STEM Elevator Speech: Round 2

In my first "Elevator Speech" that I did for 690, I spoke about the need for real-world examples in the classroom. However, after taking this class and researching the deeper issues in STEM in a classroom, I realized that it is more about accessibility. STEM arose out of a need for connection between concepts that are considered abstract, hence the real-world examples. It also is a way to inspire students to follow their passions and create a framework to tackle problems that seem too hard at first. If these things are achieved, gaps in gender, race, and academic achievement can be overcome. STEM is a way for us to inspire students and engage them in a way that gives them the skills to succeed in many 21st-century careers. If we can make math, biology, physics, chemistry and engineering fun, engaging, and less abstract, it will allow the students to connect the dots and see the practicality in learning about these subjects that can have a major impact on their lives as they move into the real world.

STEM Project Outline!

Here is a link to my STEM Project outline (Running updates): here

Professional Development!

This weekend was completely filled with conferences and professional development opportunities. On Friday, our entire school faculty attended the National Association of Independent Schools. We started our day with Sir Ken Robinson as the keynote speaker, continued on to visit a number of awesome booths (with tons of free books and other stuff), and a number of breakout sessions. The two meaningful breakout sessions I went to were "Failure 2.0: Teaching children to fail successfully" and "Turning your class into an ARG". Failure 2.0 was about how to use proper language and praising to embrace effort over achievement. This helps prevent discouragement when a student does not get a good grade. It also helps promotes self-motivation because parents and teachers show appreciation when they know a student worked hard to achieve what they did. It also allows for space for improvement. The ARG session was all about how to effectively use Google Cardboard ($5 each) googles to create an interactive learning experience for the classroom. My favorite was ARIS (https://arisgames.org/), a program where a teacher can create an ARG in their classroom or school for the students to walk around and interact with. An example in the lecture was to use ARIS to teach students about lab safety.

On Sunday night, I when to Park School's Brain sPark event. This was a conference where people from the Park School community spoke in 50 minute segments. You were allowed to pick three, and the most impressive ones that I chose were about art in space and another about what it is like to be a woman pilot in a field that is dominated by men. The art in space lecture involved four scientists who worked with exoplanets and on the James Webb telescope, as well as with the Hubble Space Telescope. The idea is to take the imagery from space, which is often times beautiful and commission artists to create their own interpretations from imagery. The scientists spoke about how these images are hard to comprehend, but if artists create pieces of art from them, it combines human aspects and emotion into something that can be very abstract. It was the first time that I had listened to a very clear example of why STEM should be STEAM.

While this weekend was busy, it was very worth it for me in terms of professional development. This has inspired me to register for the NSTA and ISEEN conferences for next year and I look forward to using these and future opportunities to improve my teaching in the classroom.