Our Society's Obsession with STEM/STEAM: Crazy or Critical?

You ask someone to draw a picture of what a scientist looks like and you will most likely get something like this.

A few weeks ago The Washington Post published an article regarding the STEM obsession in America as being dangerous.  Every time we turn a corner, we see the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) /STEAM  (insert Arts) bandwagon making it's way down the educational highway.  But, on the shoulder of the road, are those who may not be motivated by those acronyms. The article reminds us that we need Psychology, Communication, Art History, English, and Music majors (just to name a few). We need also need those who may forgo college,  Manufacturers, Entrepreneurs, Builders, Farmers, Ranchers and others.

What we need more than anything? Kids who know how to think for themselves and problem solve.

There are several important areas I have learned when creating, developing and sustaining STEM/STEAM initiatives to support thinkers; not just consumers or doers, not just scientists, techies or artists, but makers of meaning.

(listed alphabetically, not by priority)

1. Double Entry Reflections:   It's not enough to just experience a new activity, we need to reflect on what is going on. Double entry journals do just that. By simply folding a piece of paper in half you now have created a front and back way to express learning. The left side can be used to write down facts (from the  research or reading), what they are learning as they go through the activity, the right side is meant for reflection. For example, on the left side, the student can answer the question, " What did you find challenging?", then on the right side, "Explain why you found it challenging or different." No need for multiple choice tests or scary assessments, have them keep this working document to share their understanding and thirst for more.


2. Expertise and Involvement: There is not one person out there that could possibly know everything about science, or technology, or math, or art or engineering, especially how to integrate these pieces together. Network, email, and text people who are educated and experienced in different content areas. Invite them in to volunteer their time to share and teach what they know (even if it is just an hour). No presentations...participation! Students are exposed to presentations and power points way too often.  At the STEAM Studio, we have called on high school students (like our own Krishon), college pre-service teachers, and other talented volunteers (the amazing artist John Bukaty) to share what they know in a platform that allows to work with the kids, not tell them, show them and learn from them.

3. Keep Em Interested:  Despite grant money, initial interest and the whole STEM excitement, reports show that many students are not finishing STEM education programs. One of the main reasons is that they lose interest. Learning is no different than other areas of your life; relationships, hobbies, travel...you enjoy being involved with someone or something because there is something different, exciting, memorable and worth learning more about.  They key to getting kids to start what they finish, in regards to STEM/STEAM programs, find what really interests them and build a project or activity around that.

4. Multiple Opportunities: Teachers and parents cannot do it all. There is mandated curriculum which must be taught, a social and family life which is essential to growing, and opportunities needed to inspire life long learning.  After school clubs are a great way to extend enrichment activities while integrating fun and individualized attention beyond the bell. Research shows there are significant benefits, beyond academics, for participants in after school programs. However, many programs only offer one topic, one project or one way to be involved.  STEM/STEAM programming should offer multiple ways to learn and multiple ways to participate through multiple topics.

5. No Recipes:  I'm not saying that anything goes, but we need to get away from structured lesson planning, standardization and assessing our students to death.  Design Thinking allows learners to be explorers. We want them to think for themselves, to be risk takers, to fail then try again, to succeed and evolve their project, to seek improvement in what they are doing.  This is the essence of Design Thinking which is the core of what we do at the STEAM Studio.

Are STEM/STEAM programs crazy or critical? It depends on the vision and mission of the initiative or program. If it is to follow the masses, deliver content through rote memory, standardized testing and push out incredibly boring material, then it is crazy. Facilitating the mad scientist image ingrained in many of our youth will deter them from such a program.  However, if you build, develop and evolve a program which focuses on individual talents, interests, interdisciplinary learning to raise confidence in the areas of STEM/STEAM, then you have a critical calling for the next generation.


I remember one of the first movies that made science look fun: Weird Science. You don't need to be blinded by science, or STEM/STEAM, it can open your eyes to all different types of ways to have fun and learn.



Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science from Mad Hatter on Vimeo.

HOT Blogging: Light Some Fires!

Encourage others to share their voice and their passion for learning will ignite.

Why blog? Who cares? You should.  In a digital world where online communication can be cold and negative, here are some ways to make it HOT and positive.

Two graduate students in my ED  6030 course: Technology in the Classroom at Rockhurst University, did some research about blogging and the important impact it can have on students. 

Ashley Duvall, RU graduate student shares what she learned from her research article:

The issue I have chosen to learn more about for this journal is blogging and its place in the classroom. As an elementary teacher, literacy is a huge area of concern that I need to be on top of for my students. The new literacies created by technology make my job more complex, and finding ways to help students with comprehension and writing skills in this changing society requires that I seek knowledge of new teaching strategies. Blogging has become a hot topic for its effectiveness in helping students with comprehension, synthesis, and writing, and because of this, I wanted to learn more about ways that it can be used in the elementary classroom. The article I read,  HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking  by Lisa Zawilinski (2009), describes a model that was proven effective in a fifth-grade classroom. HOT blogging gives students an online forum to: 

• voice their opinions
• do research 
• see what others are thinking
• learn to gather information
• critically evaluate it
• write about it
• read other student’s opinions
• synthesize all of the different pieces together

In the process, they learned about the value in hearing other students’ ideas as well as the importance of supporting their own thoughts with evidence so that they could get their point across. With such positive outcomes, this article should definitely impact the way technology is used in the classroom. It leaves very little question about whether or not it should be implemented. There are questions of privacy, confidentiality, and maintenance, but Zawilinski explains that many of these issues can be taken care of by changing settings during the blog creation phase and by modeling the process for students every step of the way. She mentions a site called  Edublogs  (edublogs.org),  which is just one of the many free blog sites that an educator can use to implement this practice of HOT blogging in the classroom (Zawilinski, 2009). 

I could simply stop at the training I receive here at Rockhurst, but I would be doing a grave injustice to my future students. If a teacher is unwilling to take a risk in learning about new technological tools, their students will be unwilling to take a risk in learning about them too. Likewise, if a teacher uses technology in ineffective ways, students will see no benefit to use them in the future. 

It is my job to show my students the benefit in continuous learning and to lead them and my colleagues in a direction that promotes both growth and effective use in the area of technology. 

For those of you who are still skeptical about how it can help students....

Carolyn Lynch, 4th grade teacher and RU graduate student further explains her research findings:

 The idea of blogging is somewhat uncomfortable  to educators, especially when the word “student” is thrown into the mix. Student blogging can seem like an incredibly scary thing to conquer, especially for me. Blogging is a difficult concept to understand and it’s hard to know whether students really get significant meaning out of the time spent writing and publishing on a blog. However, some teachers are taking the leap with their students and finding that student blogging is beneficial to students as writers. 

This is just the information I wanted to find when I chose to research blogging in the classroom, as blogging takes technology use to another level. Students can blog on laptops, desktops, iPads, etc. Blogs are very mobile and very easy to make. In fact, I made a blog in about ten minutes. Blogs are not very time consuming, but very beneficial to students’ learning. Blogging pushes them to use higher order thinking and creates audience-aware authors (Davis & McGrail, 2011). Both of these skills are invaluable when it comes to a lifetime for our students. 

Blogging has also proven to be a good writing tool within elementary aged students, so this will impact technology use within the classroom. Students benefit from blogging by becoming more aware of their audiences through writing. Blogging also makes it easier for students to spend time on the writing process. They are able to proof read others’ work and make adjustments to their own work.  This greatly improves their writing process over time. Blogging creates good habits and makes it attainable to proof read and revise work. To further reinforce this subject, blogging research shows that blogging is something we should be incorporating within our classrooms to help our students grow more than they already are.

As a teacher trying to develop life long skills in my students, I will incorporate blogging in to my classroom. Using blogging will encourage my students to try new things, as I will also be new to this process. However, incorporating this into my classroom will not only help them. It will also help me to become a better teacher by pushing myself and constantly growing. This personal growth will then transfer to my students. 

By trying something innovative, I will set a tone of learning and technology use within my school. 

Ed 4030/6030 RU students (and anyone else who would like to share their thoughts):

      1.     These articles covered many benefits about blogging in the classroom. Can you think of any potential issues that might arise in the creation, maintenance, and/or implementation of classroom blogging?

2.     Is blogging something you might want to implement/use within your classroom now? Why or why not?

    Answer these questions below in a comment, please.

Works Cited:

Edublogs (2014).   The world's most popular education blogging service.   Retrieved from http://  edublogs.org/ 

McGrail, E & Davis, A.  (2011).The influence of classroom blogging on elementary student writing.  Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25 (4), 415-437.

Zawilinski, L. (2009). Hot blogging: a framework for blogging to promote higher order thinking.   Reading Teacher 62 (8). Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b03a28aa-6578-417d-a36b-0dfd77cc948b%40sessionmgr4002&vid=3&hid=4106 

Special thanks to Caroline and Ashley, my insightful students and guest bloggers.

 "....doesn't matter what sex you are, where you are from...don't let anyone hold you back, don't let anyone stop you." Alicia Keys

Let's encourage kids to channel their talents in a positive way. Blogging can be one of those ways. Listen to Alicia Keys sing live setting your life on fire.  Love her passion!

Just Do It: Because No One Should Do It For You

Why is this slogan so popular?
Because it's true.

You know what I am talking about. We have all been guilty of just doing something for someone else, instead of them doing it. Sometimes, it's just easier...quicker.

What about you? What do you want to do? What do you want to achieve?

Why don't YOU just do it?

YOU ARE THE MAN, OR WOMAN

Do you know how special you are? Number one goal in the courses I teach, increase the confidence level of each student in that content area. Number.one.goal. Why? We can't achieve and sustain success without self-confidence. What's on your "just do it" list? Find a way to boost your confidence in an area you want to excel in--start small then build off of that. Everyone has a gift. Everyone can do something, every day...no matter how big, no matter how small. Never underestimate yourself. Many times you are planting seeds, seeds you may not see sprout right away. Take care of them and you will see growth. Or if you are like me and don't have a green thumb, plant more! Keep trying, eventually you will sow great things.


YOU CAN DO IT

There is the need for encouragement. It's true, we all need to feel loved. I don't care who you are, we are human.  We need to feel as though there is someone out there who's got our back. If you see someone struggling to achieve, give 'em a boost. Send a text, share a motivational website, give them a hug, or sincerely say, "you've got this."  If you are the one struggling, find that someone who can will be your cheerleader.  No one achieves success alone. It's those supportive ones along the way that get us to where we need to be.


JUST DO IT, ALREADY

Some tips people have shared with me when I was ready to throw in the towel:

• Enough with the excuses.  If you need help, ask. It doesn't mean you expect anyone to do the work for you, but often times you need some good advice on how to get through, over, and beyond that roadblock keeping you from achieving your goal. And stop saying, "I don't have time." No one has time. We live in a world where everyone seems to be overextended and in a rush. I have to constantly work on "slowing it down." Stop and do it!  Whatever 'it' is: new hobby, new skill,  new job, new way to be healthy, new idea you want to try.

• I'll start on Monday. If you have a bad day, commit yourself to tomorrow: Don't be that person, "I'll try again on Monday (when it's Wednesday)." Nope. You have tomorrow, make it happen. Do you have a student, child, friend, or maybe yourself who is having a hard time getting it done? Give yourself a positive pep talk (see video below to get started). Keep your goal(s) specific and attainable, otherwise it can be overwhelming. Blaming and feeling sorry for yourself is sometimes necessary, but you gotta get it together and get going.

• Don't do things for others,  have them do it themselves.   Helping someone does not mean you have to take over whatever it is that they need or want to accomplish. For example,  teaching technology lends itself for the helper to become the doer. Therefore, we do a lot of role playing in my tech courses. If someone is helping someone else, the helper sits to the side and the doer sits with the technology device in front of them. The helper is encouraged to use their words and not take over the device. We talk about the importance of  encouraging others to listen when someone is helping them. I actually have some of my students sit on their hands when helping others so they don't take over the mouse or iPad! Remember- It's their deal, their journey, their 'it'. Encourage them to see it as a way to grow as a person, keep life interesting and enjoy what happens along the way. 

• Inspire others: One reason why should you go for it? Because people are watching.  Big people and little people. The big people that care wanna see you achieve (your boss, your friends, your family). But I want to talk about the little people. They are watching you, whether you want them to or not. Whether you are a parent or not.  We want to avoid raising kids who are enabled and a new generation that gives up when the going gets tough. We want to show them that risk-taking is part of life, failure is part of life, hard work is part of life, trying again is part of life. It's not easy, but you can do it and they need to see you do it.

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” 

Theodore Roosevelt

 Make your "it" yours and just do it.
Do it and do it well.

Pep talk time from Kid President, he knows what I'm talking about.
(one of my fav videos, take 3 min and watch it--DO IT!)