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

[Tom Jenkins]

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

[Marie Clarner]

Hi - I teach 7th grade math and have worked on a water conservation unit. It is pretty interesting to have kids find out how much water they use and possible waste. In my town, the head of the water department will come and show kids how to read the water meter at home and how to calculate the amount of water "drips" can use - maybe you can check with your local water department to see if they can help- I know it's not energy - but it is a great science/math project. We also have a local electric department and they provide speakers to schools - Good luck!

[Tom Jenkins]

Thanks for the resources Jessica. I'll check them out.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited to start the new course. I really hope to create something that excites my students and at that same time allows them to contribute to their community. Hopefully, it will be the first of a handful that we (I along with the kids) develop. I'll keep everyone posted on how this evolves. Thanks again.

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Tom, this sounds like a great idea! I think an exciting part of your program is that you can involve the students in the design at this point. Use this first year as a pilot of sorts - and really get the kids' feedback in terms of what works, etc. They might come up with some amazing ideas!

You might want to check out the NEED program - they have a wealth of materials for K-12 teachers and students. I attended a week long workshop a few years back and was impressed with the breadth of resources!

We have an entire Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears issue devoted to energy and natural resources/energy sources: Energy and the Polar Environment. There might some useful items in this, as well.

Finally, I have to share a favorite picture book - My Light by Molly Bang. It's an interesting look at how various energy sources (fossil fuels, water/wind power) can be traced, at some point, back to the sun's energy. The illustrations are beautiful, too. I think that even 5th and 6th graders would appreciate it as an introduction to the topic.

Best of luck - can't wait to hear how it goes!

[Tom Jenkins]

Thanks for the links Mary. Great Stuff! I appreciate the help.

Yeah, I'll keep posting updates throughout the school year. Sharing makes everyone better. As I gain experience teaching I'm realizing that the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. ;)

[Mary Henton]

Wow, Tom! This is exciting!! Thanks for sharing (and being willing to continue to share??).

I've just done a little sleuthing through the NSDL site (I searched for energy conservation, under K-12, in the Advance Search section; selecting "Grades 3-5" and "Grades 6-8"). I also looked at some of the "Science Online Publications" within MSP2 science resources. I came across some resources that sound like they might be helpful:
MSP2 Online Science Publications: Energy Transfer and Transformation - There are two lessons that caught my eye, under "Heat Transfer":
1. "Atmospheric Processes: Radiation" Atmospheric Processes: Radiation. Here's the opening of the description: "Need some experience doing quantitative science experiments? In these activities, students take measurements, graph the results, and draw conclusions. They even generalize their results to real-world applications! After explaining the differences between conduction, convection, and radiation, this teacher guide offers activities in which the students learn first-hand the relationship between the color or texture of an object and its ability to absorb energy. "
2. "Testing Materials for Thermal Conductivity."

Under "Technology and the Environment" Online Publication there is description about the GLOBE program -- where students study and collect data, then share with other students and teachers and work on collaborative problems. I haven't explored it, but I wonder if you could develop and collaborate on energy conservation experiments??

An advanced search of "energy conservation" on the NSDL site (K-12, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8) yielded 1499 results!!! Whew...But they can be sorted by type (e.g., video, text, interactive resource, data). There's got to be something in there that's useful!!

I'll be eager to hear what others have to offer and how this project unfolds for you!

M