose one air cushion protection system prototype from the class tests that they think is the most promising in terms of results and cost efficiency (the air cushion that took the least amount of soda would be considered the most cost efficient) and propose ideas for the next redesign. The report the teams produce could be written, oral, in the form of a panel discussion, etc. It could be posted on the class website as a blog or a video.

So that’s the basic idea

It’s okay to include a step more than once during a STEM lesson (e.g., Communicate) or to leave out a step entirely if it doesn’t fit. Keep in mind that the EDP steps don’t have to occur in any rigid order, either. Whatever makes sense.

Please ask questions about what I’ve described here if you don’t find I’ve provided all the information you need to get a clear picture. Also keep in mind that this is a rather quick STEM lesson designed for a particular need/situation. There are more comprehensive lessons, longer lessons, and certainly better lessons.

My goal in this post has been to walk you through some of the basics of using the Engineering Design Process to successfully incorporate STEM components into math and science learning objectives. It’s not really so hard, is it?

by Anne Jolly

I’m passionate about STEM – a process that offers students a chance to make sense of complex things and helps them connect their learning across subject areas. Another of my passions is professional learning teams – how teachers can work productively in teams to improve instruction. I’ve written a book about that, and I conduct workshops with teachers working in community to solve student problems and meet learning needs.

One thing I notice about PLC initiatives as I work with teaming is that PLCs have morphed into a variety of styles, some better than others. I worked with one system that mandated PLCs in every school. Rather than giving schools firm guidance, the system left it up to the schools to decide how PLCs would “look.” Schools struggled to get up to speed. Several established teacher teams and gave them time to meet during the school day. In another school, I learned, “Our faculty meeting counts as a PLC.”

Still another school decided that if two or more teachers met at lunch and discussed instruction – while monitoring students – those teachers could count that as a PLC meeting. Some mandated school improvement meetings were labeled as PLC meetings. So PLCs have taken on many faces – with a lot of schools and professional staffs just going through the motions as they wait out the latest “fad.”

The same thing could happen to STEM. Chances are, it’s already beginning. I know for certain that some schools/systems believe they have STEM programs if one subject (usually science) in the school teaches lessons officially labeled as “STEM.” Some believe they have STEM if they let kids make roller coasters or Lego robots in an after school program. Those kinds of things certainly include STEM components, but I wonder, is the meaning of STEM beginning to be diluted, from a rich stew to a thin soup?

The Ingredients of a Good STEM Stew

Different looks and approaches can be good, depending on what they accomplish for students and for the workforce. However, there ought to be some basic core principles around which STEM programs revolve.

What, exactly, makes a particular curriculum an authentic STEM program?

The answer is up for grabs in some areas, but STEM programs should focus on attaining the following 10 outcomes at the very least. That doesn’t mean that every one of these outcomes must be in place at the launch of a program, but they should be present as the program matures. They sum up the basics of solid STEM programs and represent the “bonus” or “value added” that comes from doing STEM right. Check these out and see how many your STEM program already has in place:

Basic Outcomes of Real STEM programs

1. Students gain a deep understanding of the content areas. Depth is more evident than breadth as students learn rich content that they will apply in future careers. (STEM Bonus: Students may gain real understanding of concepts rather than just knowing facts.)

2. STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math) are interconnected and integrated. Students are able to identify and integrate concepts and skills from content areas to understand and solve complex problems. (STEM Bonus: This will give students a reason to learn content that once seemed useless.)

3. Engineering is a driving force behind STEM challenges. The engineering design process provides an organized structure that students use in solving challenges. (STEM Bonus: There’s a high probability that students will learn how to think through problems if they use this process frequently.)

4. STEM students work to solve real-world problems. Students apply problem solving and design skills across the interrelated STEM disciplines to address real social, economic, and environmental situations in their local and global communities. (STEM Bonus: Students may actually grow up to solve some of these problems.)

5. Teachers facilitate STEM learning through hands-on inquiry and exploration. STEM teachers use inquiry-based, firsthand investigations that encourage critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork. (STEM Bonus: This way of teaching may spread throughout the school!)

6. STEM involves teamwork. A glance in a classroom where students are involved in a STEM project will reveal students working together in teams to solve problems. (STEM Bonus: Teamwork builds skills that will be useful in almost every area of their lives.)

7. Students feel comfortable working with technology. Students view technology as more than computers; technology includes all tools used to make life easier and better. (STEM Bonus: School may be a place that feels up-to-date and students enjoy coming.)

8. Students understand how their STEM coursework relates to future careers. They believe that STEM skills are vital to their success as 21st century workers and vital to our collective future. (STEM Bonus: Students who engage in STEM coursework may become leaders who improve our economic growth, national security, and our future.)

9. Teachers are active learners. Teachers have access to, and time allotted for, collaborative professional development that sharpens their STEM knowledge and inquiry teaching approach. (STEM Bonus: Teachers may become less isolated in silos and more likely to spread expertise.)

10. The community is supportive, including both parents and private industry. The STEM program has strong leadership, sufficient resources, and support from parents, businesses, higher education, and/or private industry. (STEM Bonus: The community may find out about the good things your school is doing.)

You can find more about what goes on with outstanding STEM initiatives at these websites:

• Carolina Curriculum and the Smithsonian Institution National Science Resources Center

• Washington State STEM Education Foundation

• A Compendium of Best Practice K-12 STEM Education Programs

If you know of a STEM program with some successful components, tell us about it here or share a link to the site.

by Anne Jolly

My guest blogger is Sammy Parker, a former English teacher who has also designed and directed professional learning programs for The National Faculty and was my colleague in the educational leadership component of SERVE.

Now retired, Sammy tutors kids in writing, does online editing, and writes poetry. He “loves Shakespeare, Faulkner, Elmore Leonard, and Louise Erdrich; has a multiyear subscription to Smithsonian magazine; and is fascinated with the impending move of Voyager I into interstellar space.” His commentary here on the profoundly important connection between STEM studies and the arts is compelling!

STE(A)M: The Important Nexus of STEM and the Arts

by Sammy Parker

Artist’s imagining of Voyager 1 in interstellar space.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

I’ve always wanted to use nexus — “a connection or series of connections linking two or more things’ — in a title. Forgive me: it’s an English teacher thing, and the critical linkages between the arts and STEM present an excellent opportunity.

My goal here is not to provide numerous tips on how to make or implement the STE(A)M connections.

I clearly don’t have the expertise to do that, and I have no doubt that the skills and creativity of teachers who are inclined to do so and the guidance, sharing, and initiative of excellent teachers/consultants like Anne Jolly will help move forward much of the impetus for change, both in curricular modifications and classroom implementation.

Rather, I’d like to remind readers of some of the ways this nexus between STEM and the arts works and why a stronger alliance between the two is extremely advantageous to both (and especially to STEM). As kids are keen to remind us, it’s very good to know not just the “what,” but also the “why.” Here’s some “why,” especially necessary in an era of increasing specialization, decreasing funding streams, and a growing penchant by policymakers—who, most often, are NOT teachers, goldarn it—to eliminate the arts in tight-money situations.

The education of scientists

Santiago Ramón y Cajal, awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and supremely adept in pathology, histology, and neuroscience, enjoyed gymnastics, painting, and creative writing. Also, he had some strong opinions about the education of scientists and the kind of students who succeed at the highest level. He wrote:

The far-sighted teacher will prefer those students who . . . [are] endowed with an abundance of restless imagination [and] spend their energy in the pursuit of literature, art, philosophy, and all the recreations of mind and body. . . . [I]t appears as though they are scattering and dissipating their energies while in reality, they are channeling and strengthening them.”

J.H. van ‘t Hoff

Channeling the spirit of Cajal, Roald Hoffman, 1981 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and a published poet, playwright, and music producer, believes that “[b]y being a natural language under tension, the language of science is inherently poetic.” Another laureate who acknowledged the seminal relationship between the arts and science was Dutchman Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff, winner of the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901. Besides inventing stereochemistry, co-inventing physical chemistry, founding geochemistry, and helping create the new field of the history of science, he was a flautist and painter and wrote poetry in four languages.

van ‘t Hoff cited Galileo (artist, craftsman, musician, writer), Kepler (musician), and Davy (one of the founders of modern chemistry and a poet praised by, among others, Coleridge) as examples of individuals who had consummate scientific knowledge and skills that were enhanced and nourished by their broad interests in the arts. And as an interesting, more contemporary aside, Steve Jobs described himself and his Apple science and engineering colleagues as artists.

Why put the “A” in STEAM?

These are people who definitely put the “A” in the middle of STEM at its highest levels of achievement. In fact, as Steven Ross Pomeroy, science-news writer and blogger and assistant editor for Real Clear Science, notes in an August 2012 article in Scientific American:

Nobel laureates in the sciences are 17 times likelier than the average scientist to be a painter, 12 times as likely to be a poet, and 4 times as likely to be musician.”

In “Identifying and Training Creative Scientists,” published in Imagine That! and reprinted in Psychology Today, Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein make an equally interesting but counterintuitive observation: “Nobel prizewinners are rarely the best academic students. They do not have IQs that are any higher than those of scientists overall. They don’t test higher on standardized tests. They DO bring a much wider range of skills, knowledge, talents, and methods to their work.”

The correlation implied by these two interesting pieces of information is distinct and provocative, and the implications are compelling for how we structure a curriculum and an educational climate that best nurtures students in STEM studies. That said, what is the real value of cultivating these disciplinary relationships if the ultimate goal is to increase the quantity of kids really getting excited about STEM and the quality of instruction and experiences we offer them?

Arts + STEM: Raising achievement for all students

A 2012 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth, examined the impact of arts education on low-socioeconomic status (SES) students, using four large national databases and longitudinal studies. The findings show that kids who actively participated in the arts

• tended to score better in science and writing;

• engaged in more beneficial extracurricular activities;

• were more likely to attend college and graduate;

• had higher career goals, including those related to STEM; and

• were more civically engaged.

These results speak loudly to our nationally expressed goal both to raise the level of achievement of our lowest-performing students and to raise the level of involvement and interest in STEM. Solid research shows that low-SES students are some of our most academically needy and poorest performing, so the implications of this study offer a powerfully compelling reason to consider how better to align the arts with STEM.

Both arts & sciences challenge us to be creative and solve problems

Related to the core of each and to a range of student aptitudes from very low to gifted, both the arts and the sciences embrace the value, beauty, and challenge of problem solving, imagination, and creativity.

As astronaut Mae Jemison, who is not only a doctor and the first black woman in space but a dancer and actor, eloquently said at the 2002 TED conference, “The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin . . . or even different parts of the same continuum, but, rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity.”

Soft Circuits workshop – Jie Qui

How can this play out in classrooms or other educational settings? Pomeroy notes two excellent examples: “At the Wolf Trap Institute in Virginia, ‘teaching artists’ are combining physical dance with . . . math and geometry. In Rhode Island, MIT researcher Jie Qui introduced students to paper-based electronics . . . [to explore] the use of technology in expressive art. Both programs excited students about science while concurrently fueling their imaginations.”

The potential for the arts to expand students’ imaginations and enhance their abilities to confront projects and problems with new and enhanced creativity is exhilarating. And, of course, as numerous examples, research, and anecdotal evidence attest, these are key characteristics that translate into other academic areas, especially in STEM.

The evidence is persuasive

From the lives and words of Nobel laureates to the eye-opening changes that the arts have on students, especially low-SES ones, to the dynamism and success of classrooms and other educational settings that meld the best of both worlds, the evidence for the immense value of creating and cultivating a nexus of the arts and STEM is persuasive.

However, given the realities of increasingly stringent public-school funding and the general lack of the arts’ appeal to many policymakers, teachers need to educate themselves about the STE(A)M value and potential and begin to advocate actively for the inclusion of the arts in school curricula. Teachers who perceive the value of STE(A)M should also engage with other teachers in devising innovative, challenging ways of bringing science, technology, engineering, math, and the arts (both individually and collectively) in all of their permutations into our classrooms.

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ~ Albert Einstein

by Anne Jolly

A shorter version of this article appeared at SmartBlog on Education.

Many of my middle school students were natural scientists. They loved to explore, invent, build, figure things out and be actively engaged in their learning. While they would tolerate working with a fake scenario (“A space alien has just landed and . . .”) they were most engaged when dealing with problems that real scientists and engineers were working on. Environmental issues were among their favorites; they wanted to make the world a better place.

That’s reason enough to be a STEM advocate! Kids need a place where they can get together to learn how to approach and solve problems they care about.

Looking beyond the 3 R’s, in today’s connected world students must become proficient in the 4 C’s: Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration and Communication. Mindy Curless, a Kentucky STEM initiatives consultant, asserts that “Developing these skills is a natural outcome of a STEM curriculum and perhaps the best reason to engage students in these experiences.”

Students in Flux

Few teachers would dispute that students are changing and the world is changing. When I began teaching, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. It seemed that every two or three years my latest batch of 12- and 13-year-old students arrived with a whole new mindset and outlook – a different set of interests and skills and a different way of thinking and reacting. If I were going to be successful in helping them learn, I had to continually evolve – to change my way of teaching to meet their learning styles and needs.

As I continued teaching into the 21^st century, I noticed another odd thing; in our high-tech, fast-paced, and connected world, my students were in a continual state of flux. I had to change faster. I had to develop new teaching skills and beliefs about what constitutes good teaching.

That kind of continual change is a tall order for any middle level teacher, much less a teacher who is called upon to integrate STEM content and techniques into the curriculum. Continual change means ongoing learning to develop new teaching skills and new ideas about what it means to BE a teacher.

10 Essential STEM Teaching Practices

Here are some aptitudes and proficiencies that seem to be valuable for the STEM teachers – or for any middle level teacher who wants to be cutting-edge.

1. Believe in your students. For your sake and the sake of your students, set high expectations for your students, challenge them to succeed, and believe that they will. Most students will perform at the level you expect, so trust them to make informed choices about their engineering challenges, come up with creative solutions, complete complex tasks, and work together smoothly to do so.

2. Transfer control of the learning process to the students. Develop new roles and rules that stress student responsibility. Check out this article for ideas on how to accomplish this. Then guide from the sidelines while keeping students on target with their direction and purpose. Aim at helping them become self-sufficient learners.

3. Foster curiosity. Learn the art of asking open-ended questions with plenty of possible answers. Pose problems rather than answers and send students on a search for solutions. Use discrepant events to intrigue students and draw them into the problem. This article suggests six strategies for piquing curiosity so that students engage in using critical thinking skills to solve problems.

4. Provide hands-on, experiential learning. Don’t be the old-fashioned sage on the stage if you want to stimulate 21^st century learning. Learning through reflection and doing is compelling. When your students have their imagination piqued, give them opportunities to actually investigate multiple possible solutions to a problem, or to solve a mystery. Provide materials that teams of students can explore and manipulate.

5. Increase collaboration among students. Get comfortable with teamwork. Actively teach teamwork skills and work with students to heighten awareness of their team behaviors and ways of interacting in the class. Here is a link to a student teamwork guide that you may find useful. Feel free to download and use it.

6. Accept failure – both yours and the students – as a necessary part of learning and growing. That is, accept failure that accompanies taking a risk and experimenting, knowing that they might not get it right. Everyone in the classroom should feel safe in taking risks. I tell students that we learn more from what we do wrong than from what we do right, and engineers learn from their mistakes. In fact, failure is a necessary part of learning. If you aren’t comfortable with this idea, you might check out this online commentary.

7. Be an inspiring leader and role model for your students. Be positive and enthusiastic about what students are learning and how they are learning it. Be passionate in your teaching and your love of your subject area.

8. Accept some drawbacks. STEM education will improve student engagement, critical thinking skills, and workforce skills. But it may also play havoc with the lesson plan you wrote and make it more difficult to cover content benchmarks in a stepwise process. In the STEM classroom, you’ll need to be flexible and ready to make some quick shifts in your thinking. You may also need to be willing to deviate from your lesson plan, depending on the direction the students’ investigations and decisions take them.

9. Evolve and grow as a learner. One of the most important things you can do, as a STEM teacher, is to pay attention to the art of teaching. Develop your skills in facilitating (as opposed to dictating) so that students focus on learning how to think like engineers. Embrace digital tools and technology in the classroom with help from your students. (They will enjoy being in the role of teaching you!)

10. Learn in community. Work with your colleagues to study effective ways of teaching STEM lessons. Research shows that as you work with other teachers in Professional Learning Communities you can expect the following results:

• You will increase your engagement with STEM content and how to teach it.
• You will learn more STEM content.
• You will feel better prepared to teach STEM content.
• You will enhance your inquiry-oriented teaching methods.
• You will pay more attention to students’ reasoning and understanding.

Teaching STEM in the fabulous middle grades is an adventure trip with a great destination. I must say that I envy my colleagues who are just beginning to make that journey!