Friday, December 21, 2012
January 14 - 27, 2013: Putting the T & E back in STEM Hosted by: RJ Dake & Greg Kane
RJ Dake and Greg Kane will be hosting a session on "Putting the T & E back in STEM." RJ is the state supervisor for Technology and Engineering Education at the Kansas State Department of Education. Greg is an ITEEA Affiliate Representative, works with TSA and other organizations like SeaPerch. Greg is also a retired state supervisor for Technology and Engineering Education from Connecticut. Please join RJ and Greg from January 14 - 27, 2013.
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Each of us understands the significance and power of promoting STEM education and the importance it plays in moving our nation forward.
ReplyDeleteScience and Mathematics are rarely overlooked in most STEM conversations and should be imperatives for Technology and Engineering educators. However, Technology and Engineering Education are typically missing from the STEM dialogue or are not fully understood.
Therefore it falls on us to build a significant visibility for Technology and Engineering Education and to make sure it is central to all conversations.
As educational leaders how have you shown the T & E to be an essential part of STEM? You are our visionaries … your input is essential!
I think a great video to remind us of what and why the T and E in STEM education is so important is the video created by Ioannis Miaoulis, President of the Museum of Science Boston. This video sets the stage for a clear understanding of why the T and E in STEM. Please take a few minutes to watch the video and then share you opinion as to if this is a good basic start for our conversation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B-g1_6QCWU
Both RJ & Greg make excellent points. However, perhaps our biggest problem is that we spend lots of energy talking to each other, but neglect to involve the general population. One of our essential goals needs to be finding a voice to get our message out to the general public (including politicians). I'm sure there will a lot of discussion in the next few weeks. As we share our ideas prior to the Columbus ITEEA conference please keep in mind that your input is an essential part of solving our invisibility in the sTEm dialogue
ReplyDeleteWith many conversations going on around regarding making sure technology and engineering receive equal attention as math and science in STEM conversations, can anyone share successes on how they are ensuring this happens. I would like to get ideas on how to get elementary educators onboard.
ReplyDeleteI agree John. While we have a somewhat easy time explaining to each other what we are all about and accepting our differences, we send a mixed message to the public. Our unified message carries the call for technological literacy, but the message is only clear to those who are technologically literate. Engineering, while better recognized, is just as confusing to the public. Engineering educators struggle with misconceptions as much as we do.
ReplyDeleteThe key to this conversation, in my opinion, is our students. Educate the youth of our country and if our message is truly essential, they will become the future leaders and policy makers. We spend so much time talking about how no one wants to listen, but our students listen to us daily. Get kids excited. Give students opportunities to succeed, and most importantly, when they succeed, tell EVERYONE about how great they are.
I understand I am preaching to the choir. There are fantastic Technology and Engineering programs across this country that are doing all of the things I just mentioned. The issue is that those schools are the exception and not the rule.
Policy will only be enacted if the public demands it. Our state advisors are fighting for us at the state level. Great advocates like, Ioannis Miaoulis, are fighting for us in the non-profit and private sector. Our teachers need to be teaching the right things (Technological Literacy, Engineering Design) and sending the right messages to our students. It is important that we get everyone onboard with this endeavor.
I agree that, in essence, what happens in the classroom is the bottom line for promoting technology and engineering. Anytime groups of teachers can come together for training and inspiration is a great thing!
ReplyDeleteSince I moved to Florida 3.5 years ago (by the way it's going to be 81 degrees today) I have been initiating conversations with diverse groups to emphasize technology and engineering. After 3 years, I am just starting to see a pay-off where I am becoming the go-to person for anything STEM-related.
Some things that I am doing:
1. Engage, or join, as many STEM-related groups as possible.
2. This has helped me get the attention at the Elementary level -- Speak to my district Assessment Director, Elementary & Secondary Education Directors, Board of Education members, school principals, etc. about the NAEP 2014 technology and engineering literacy exam (TEL) http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/videos/telanimation/
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/tel/moreabout.asp#framework
3. Have a copies of the STL’s Executive Summary document with me to talk about or distribute at any STEM-related meeting I attend.
4. I request to be on the agenda at a variety of school-related and business / community meetings to talk about the T & E in STEM.
5. Even though I work with secondary CTE teachers I have been contacting elementary teachers who have robotics programs or are just interested in STEM but don’t really understand what it is. I always give them a copy of the STL exec summary and other materials like the EbD program outline. I have also organized trips for teachers and principals to elementary schools of “science and engineering” in other districts who are doing a great job with the T & E.
6. Bring students and parents to one, local Board of Education meeting a year to talk about our technology education and engineering programs. This takes 10 minutes , or less.
7. I could go on, but I have to get back to work.
Dennis brings up a good point that reminds me of when I was with the Connecticut Department of Education. Over the years when we tried to talk about the importance of any content area the pat response was that is nice but "if it is not tested (meaning at the state and national level) it is not that important." The 2014 National assessment will be testing technological literacy so I guess this means "it is finally important. If you have not looked at the proposed assessment, please visit this site; http://www.edpubs.gov/document/ed005353p.pdf?ck=51
ReplyDelete2014 Abridged
Technology and Engineering
Literacy Framework
FOR THE 2014 NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
More attention is paid to science and mathematics, which has always been the case but with STEM technology education has received more recognition and is a major player in education and the T & E in STEM. I believe that all subject areas are part of education and equal parts of school programs. I don’t see having to put the T & E back into STEM, it has always been part but all four components should share equal roles in their combined program.
ReplyDeleteIf you know of a program/resource/organization etc. that you feel has been able to educate non technology and engineering educators as to the importance of technological literacy please share that information here.
ReplyDeleteThis week I attended a workshop at Griswold Middle School in Rocky Hill Connecticut on turning your Technology Education classes paperless, or almost paperless. Two very talented technology education teachers Andy Benson and Steve Patarini shared how they have converted their notebook driven modular technology program into a cloud based program. They do not eliminate any of the hands on components they just adopted a Google environment (FREE) where students collaborate on activities, conduct their own research related to the activities, write reports, create surveys etc. They carried this same environment over to their production lab where student construct but also document research etc. As you can imagine formal attention is paid to the math and science addressed in all their activities and this too can be documented.
How they are getting the T and E back in sTEm is by conducting workshops for all the teachers in the school. While the topic is how to make your classroom cloud based, they use examples of what they are doing in their tech and engineering program to teach the teachers. What is happening is the other teachers are learning what technology education is all about and along with the administration and board of education have become big supporters of their T and E program now that they know what it is.
Step one in many cases is getting the public to understand WHAT T and E looks like and why it is so important to ALL students and Andy and Steve are doing just that. This has equated into more funding for their program and more time available in students schedule for the Tand E.
One Approach to Bringing sTEm to the Non-T & E Educators
ReplyDeleteI agree with what has been said about we need to speak to other than fellow T & E teachers about STEM and our role. For the past four years I have been invited to take part in STEM Symposiums in South Carolina during the summer. The purpose was to share with non-technology education folks what STEM is, what it looks like in the classroom, how they can get involved and finally how to gain community support for STEM education.
Working with a team of folks like Doug Wagner from Florida, Ken Smith from South Carolina, Kim Weaver from Virginia, Michael Daugherty from the University of Arkansas and others, we presented to district educators and administrators in grades K-12. These attendees were from all different disciplines and in many cases really did not understand what STEM really is. Other important partners included work force development organizations, business and industry folks like BMW, Milken and Borg Warner along post secondary partners, Clemson University and local community colleges.
To set the stage we had the business folks talk about the importance of kids knowing more than just math and science and they shared what the modern workforce must look like. From there we discussed educational reasons and research on why STEM makes sense and the importance of the T & E. Using Engineering by Design (EbD) we shared what a STEM curriculum would look like and had them experience some hands on STEM activities. The EbD piece was very important because most of the educators had no idea as to what STEM curriculum looks like and EbD is a national model that can be available to everyone in grades K-12 (http://www.iteea.org/EbD/ebd.htm)
The end product was each school team developed an action plan covering they were going to do to start STEM awareness/change in their community/school/district.
During this time in South Carolina I saw change in teacher awareness of what STEM was and a much better understanding of why the T &E was essential to improving education. The voiced an eagerness to return to their schools and work with their technology and engineering teachers to forward their STEM initiatives.
To learn more about these Symposiums and the products developed, visit the http://www.clemson.edu/hehd/stem/stem-institute/index.html website.
STEM is hot right now (we all know this), and maybe for a while (hopefully). Science has tapped into with the Next Generation Science Standards including Technology and Engineering (standards and engineering practices) into it. Computer Science is adding Engineering into it (Computer Science Engineering). Major factors hindering the T & E progress is lack of incoming teachers coming into the profession and the shrinking number of pre-service institutions. You would think that since STEM is hot, that these programs would be exploding. The teaching profession in general is not seen as highly as it once was. Administrators are looking for those willing and able to help bring STEM into their schools. Many times math and science teachers are tapped. Technology Educators who are not willing to update their programs are hurting the cause. We have many hurdles/obstacles to get over and sometimes we are standing in the way. This is not new and I wish I had some answers. The NGSS are encouraging more practices (science and engineering) into their curriculum. They have a right to teach STEM even as we would describe STEM as an integration approach. They have many challenges as well. We really need to have a strong relationship with math and science to show how we are the T & E so that when schools start to teach to (standards rather than to curriculum) and to (compentency rather than carnigie units) then I see us having a more prominant place at the table.
ReplyDeleteGreat observations Steve.
ReplyDeleteThe Connecticut Department of Education revised the technology education standards and included the current common core standards. I think while they are still officially a DRAFT, CT has a history of taking years for the State Board of Education to approve any new or revised standards, however, I think they do a good job of helping both TE and non TE teachers see how we can address other than Standards for Technological Literacy. Check them out at; http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/deps/career/TE_Standards_09_12.pdf
The fact that engineering standards are in the new science standards is as upsetting to many in not most science teachers as it is to technology and engineering education teachers. They do not want to teach engineering any more than we want to teach theoretical science. This at the end of the day may finally open up the door to real multi disciplinary activities developed and overseen by a team of STEM educators. Maybe just maybe breaking down some silos.
Thank you for the initiation to participate. I agree that Ioannis Miaoulis’ MOS video make a wonderful case for revamping what schools value. This is a very interesting time for the profession. STEM is a hot topic and may represent the last best chance we have to gain recognition and a place in the K-12 educational experience for all students. Or it may be the final nail in our coffin; taking the technology and engineering from our classes and placing it into the realm of science. With that said, we really need first address the question of whose STEM? There are as many different definitions/understandings of STEM as there are people talking about STEM.
ReplyDeleteGreg asked for examples of what is working and I’d like to offer what we have done at Falmouth High School (Maine). Our graduating class of 2013 is the first in the state to allow students to earn a STEM diploma endorsement. To earn the endorsement students must:
-take 4 years of math & science;
-take 3 years of STEM-related electives;
-participate in 7 Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO’s), 30 contact hours, outside of the regular school day, STEM-related, i.e., Science Olympiad;
-do a STEM-related job shadow during their junior year; and
-do a STEM-related independent project during their senior year.
The offering of a STEM diploma endorsement has boosted enrollment in science and engineering classes, forced us to introduce new classes such as computer programming, and scramble to meet the demand for students seeking involvement in ELO’s. We currently have 13% of the school population enrolled in the STEM-endorsement program. The diploma endorsement one small part of our STEM plan, which, if it comes to fruition, will include more course offerings, regionalizing our STEM program and a new, state-of-the-art STEM Academy.
One could argue that this does little to promote technological literacy as we defined it two decades ago, but times have changed. England skipped the Industrial Arts phase, moving from manual training to technology education; in retrospect I wonder if we should have skipped the technology phase (due to the lack of understanding/confusion surrounding the “T” word) and moved directly to engineering education.
If it was not for my involvement in what started life as an Engineering Academy, modeled after Amir Abo-Shaeer’s Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, we would not have made the progress that we have.
I would love to hear what other schools are doing and start to network.
I would like to share some things that we do to show how we support STEM education. There are no epiphanies here, just common sense approaches.
ReplyDelete1. Professional Development: Tanner mentioned this point that our teachers need to be teaching the right things and sending the right messages. I agree and feel that quality professional development will help. We all have received it and given it too. I am a simple man who feels that our future success will lie in the basics. Professional development should be very direct and to the point and address specific items that will help teachers improve their programs. It is not rocket science (well actually sometimes it is) that teachers need to know what is expected and then sufficiently supported as they perform those expectations. The next points identify the focus of much of the professional development occurring in our district.
2. Technology Student Association: Most of us know the benefit TSA plays in our profession. Many of our students don’t “fit in” in other student organizations or clubs. I am not trying to be stereotypical but it is a fact that some students are not cheerleaders, do not play athletics or perform in drama. TSA is an avenue for students to realize that applying mathematics and science in an engineering design project can actually be fun. Also, when students are involved, many of their parents are also involved. Many of these parents are the same folks who may have once said something to the effect of, “I don’t want my daughter to take a shop class.” Parents can and will become our best proponents. When this happens, our programs will then serve more cheerleaders, athletes, and drama students. This however will not be possible without technology and engineering teacher involvement. Teacher and student involvement in TSA should be discussed during teacher professional development sessions.
3. Communicate with Mathematics and Science folks: I reiterate what Dennis said above. We all have communicated with the folks that we are trying to support. I don’t know if our profession is being looked down upon or if the math and science folks think that their involvement with technology and engineering will create more work for themselves. My suggestion is to “stay the course.” Eventually there will be a time when core teachers and administrators think that they have exhausted all of their resources in their effort to raise students’ standardized scores, isn’t that the point of education (please excuse the sarcasm). When we have done our homework, we can show the data identifying where students performed weak in particular areas and then illustrate how we can help. Again, this is no epiphany, just a common sense approach that the math and science folks already realize – they just may not realize to what extent that technology and engineering education can support them. Again – what and how we say things to math and science teachers and supervisors should be a professional development topic.
4. Advertise success: The many successes our students accomplish are probably our greatest resource. Be it TSA, a very large national robotics event, or a competition held by a local community center, the best way to show off our programs is to show off our students’ success. We should be able to show how these types of events benefits students’ technological abilities and STEM literacy. As John mentioned above, we spend a lot of time telling ourselves how good we are. There are many folks out there who still do not know how our courses benefit our students, their children. We all know that students do not have to win events. They are winners by virtue of the fact that they worked to enter and participate in these events. Every success means something to someone. The power of the media cannot be underestimated.
Please forgive me for writing this dissertation. As all of us could, I could say much more to support how technology and engineering supports STEM, student technological literacy, and their success in society.
While Johnny presented MANY great points the one that seems to get overlooked the most is TSA. While with the CT Dept of ED I was assigned the responsibility of overseeing our state ag ed programs. Part of the responsibility I inherited was FFA. While I was very familiar with TSA I did not know much about FFA but I quickly learned why this content area, the smallest of all our CTE programs in the state was the most visible and politically connected. Thanks to FFA and the Ag Ed community, the state board of ed regs were changed to require an ag expert be appointed to the board. This always kept their interests in front of the entire board.
ReplyDeleteIt did not take me long to realize, for Ag Ed the FFA students did the talking. The met annually with their local boards of education, the state legislative leaders as well as Ag related business organization. It was the students who showed their audiences why their programs should be supported and how what they learned was essential to the mission of our small not very agriculturally based state.
Johnny had a great point about TSA and letting the TSA students be their own spokespersons is a winning opportunity. Policy makers love to hear from the students they develop policies for.
Thanks to everyone who joined us here during the last two weeks. We hope to see you in Ohio for the ITEEA CSL Forum to continue the conversations.
ReplyDeleteHere is a quick example of STEM:
ReplyDeleteThe old Pick and Place Robot which uses syringes ass actuators
Good for any intro class.
If you are teaching the following you are doing STEM
Math: Mechanical Advantage formula pounds of force and distance
Technology: Computer applications (word, spreadsheet,PowerPoint) and Invent and document a robot arm (new invention or technology) to solve a problem.
Science: Boyles Law, Charles Law
Engineering: Design and build document test and evaluate
Can you see the confusion over T and E?