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Leading and Facilitating a STEM activity: The Egg Drop

  This week in class, pairs of students had to lead their own STEM activity. My group led an egg drop activity, for grade 5’s, with our aligned curriculum expectations being D2.1 - D2.2: Identify internal/external forces acting on a structure, and describe their effects on the structure. -D2.3: Describe forces resulting from natural phenomena that can have severe consequences for human-built structures, and identify structural features and materials that can allow such structures to withstand these forces. -E2.1: Identify a variety of forms of energy, and describe how each form is used in everyday life. -E2.2: Demonstrate an understanding of the law of conservation of energy, including how energy cannot be created or destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to another.  Our activity was very engaging for our peers and after the activity I questioned what made it so successful. I believe the freedom and open ended nature of the activity encouraged exploration. St...
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Technological Advancements in Schools and Classrooms

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   With no end in sight for a deceleration of technology it is evident technology would be implemented into classrooms and education as a whole. It was seen throughout the pandemic with virtual classrooms and calls but what other technological advancements have there been? The move to online and computer oriented classrooms was made easier by the push to get computers in schools in 2011, when 71% of students in OECD countries reported access to computers and internet at school (59). Another advancement in classrooms includes the implementation of the use of robots. Over the 2022 summer, working in a grade 6 class, I had the privilege of watching students operate robots first hand. It amazed me how efficiently students programmed their robots to perform difficult tasks like shooting on miniature basketball nets, playing songs on xylophones, navigating obstacle courses, and dancing. The experience allowed me to reflect on how in schools I never had access to operating robots. I ...
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A Push for Reform in Science Education.

 Coming out of High School I had a good understanding of scientific facts like gravity, evolution, and space. I could tell someone else about gravity, how you can take an object and because of the mass of the earth, it has a gravitational pull that no matter what, when the object is dropped it will fall to the floor. But did I understand the process of taking repeated observations and turning these observations into a scientific theory or scientific fact? No. However after reading Davis, Francis, & Friesen's (2019) STEM Education by Design, chapter 6 (Science)  I thought back to my high school experiences and questioned if I had learned about inquiring rather than simply accepting fact. On page 101 inquiry is condensed into the understanding of an "iterative process of working with established facts and accumulating additional evidence in order to defend, extend, and/or challenge interpretations" (Davis, Francis, Friesen. 2019). So taking this section about inquiry an...
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Direct vs Indirect Teaching Methods for Knowledge Centered Courses

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     It can be understood some courses are more knowledge based than others. For example, History, Math, and Science are all subjects typically centered around the teacher bestowing knowledge upon their students. Most of these types of subjects involve direct teaching methods. Some courses may not require as much teacher involvement, for example, Physical Education, English, and Visual Art. Within Physical Education there are models like TGFU (Tactical Games for Understanding), which is an indirect teaching method where the student is at the center of the learning model. The model is meant to make the students feel like their decisions matter since they are able to modify games as they choose, with little teacher involvement.  Woosley, S. 2015     However, I ponder if these same type of indirect teaching models would work in Math or Science, specifically Math. There have been discussions about reforming the way math has been taught however Davis, Francis, a...
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Learning, Classrooms, and Future Concerns.

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     This past week, future educators, discussed learning within STEM environments and the challenges that come with this style of learning. In groups, students discussed their understanding of learning, and how did this change after reading the 'Learning' chapter in Stem Education By Design by Davis, Francis, and Friesen (2019). This chapter begins by shedding light on the challenges associated with STEM education, primarily a strongly budget conscious administration, leading to large class size in order to reduce cost. These large classrooms are typically taught in a direct instruction fashion. Students take the role of a listener, while the teacher provides a delivery teaching style, positioned in the front of the room (Davis, Francis, & Friesen, 2019). This model of teaching is common in university lectures, a direct teaching approach, where the professor assumes an all-knowing role, in a highly structured format, with little student involvement because it is a te...
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Welcome Readers Post

 Hello and welcome to those interested in STEM education or those who I hope to invoke interest.   Over the following months, I will be using this blog to share my thoughts regarding STEM education issues and questions. Throughout my blogs I will be examining subjects through different lenses to invoke critical thought regarding STEM education topics from different perspectives. By doing so, I am hoping to connect with a variety of audiences and hopefully broaden their perspectives and thinking on such issues. Throughout this course I am aiming to achieve multiple goals.  First, I am hoping to personalize my blog posts while maintaining a high level of professionalism. I hope the blog post format offers a sense of creativity and freedom. I am also hoping to achieve a course grade of 85 or higher. I will do this by scheduling my course load and planning in advance of assignments. My third goal for this course is to have no late assignments. This goal aligns with my se...
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