Sunrise STEM Club: Reaching Minorities, Reaching The Stars
It’s the real video testimony from PBS featured Nanoscientist who recharge my excitement about the premier of our STEM club, kicking off in January. The sunrise schedule idea came about via a curious student and a conversation with a teacher who saw a dwindling crowd for the afternoon Physics club on campus. The after school crowd has football, basketball, or needs to be home to care for elementary age siblings.
Are You Still In The Pursuit of Science?
Did your science or math professor scare the curiosity right out of you? Girls and boys alike are curious by nature. Changing the social norm of hands-on for boys and dress up for girls means equal opportunities for all students to explore the world around us.
A colleague and I are building a new STEM club at our math, science, technology middle school magnet in Central Florida. We have looked at club successes from the past and we have analyzed the decline of some clubs, as well. Bringing together what works and weeding out a long term commitment, we hope will build the science muscles of these targeted learners.
I think “science in small doses” is a good place to begin.
Mapping out a series of units based on key science learning needs for our students on campus is complete. Now we begin our pursuit of the under resourced students mentioned in the NPR interview included in this post.~KayBorglum.com
Cell Phones for STEM: Technology as a Learning Tool in a Tight Economy
The Reality of Technology in Our Classrooms
Our students were born in a world with satellites and cell phone towers. But the policy in the school yard has that technology tool held hostage in their backpack or back pocket. I bet if I took a survey tomorrow morning, more of my students would have their cell phones in their backpack and less would have a pencil or pen. From the vista of my discovery lab classroom, I see cell phones as an immediate solution to a contagious interest in science and engineering for our students.~Kay Borglum (2011)
Engineering Your Classroom for Meaningful STEM Learning
Learning is a dynamic result of combining chunks of information and using that knowledge to create, describe, model, and connect to other ideas in future lessons. Reverse engineering in the classroom divides the lesson into steps on a path to meaningful learning and understanding for both the teacher and the student. Always begin with the end in mind.
Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM): Teams Must Keep the F.U.N. In, Dysfunction Out
My F.U.N. model represents the Fundamentals of Understanding Networking in a team. Communication, popularly labeled the weakest link in a team and organization, is the energy that fuels the outcome of getting to the finish line.
