Without research or significant preparation, respond to these questions in your Blog...
1) How would you describe STEM education to a friend or family member in informal conversation?
STEM education is focused on science, math, engineering, and technology. It provides students with core education in these areas while encouraging larger skills like problem solving and critical thinking. Within STEM education, the topics are not taught independently and can be found weaved together to provide students with a more comprehensive educational experience.
2) Why do you think STEM education is (or is not) important?
STEM education is important for preparing students for life after graduation. Whether a student is heading to college or joining the workforce, STEM education provides students with marketable skills that are sought after in the real world. Students become proficient problem solvers, think critically about problems, and can generate solutions. They are taught ways to design and redesign and how to persevere until an acceptable solution is obtained. They learn to question ideas and how to work collaboratively. These skills are so important because they are skills that employers want individuals to have.
3) What is the value of incorporating or enhancing STEM in public education.
While STEM focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math, the critical skills learned are applicable in all areas of education. Students become better writers when they can imagine various solutions to problems and are able to articulate these ideas to others. Additionally, STEM education is often taught in a more hands on approach. This style of learning is more appealing to students and is better aligned with real world approaches to problems.
Return to your original blog and add additional thoughts. In addition to reviewing the resources provided in the LiveBinder, I used Twitter to research the topic. I really like using Twitter to find information on STEM education because there are tons of current sources available. The resources I found on Twitter echoed those from the LiveBinder.
1) How were your initial thoughts reinforced by the resources you explored?
The wired.com article by Stephen DeAngelis reinforced my thoughts on the importance of STEM education. DeAngelis points out that STEM education promotes problem solving and critical thinking and that these skills are essential to life after school. What he points out that I did not originally touch on, is that while employers are seeking these skills they are also critical in navigating life. When students understand how to think critically and effectively solve problems, they are more capable to deal with life problems.
2) What are some additional reasons to incorporate STEM education into your planning and instructions?
Randal Mason (2015) points out the importance that STEM education plays in developing solutions for global problems. I think this is key to STEM education; encouraging students to look at bigger picture problems and having them develop solutions. This, to me, is the true basis of STEM education.
Something that stuck out to me after completing some research was the importance of diversity in STEM fields. The article by Karen D. Purcell (2015) discussed ways to encourage female participation in STEM fields. This is really important to me, being a former female Chemist. In my classroom, I use any opportunity I can to bring my prior experience into the classroom. This makes the content more personal but also provides an example that women do have a place in STEM education. In fact, my school competed in a robotics tournament recently. Our full female team took top place and it was awesome to see females successful in an area that is predominately viewed as a male field.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome that you are able to bring your real life experiences to the classroom. Often times as a chem student in high school and college, I struggled to see the practicality in the labs that I would spend hours conducting. I think that if my professors had given me any context at all to why I was carrying out certain reactions, I would have been much more enthusiastic about what I was doing. I also think that it is amazing that you have the opportunity to inspire young women in your classroom to be chemists. I agree with you so much that the field needs to be diversified, and the best way to do that is to bring that reality to the students directly to them in the classroom.
While we learn in our different content areas that we have a large relationship in our goals and teaching strategies of how to get there; we also learn and develop a relationship between the different disciplines using STEM. I found STEM to integrate different types of learning for all learners like hands-on, literacy, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills. STEM is a market that is growing, but these are skills that employers demand. We need students to be challenge to handle what comes their way. Students need to learn to break down information to develop solutions. Analogy- puzzle pieces coming together! Another thing about STEM is that it teaches students how to not limit their abilities in all areas. Students learn to gain a confidence in their education.
ReplyDeleteSamantha
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI have also noticed how much of a difference it makes in students when I bring the real world into what I was teaching. Students were so much more interested and attentive to the class and what was happening. They were also more forth coming with adding their own experiences and knowledge to the class. I think another aspect which is so important that a lot of us mention is the idea that STEM education doesn't only have to focus on science and Math it can really be used for all areas of education. I also really like that you looked at the diversity of the field. my own thoughts focused on women but the truth is that we need to be even more diverse then that.