National Workshop on Stimulating STEM Education - Part 3

by Kim Collazo
Working Breakout Session

  • How can we better prepare students for the literacy demands post secondary?

  • Not involving our kids in their own education, they are not responsible for their learning.

  • Not enough critical thinking, high level problem solving in the K-12 classroom.  How do we facilitate that in the classroom?

  • Classroom management is an issue.

  • Professional Development is a great need.  Pre-service training for new teachers needs to improve.

  • Relevancy in math and science classes needs to be improved and addressed.

  • Allow students to drive more of the content.

  • Does the teacher wearing too many hats take away from quality instruction?

  • Assessment requirements take away from true learning/quality learning.

  • How can we make assessment relevant?

    • formative assessments

    • e-portfolios

    • performance assessments





  • Community involvement is important

  • Parent empowerment to be a part of the educational process; matching professional development for parents

  • Moving from a traditional report card to a standards based report card?

  • Place greater funding and emphasis on teacher effectiveness.

  • Public doesn't understand the need that exists

  • Communication across government, school, and other public stages need to increase

  • How do we maintain sustained student interest in learning?

    • global communication/collaboration

    • empowering them by celebrating their creation of new knowledge

    • creating student centered environments



  • Concern about losing a large proportion of kids interested in science/math as early as late elementary/MS up through post-secondary.  Does the system defeat itself through staunch assessments and a critical value system?

  • Expose students to role models and careers; as well as a support system to encourage them to stay in the STEM programs.

  • Middle school years are critical as far as career development plans.

  • High expectations and encouraging students in their abilities

  • What can we do to prevent losing kids from the STEM areas?

    • professional development

    • stimulating students to become critical thinkers, life long learners, solution finders, risk takers

    • content through experience/experimentation




Susan Patrick - CEO, North American Council for Online Learning

  • focus on K-12 virtual schools and online learning

  • opens access for students and teachers

  • more and more jobs these days are focused on online telecommuting and flexible schedules

  • Singapore - 100% of their systems have online learning - online is blended with the traditional program

  • mentioned the Partnership for 21st Century Skills' 6 key elements of 21st Century Learning (*21st century assessments must match the 21st century skills)

  • Sharing Research to Inform Policy

    • Online learning expands options

    • Online learning is growing rapidly

    • Online learning is equal or better in effectiveness



    • Online learning improves teaching (although a lot of training is needed)



  • Michigan April 2006 first state to require online learning

  • the US spends more per pupil on education than any other nation (besides Switzerland), yet we are not seeing results

  • "Silent Epidemic" study by the Gates Foundation on high school drop outs

    • 88% had passing grades

    • 69% were not motivated to work hard

    • 66% would've worked harder had they been challenged

    • 81% called for more real world opportunities



  • Millenials:

    • Kids spend more time online than they do watching television



    • see information as free

    • like to collaborate virtually and face to face

    • 96% say doing well in school is important in their lives

    • children are much more involved in decision making at home



  • Cyberinfrastructure - integrates hardware for computing, data and networks, digitally-enabled sensors, observatories and experimental facilities, and an interoperable suite of software and middleware services and tools.

  • simulation-based engineering

  • Examples:

    • Micro Observatory Online Telescope at Harvard

    • iLab Network - pairing kids with scientists using high powered microscopes to learn



  • Students use the computer an average of 15 minutes per week at school!

  • Need more and continued training for teacher use

  • Student and teacher access for technology

  • Use of digital content tied to state academic standards

  • Need to measure and SHARE with policy makers the successes of our tech programs

  • Creativity is highest at 6 (100 questions a day), terminal seriousness at 44 (2 questions a day), bounce at retirement

  • Need to take risks, continue to question to move our efforts forward

  • Leadership = Trust, Integrity, Passion

| 0 comments
0 Responses

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)