Introduction
The expectations for students leaving high school and entering a career or college are higher than ever. These individuals are expected to have the 21st century skills including the ability to communicate, collaborate, problem solve, think critically, and be creative. Leaving high school, many students are not prepared for these high demands and have to work much harder to achieve their goals. As educators, we can work to assure that the students are working on these skills from early ages to prepare them for their futures.
STEM education involves the use of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics incorporated together in a learning unit. Often times, these units are focused heavily on the 21st century skills. As educators, we can use these teaching methods to give our students as much practice with these skills as possible. Research has found that student motivation increases when they are engaged in a lesson. By allowing students to solve real-world problems, they become invested and very involved in their learning, without even knowing it!
Project
For my final Master’s project, I created several STEM units for 7th grade science. I have been working on transforming some of my traditional instruction into a more STEM based curriculum. My units consist of station activities, teacher demonstrations, student labs, and a final project in which students have to create a product to solve a problem or challenge. Each activity involves students using the 21st century skills in order to allow them to practice and feel more comfortable doing so.
STEM Education in the Science Classroom
By Nicole Wallack