Help Harry STEM Activity Reflection Paper

From collaborative learning inside of the student’s clusters of desk to hands-on lessons in STEM discovery, Galaviz is continually working to push the STEM envelope at Garfield Elementary. She hosts a Saturday STEM club for 4th - 6th graders, and recently, through a two-year grant funded by NASA and a partnership with Boise State University, she has trail-blazed even more at home learning opportunities. For K-6, each classroom now has the ability to take STEM backpacks home over the weekend. With three different lesson plans, students can now bring STEM home, experimenting and creating with the help of their

Integrating other learning areas in our unit of work and exercising more resources that teachers can use in the classroom base upon our science unit is also a crucial element that our group was missing that needed to be included in our presentation. The classroom environment should include lots of books, visual materials, ICT devices and activities to facilitate learning and keep the student’s interests by promoting questioning and discussion to stimulate their science thinking processes and skills in a creative and encouraging environment. (Pitcher, 2014)

This article highlights the importance of children learning science, and how beneficial having an active science club can be. Supporting evidence of this was found throughout the evaluation done, as well as the interviews of some of the active science club members and their advisors. The science club involved in this study consisted of 2 advisors and 122 active members (almost half the school population) of a rural high school, and was strictly activity based. It was very rear for a lecture to happen unless additional information was needed for the activity being done at that time.

In 9th grade, I began tutoring every Tuesday after school and this continued through 10th grade. During that time, I discovered that my students had a negative disposition towards science. Many saw science as "boring." I wanted to change that idea, to help them realize the wonders of science, to prove that science is fascinating and entertaining. The following summer, I prepared my proposal and pitched my ideas to Mr. Terrence Davis, Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Hopkinsville.

Through this standard, teachers will engage all students in science by setting goals for students that correlate to state and national standards. Through various strategies (i.e. learning activities, instructional settings, technology) students will achieve the goals set by the teacher and fair assessment strategies will be used to determine if the goals were met. Through the use of laboratory/field settings and various technology, students will demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of science. Teachers will also design lesson plans that provide opportunities for active inquiry in which students can collect and interpret data in order to develop and understand various scientific processes. Fair assessment strategies will also be used to evaluate students and their preconceptions and understandings that have been

In this article, it incorporated two ways on how to effectively encourage and teach the ideals of a STEM elective. The first strategy that they implemented was the strategy of storytelling because the teaching method of storytelling introduces students to difficult topics and encourages them to think in an intelligent and imaginative manner. From using the research of Maxine Alterio, author of Using Storytelling to Enhance Student Learning the writer of this article, Kristie Schulz, was able to show the audience an example of students using a Turtle Gate narrative, that includes scientific investigation about the water quality of the dam in the narrative, face-to-face interviews with a range of experts that deal with turtles and reading about

During President Obama’s speed regarding the need for getting students excited about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), he stated that “American 5 year olds rank 21st in science and 25th in math compared to their peers around the world” (The White House, 2009). This is woefully behind the curve for American students and something that must be addressed in order to move forward and compete in the 21st century and beyond.

Working scientifically is extremely important within the classroom, for it is an educational process which allows children to advance upon their scientific enquiries and knowledge through the means of investigation, bettering their ‘understanding of the world around’ (IAP, 2012 cited in Harlen and Qualter, 2014:100). The nature of working scientifically incorporates the children’s learning of systems, methods and contexts within the scientific world, allowing them to develop an understanding of the scientific ideas and processes whilst using ‘skills employed by scientists’ (IAP, 2012 cited in Harlen and Qualter, 2014:100). These scientific enquiry skills developed and used through scientific working are especially significant within the classroom because they are also applicable to colloquial life, for example, the enquiry skills of: observation and questioning.

Students develop the skills of IL, through a guided approach and by combining their own experiences and motivations, with self-generated research questions, conversation and co-construction of information with peers and expert others. The end product is shared with others, giving students a sense of belonging and achievement, leading to improved confidence, competence and expertise, in addition to ameliorated self-regulation and direction (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2015). Models of enquiry, such as the 5E Instructional model: engage, explore, elaborate, explain and evaluate; assists students to tackle scientific concepts, within a guided framework and symbiosis with PBL (Poon, Lee, & Tan, 2012). The 5E Model, as employed within this unit of work, engages natural curiosity through development of questioning and thinking skills, while advocating group work and communication, for increased mastery of subject matter (Murdoch, 2006). Working scientifically as per the Science K-10 Syllabus (2013) is seamlessly interwoven throughout activities, engaging students in meaningful experiences which promote critical thinking and will transfer learning into the everyday (Cutter-Mackenzie,

“STEM DESIGN: literacy strategy: capture natural curiosity” Children's Technology & Engineering. Sep. 2013, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p28-31. 3p.

This allows our students to create their own understandings by connecting with what they have learned. We are presenters not lectures, in which we model, demonstrate, and present activities and options for children to encourage learning. We observe children during these activities to gather information to help us identify our student’s ideas and interact with them to provide options to increase their learning. We ask questions and propose problems to initiate further inquiry from our students to promote higher order of thinking. We organize our environment to promote learning that allows for discovery and learning that best fits our children’s needs. We are public relations coordinators that encourage cooperation amongst our students and acceptance of diversity within the classroom. We also advocate for this practice and teach others the benefits that this approach has for our students. As the teacher, we are documenters of learning and reflects on the impact that these practices have on each individual learner based on knowledge gained and their skill development. We are also theory builders by helping our students make connections among their ideas and help them make meaningful connections that represent their created knowledge. These roles can form a model for teaching science because it creates an optimum environment for our students to make connections and build on their ideas through discovery, and having the opportunity to share their ideas and make meaningful connections between their experiences and the knowledge that they are

In the sixth grade math classroom, I was able to observe and be a part of a learning community that encouraged all the kids to take part in their education. On a daily basis, the teacher would encourage the student’s learning by facilitating lessons and activities that were structured towards developing the qualities of respect, communication, and collaboration in the classroom. “In all of this, the goal was to make the classroom environment a learning laboratory, an active workshop for discovery. I wanted to challenge the youngsters to pursue their work, their interests, and their knowledge” (Ayres, 70). She developed the curriculum and this learning environment by choice so that each individual student could have the chance to positively impact the classroom. Due to her valuing all of her student’s voices, she allowed each student to have an impact, and this is what created and continues to create the opportunity for students to have multiple ways to pursue their interests and to

Science in the classroom is being recognized as an integral part of education. Recent revisions to standards and standardized tests are including more scientific content. The reason science education is so important is because it prepares students to be informed citizens and knowledgeable consumers (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School [NGA & CCSS], 2010). Americans are competing globally for jobs focused in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM jobs. Improving recall of academic language used in the science classroom can help students meet and exceed their science standards.

The role of chemistry taught in today’s society cannot be overemphasized. Teachers expect chemistry students to gain problem- solving skills to facilitate the development of learning chemistry in our modern society. (Kuh, 2001) When encouraging student engagement, it has to be upon understanding. It refers to students learning tasks, sociological factors of interest, personality, and motivation (Sunday, 2013) The research conducted by Sunday (2011) explore the various means for increasing student involvement that it is critical to engage students. According to the study, various means exist to drive student engagement in class activities.

I walked into a 7th grade science classroom on the first day of my internship; it was the first time I was in a kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) public school classroom since 2003. I choose this school myself, in an affluent area of my home county of Forsyth, instead of being most likely placed in an “inner-city” working-class Greensboro school, as I felt this would be the easiest way to ease myself back into the K-12 mindset. This particular middle school feeds into the two highest achieving high schools in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School District, so I expected to see the best of what the district had to offer; I anticipated an affluent-professional school. I paused and looked around, and briefly thought that I was in the wrong classroom. I was in a science class, but I couldn’t tell I was until I examined the posters of cells and anatomy illustrations on the walls. I expected to experience something similar to what I saw almost 20 years ago, when I was in middle school in Florida. I was wrong; they weren’t in a “lab” as I had expected. There were no microscopes, sterile hoods, or sinks with gas and oxygen outputs. There weren’t goggles, aprons or lab coats, or gloves, cultures growing in petri dishes… not even a plant or class pet. It was basically a regular, bare classroom. I explained my middle school science experience to the supervising teacher and asked why it was so different and lacking here – her answer… money, specifically the lack of