How are such project-based investigations assessed? Mastery! Assessment, using questioning with immediate feedback, must be on-going to monitor and insure that students are learning the related concepts. Total mastery may not be reached by every student, but all students can reach some degree of mastery! Mastery is the goal!
Tucker (2013) stated in every STEM classroom there are five “musts” and technology supports them all:
- creativity and play,
- student-centered learning,
- the freedom to choose,
- shared goal/standard setting, and
- timely and specific feedback.
To master standards we must use technology because it enables the educator to give students tools, skills, and resources they need to continue learning on the way to master standards. Project-based investigations use performance/product assessments as the primary method of assessment. Pen-and-paper tests will be replaced by Socratic educator-response systems, in which students work together to answer questions in small group settings. Traditionally the Socratic method is composed of two circles. The “inner circle” of students ask several questions and discusses concepts from reading, while the outer circle observes the conversation taking place. Those in the “outer circle” keep a written log in which they ask questions, comments on points made, and compliment strong contributions. Tucker (2103) in www.socrative.com wrote each group must meet a standard/objective to demonstrate mastery. These groups will encourage students to talk, ask one another questions, use technology and work as a team to find the answers to the questions necessary to complete the project. Excel spreadsheets will be used to record group responses to identify questions that they were answered correctly or incorrectly and assist students/groups who experience difficulty attaining mastery of the project. All STEM students will use Facebook, Edublogs & www.TodaysMeet.com to record the questions and comments from the outer circle onto the board.
The students in STEM classes will learn to shift from a teacher-centered class to a student-centered class, thus ensuring that their students will be engaged in their own learning. The STEM students will master using technology to create opportunities for communication, engagement and collaboration among students as they become “experts”!
Mississippi College (MC) is creating a STEM Institute. This institute will have three “arms!” One arm is the STEM endorsement program for all licensed teachers, the second arm is a STEM undergraduate degree and the third arm are graduate STEM degrees (M.S., Ph.D.). Licensed teachers will focus their attention on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. They will practice model-based reasoning and inquiry as instructional strategies for integrating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines in the middle school classrooms. They will learn how to facilitate creative and innovative thinking about the natural world and how to challenge their students to solve real-world problems through constructive, project-based activities and modeling processes. Finally, they will collaborate, communicate, and engage in rich discourse with instructors and other parallel professional instructors (PPi) from industry, businesses, and other academic institutions to design project-based, problem-solving activities for classroom instruction. This innovative STEM ENDORSEMENT approach will train licensed teachers in the 21st Century skills of creativity, critical thinking (reasoning and problem-solving), collaboration, and communication. Educators will focus on knowledge accumulation in each proposed STEM course which in-turn will guide students in understanding a topic. If we fail to teach knowledge, students will fail! These middle school teachers will leave with numerous resources in all STEM areas, business contacts, field professionals who will assist educators with STEM coaching in their classrooms, and physical projects made in each STEM course in the university classroom. All educators participating in the MC STEM endorsement will take Project-Based Physics, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Design and Research courses (14 semester hours). These courses support the “Educate to Innovate” initiative proposed by President Obama. The White House announced a $35 million Department of Education competition that will help further the White House goal of training 100,000 new STEM teachers. Furthermore, Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Teaching Fellowships will be awarded to beginning educators who desire to pursue a STEM endorsement. “Educators will be selected on three criteria: the potential to develop content knowledge needed for teaching, the potential to develop exemplary teaching practices, and the potential to develop the qualities of a teacher leader.” The MC STEM endorsement program will develop educators who qualify for this national program.
In summary, the National Research Council stated, “STEM education has many potential benefits for individuals and for the nation as a whole. Norman Augustine explained in an opening presentation. One factor that sets it apart from other branches of academic study for many policy makers is that literacy in STEM subjects is important both for personal well-being of each citizen and for the nation’s competitiveness in the global economy.”
References
Hoachlander, G. and D. Yanofsky. (2011). “Making STEM Real.” ASCD Educational Leadership (March).
Rosenberg, M. (2012, May 21). Beyond competence: It’s the journey to mastery that counts. Learning Solutions Magazine.
Sanders, M. (2009). “STEM, STEM Education, STEMmania.” The Technology Teacher (December/January) p. 22-23.
(2011) -Successful STEM Education: A Workshop Summary, National Research Council. p.3
Swoope, J. (2014). “A Gifted Columbus Teen Tackles A Global Need.” Jackson, MS: Clarion Ledger (June 2), p.2A
Tsupros, N., R. Kohler, and J. Hallinen. (2009). STEM Education: A Project to Identify the Missing Components. Pittsburg, PA: Intermediate Unit 1 and Carnegie Mellon
Tucker, C. (2013). Five Musts for Mastery. Educational Leadership, ASCD.
Vasquez, J.A., Sneider, C. and M. Comer. (2014). STEM: Lesson Essentials – Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. p. 89.
Pen-and-paper tests will be replaced by Socratic educator-response systems, in which students work together to answer questions in small group settings.
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