Bringing STEM to

Kindergarten

Thomas Meagher, PhDSTEM CoordinatorOwatonna Public Schools, ISD 761 Owatonna, MN

Mission: With STEM we work together to solve any problem,

overcome any challenge and reach

every height!

What we’ll do today: Overview of various models of STEM

education. Owatonna Model of STEM Education. Building STEM literacy & fluency through

STEM experiences. Practice with STEM stations. Role of effective questioning in STEM

teaching & learning.

STEM Education in Minnesota Results of ACT analysis of the student interest and

performance in STEM fields on 2013 ACT exams. Differences in student interest and academic

performance shows more divergence when examined by ethnicity. Results of their study did not explore if students had previous schooling in STEM instruction.

2013 ACT Data Results for STEM Interest in STEM is high, 48.3% of all students taking ACT

have interest in STEM majors or careers. Achievement levels in math and science are highest when

students have expressed interest in STEM areas. More females reported interest in STEM than males. Academic achievement gap is more pronounced among

ethnically diverse students interested in STEM fields. The College Board identifies a goal for ethnically diverse

student performance for college preparedness that:

“Essentially, stronger and earlier support structures and interventions related to career and educational planning

and academic preparedness are needed to see real differences in these still troubling numbers.” [ACT

scores]

Minnesota College Readiness as Measured by ACT Exam 2013

MN ACT Data by ethnicity & gender

What does STEM teaching & learning look like? Science, technology, engineering and math can

be taught, but are separate subjects.

Science

Engineering Math

Technology

STEM subjects are integrated.

Science

Engineering Math

Technology

STEM

STEM is embedded in all subjects

Science

Engineering

Math

Technology

Curriculum

What STEM means in ISD 761 Teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math

is shifting from traditional instruction to integrated design process where students solve problems and engineering challenges in all STEM classrooms.

Lessons are integrated and students experience STEM seamlessly among all subject areas.

Students recognize that the main goals of lessons build with each other and relate to real world learning.

Lessons are designed and implemented to build:

“STEM literacy & STEM fluency”

STEM integration & implementation

Students engage in inquiry, focused on their own questions, generated from indoor and outdoor experiences.

All students use journals to record observations, measurements, ideas, and information.

Learning through STEM means students work in teams solving problems and learning together constructively.

For grades 6-8, environmental education standards are emphasized in lesson design with an emphasis on sustainability and sense of place.

Developing a learning model We agree with the emphasis for STEM literacy &

fluency, however we also believe STEM experience is essential to develop literacy and skills in fluency.

Students are engaged in active investigations, inquiry and engineering challenges as common experiences.

We want students to publish their work and share it with others “Show-it”. This allows for multiple forms of student dialogue and publication.

When all these ideas are combined STEM learning model emerges:

A learning model for Owatonna STEM Schools

STEM learning model integrates with other teaching & learning

models. ELL: Using STEM experience for language development Environmental Education “ESTEM”: Builds STEM

learning on a foundation of environmental principles examining how society, culture and ecosystems interact.

Special Education: Integrating STEM into IEP and inclusion learning creates opportunities for differentiation.

Perpich Foundation Grant: Integration of Arts into STEM

NEXUS: Using STEM to address social & racial achievement gaps in student learning.

PAGE: Addressing gender equity through STEM education.

Use of Questioning in Instruction

Strengthening memory and recall Helping students see relationships Guiding students towards deeper understanding Redirecting from misconception Emphasizing conceptual change Directing students to develop personal inquiry

based questions Others examples not listed here?

Questioning in teaching for Access and Equity for all students Recognizing all students within a group and

addressing each during the course of a lesson Keeping discussion always focused on learning and

encouraging the integration of multiple subject areas Allow student direction with learning and questioning. Recognizing the status of students within groups and

addressing issues of inequity Eye contact Question direction Seeking input from all learners Using your voice effectively Body positioning

Summary of Effective Questioning & Guiding Student Learning Types of questions

Closed, open-ended, probing, challenging Levels of complexity based on Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

Importance of critical thinking Depth of Knowledge clarification Sequential questioning to build confidence and

understanding

Effective Questioning Lesson STEM learning stations with a focus on teaching

about physical and life science, Math, literacy and art.

As a teacher at each station what questions would you ask to guide student learning?

Record 3 questions on question strips. Move to the next station and record 3 more

questions, unique from those previously recorded from another group.

Continue moving from station to station until each team has visited each station.

We’ll collect all the question strips when the teams are finished.

How to organize learning through ORID questioning

A system of questioning that builds upon each level.

Guiding students from concrete observations to higher level cognitive decision making.

Questions encourage students to find personal meaning for what they’re learning.

ORID facilitates student learning to relationships among content areas.

Acronym for ORID questions Objective (Observational)

Questions that focus attention on what can be observed or noticed, utilizing multiple senses.

Reflective Questions that encourage students to find personal

meaning or affective perspectives. Interpretive

Questions that guide students to find meaning, patterns or relationships among topics (e.g. STEM)

Decisional Questions that help students to find value and

applicability to what they are learning. Helps students find their own answers to “Why do I have to learn this?”

Questioning practice Multiple learning stations with a focus on students

working in teams or groups. As a teacher at each station what questions would

you ask to guide student learning? Record 3 questions on question strips. Move to the next station and record 3 more

questions, unique from those previously recorded from another group.

Continue moving from station to station until each team has visited each station.

We’ll collect all the question strips when the teams are finished.

Practice analysis Categorize the questions into groups as you see

relationships among the questions. Write and description for each of the categories of

questions the team created and share out with the rest of the class.

Read the descriptions of how questions are categorized based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge or ORID.

Reorganize your questions based on this new information your team received. What changes do you notice? (O) How were questions rearranged? (O) How could the wording of any of the questions be edited to

make the them more effective? (R) How could these questions be used to develop further

lessons with inquiry? (I) How could this activity be used with students to develop

inquiry investigations? (D)

Questions?