STEM - Alphabet Soup for Everyone!
STEM -
Alphabet Soup for Everyone!
Recently, I was asked the question, "How did the arts get added to STEM curricula?" I
hesitated for a moment, knowing this person was really asking how the STEAM
movement began, and I thought to myself, "aren't we still trying to get
the STEM movement rolling?"
I thought back to my recent past
as a District Administrator in
the Curriculum and Instruction department in a school district that served more than 100,000 students where every school was competing for
the "top" students to enroll in their STEM Academy. I remember asking
the obvious question, "What makes this school’s STEM curriculum a STEM
program?”
More times than I can count, this
question resulted in the following answer: "The STEM Academy is designed
for our gifted students."
Ummm, what?
They would continue: "...and since we are a magnet school for the arts, it is really a STEAM program."
Ummm, what?
Ummm, what?
They would continue: "...and since we are a magnet school for the arts, it is really a STEAM program."
Ummm, what?
This is what I was actually thinking: Isn’t STEM for all
students? Don’t we want all students to be problem solvers and critical
thinkers? Don’t all teachers integrate the arts as a way to differentiate and
individualize learning? Note:
·
Inclusion of the Arts
results in a STEAM program.
· Inclusion of the Arts and Reading results in a STREAM program.
· Inclusion of the Arts and Reading and Social Studies
results in a STREAMSS program.
At what
point do we stop adding letters to STEM and start calling it by its original
name: curriculum? My response to those that want to include more letters to the
STEM acronym is that we must first get our STEM house in order before we
include more disciplines into the already ambiguous acronym of STEM. If we are teaching
STEM as a process, then design, research, arts, and literacy are already players at the
table.
Either
way, the question remains: what is STEM?
The acronym “STEM” first appeared in the 1990's and has since been integrated into the educational setting
almost as much as the term Literacy. STEM can refer to anything that involves the four
disciplines of science, mathematics, technology and engineering. The most natural
integration of these disciplines can occur between mathematics and science, since we
use mathematics to help explain observations of the natural world. Engineering design
process needs to be connected to the science phenomenon or concept and is not just launching rockets
and building robots and bridges. It is critical that students become familiar with
technology, and so, the use of technology has become critical to the
application of science, engineering, and mathematics. Even with the release of the Next Generation Science Standards
(NGSS, source: https://www.nextgenscience.org/),
recognizing the similarity between STEM initiatives and the desired outcomes of
the performance expectations described in the NGSS, classroom application of
meaningful STEM lessons remains elusive.
The reason many lessons fail the
litmus test of a quality STEM lesson is that the How does not match the Why.
Unfortunately, in far too many cases of Engineering Design Challenges, there is
no Why, let alone a Why matched to a How. Hands-on science
activities are not enough; what is required is a hands-on and minds-on approach.
So what are the characteristics of
a meaningful STEM lesson?
·
STEM
lessons focus on real-world issues and problems about the natural world (the Why)
·
STEM
lessons apply rigorous mathematics and science content that students are
learning (the How)
·
STEM
lessons are guided by the engineering design process (the How)
·
STEM
lessons immerse students in hands-on inquiry and open-ended exploration (Habits of Mind)
·
STEM
lessons involve students in productive teamwork (Skills for New Economy)
·
STEM
lessons allow for multiple right answers and reframe failure as a necessary
part of learning (Thomas A. Edison - I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that do not work!)
What if, instead, we prepare students with the
knowledge, skills, and tools (habits of mind via the science and engineering practices)
to develop solutions for problems that don’t yet exist? What if we present a
science question about the natural world (the human problem, the Why) and use the engineering and
mathematics to design the solution, which usually result in a new technology to
address the problem (the How).
With decades of research behind it,
educators appreciate the power of inquiry. Through inquiry, students are able to
interact with a scientific phenomenon. They observe and discuss concepts with their peers (speaking and listening),
providing them opportunities to experience and explain this phenomenon from
many different perspectives using mathematics and design thinking (engineering and art). By its very
nature, inquiry is problem-based learning, and as such the process of inquiry
and STEM allow for varied learning strengths requiring the use of a range of
resources (research and literacy), and provides opportunity for student claims through evidence-based reasoning (new economy skills).
Ultimately, this is what educators
want for ALL students.
Jackie
Speake is an Independent Education Consultant and NSTA Author of Designing
Meaningful STEM Lessons (NSTA Press).
Jackie.Speake@DrScienceGeek.com
@JackieSpeake
www.linkedin.com/in/jackiespeake
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