Keeping My Girls in the STEM Pipeline and Coping with the Guilt

Apologies for the delay between posts.  I have not forgotten about my promise to expand more on small group instruction in the elementary science classroom.  The responses to the webinar really moved me down the path and there have been some technical solutions that I believe, under the right circumstances, can lead to needs-based, small group instruction in the elementary classroom.   I promise a post is forthcoming.

The focus of this month's blog is really about what happened last month.  My May was bookended by two graduations.  My oldest daughter graduated from Shippensburg University, my Alma Mater, with a degree in Geoenvironmental Studies.  Her senior project (click on the image to see the full poster) is based on a love of geology that started as a little girl with piles of rocks accumulated in her room.   She is looking for job if anyone is hiring.    

My youngest daughter graduated from high school with a 4.02 GPA, and a balance between the arts and sciences that is rare- a real STEAM prodigy!  She will be attending the University of Maryland-College Park this fall where she was accepted into their architecture program (a picture she was thoroughly embarrassed by, which is why I posted it).   

While I am doubtlessly proud of both girls, I have been asked on countless occasions how I got two girls into STEM related careers.  I will be the first to say that it had as much to do with my wife as myself.  The sad thing is that a two parent household is increasingly a rare occurrence. This is not to diminish the work single parents do everyday raising their kids, but I recognize the advantage it brought to my girls.  

Second, my children were marinated in science from an early age.  I am reminded of the last year's Verizon commercial (shown below).  My wife and I did not deter our daughters from engaging in science, getting outside, or getting dirty.  My wife and I have the means to provide experiences.  Another advantage my children had.  

That also meant not allowing either to back down when things got tough.  Whether that was AP Calculus or hydrology, perseverance is alive and well in both girls. Notice I did not say grit.  Recent research points to luck or cultural advantages as the likely the roots of success. 

Lastly, my wife and I model the value of lifelong learning.  For as long as my children can remember, either my wife or I have been taking classes, teaching, or graduating from college with our own degrees.  This value of learning is not shared by all families.  Not because they don't want to, but because they need to provide food on the table, pay bills, and hope the funds make it through the month or week.  In this case, it is the advantage of having time to consider additional schooling instead of finding basic needs on a daily basis (that is until the college loan bills start pouring in).

So where am I going with this post?  Part of it is to brag on my daughters.  How often does a father get two graduations at a time!  The other part is focused on the advantages my children have because of the privileges my culture and country provide.       

Over the last several years, my system has been grappling with the achievement gaps that continue to grow.  These gaps are present within races and low soci-economic classes.  I participate in monthly sessions were we've been breaking down the causes and solutions to these issues.  The last session was personally difficult for me as it made me painfully aware of the advantages I have.  While I could dwell in my "white guilt", I've realized the work I've done with the NGSS curriculum will at least help marinate more students in science and engineering at an early age.   It is a start, but the work must continue until we can achieve "all standards for all students".   It is hard for me now not to focus on the inequities that exist.  As one of my trainers put it "You can't un-see once you have seen",   

2017: Innovation Block (Formerly Known As Science)

About a month ago I made the mistake of reading Sugata Mitra's book (see previous post) and Dr. Tony Wagner"s book on Innovation at the same time.  A person cannot read that many radical ideas at once without being changed.  This mental shift occurs at the same time I am forming my image of what elementary science would look like by the 2017-2018 school year.  To help bring that image to life, I decided to write a narrative account of it.

2017:  Innovation Block

(Formerly Known as Science)

Paige and her project group barely had time to finish eating lunch.  They could not stop talking about how they would  solve the problem with their electromagnetic release system.  Earlier in the week, Ms. Johnson introduced the Automotive Engineering unit like the other units by giving students the problem statement.  This included the project constraints and Gantt chart (project timeline).  Students were allowed to pick the initial work team knowing that they would be reorganized after the first build.  

The class took the first lesson to design the car and take the pre-test.  These never felt like tests to Paige.  The questions were worded to align with the goals of the project.  The questions helped Paige to focus on what was needed to improve the car design.  Yesterday, Paige and her team built a car based on their designs.   Half way down the ramp, the back wheel fell off Paige’s car.  The car swerved awkwardly as it came off the ramp; the back axle dragged on the ground.  It was a rough start, but better than some of the designs students made.   During the weather unit, the hurricane barrier Paige’s team made did not stand up to a Category I storm the first time.  By the end, it survived to a Category IV. 

That’s what Paige really liked about her innovation block.  There was always time to improve on her original design.  She learned that this was even how real engineers worked last year when she was able to Skype with a Materials Engineer from BD Diagnostics.   After their first build, Paige used her laptop to submit a video recording of what went wrong with the car and some ideas on what needed to change.  She was really looking forward to seeing how far and fast the car would go. 

During next class, Ms. Johnson organized the groups based on how students did on the pre-tests.  Paige was always a little nervous when this happened.  Each time groups were formed; there were always one or two people with whom she had not worked before.     It always seemed to work for her because everyone in the group had about the same level of knowledge as she did.  She had some background knowledge on science from what she saw on TV and what she learned in Kindergarten through Second grade.  She remembered some of the ideas she was taught in Kindergarten about how heavier objects rolled farther than light objects.  This project felt like an elaboration on those ideas.

Today, Paige’s team was trying to work out how the electromagnetic release system worked.  This was an important part of the project.  If the car did not release correctly, the time would not be very accurate.  They were doing a lot of math in this project.  They had to calculate the speed of the car even though they were going to use a photogate.  Estevan asked “Why do we have to do the calculations if the photogate will do it for us?”  Ms. Johnson responded by asking “How do you know it is accurate?”  It was sometimes hard for Paige to know when she was doing science or math during the innovation block.

One of the constraints the teams had to work under was that they had to understand how the electromagnetic release system worked on their car.  Paige’s team decided one big paperclip would be enough to hold the car in place, but they found out the magnetic would not hold the car at the top of the ramp. They needed to come up with a better solution.   To start the lesson, the team recorded their initial claim about how the electromagnet worked in their interactive notebooks.  Paige thought best using pictures and drew a diagram showing a magnet plugged into the wall.  She was not sure how the electromagnet worked.

The team turned on their laptops and logged into BCPS One.  They found the content for the magnetic forces and read the introduction.  There were several options for this lesson.  There was a great BrainPop video that talked about magnets.  Paige liked these but decided to start with the Discovery Learning simulation.  She needed to manipulate the strength of the magnet.  Ms. Johnson stopped by and asked the group how much they accomplished on today’s lesson. She used her laptop to record everyone’s progress and moved to the next group.   After viewing the video, the team decided that they needed to do the hands-on portion of the lesson. 

Paige always liked the “Experiment” objects in BCPS One. The Office of Science produced short videos that introduced the lab and provided a list of materials.  When they were ready, Ms. Johnson would give them the materials they needed.  In this case it was just a battery, wire, nail and some paper clips.  The team built an electromagnet by wrapping the wire around the nail and touching the wire to the battery terminals.  She was amazed when the paperclips were attracted to the nail.  She recorded her findings in her interactive notebook.   She liked looking back through her notebook to see how much she has grown from the start of the year. 

Ms. Johnson told them it was time to complete their work for the day.  Paige’s group completed their experiment and responded to the wrap up question in their interactive notebook.  Paige snapped picture of her introductory question and wrap up question for her e-portfolio.  Ms. Johnson would look over her responses and give her feedback. Paige was anxious to tackle her wheel problem tomorrow.  It was not going to fall off next time!  

Topic or Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI)

Let's start with the basics.  One of the first decisions to be made is what format to use when formulating curriculum.  For me, the choice was pretty obvious.  I liked the topic based format because it integrated the content under big ideas or themes.  I am hesitant to call them themes, however, as I lived through the end of the last time we organized curriculum by theme.  The idea was good but the execution was bad.  The classic example was students would study Egyptian history in Social Studies.  In math, they would study the geometry of the pyramids.  So far, so good.  The idea would go off the rails when the science teacher would study mummification and the students would make mummy models.  Back on topic.  The integration of content is something that has really come about in the last few years.  It is no longer enough to be a biologist.  You need to understand how Biology integrates with Physics as well.  A more extreme example would be a paleontologist that started as an art major.  The ability to see the patterns and make spatial connections is as important as knowing what rock layer and bone is sticking out of the ground.  The only problem I have is figuring out the logic behind the organization of the PE's.  Was there a plan when they were organized this way or was it more like "yeah, that fits." So where do you stand-Topic or DCI?

Creating the Road Less Taken

I am a ruthless pragmatist and have never found utility in developing a blog of my own until now. As a curriculum developer for a large school system, I have the task of moving a large number of schools and teachers into a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) based curriculum. For those you unfamiliar with them, I would encourage you to take a look at the standards. Now, just so we are all on the same page, that will be the last time I use the word standards. The NGSS are not traditional standards.  They are written as Performance Expectations (PE).  This means this means that rather spelling out exactly what students are supposed to know, they layout how students are supposed to demonstrate they understand a concept through an action otherwise known as a practice.  For example, in Kindergarten one of the PE's is stated as

Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.

So, why the blog?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  I think there is an opportunity to share ideas and ideas are needed.  Who am I looking for?  Well for right now, I just want to gather input from elementary teachers, principals, and elementary students.  As I go along, I will be updating whatever audience develops on my progress to gather feedback and to hopefully share some best management practices.  Who am I not looking for?  I am not looking for people to want to rant and rave about the PE's or my any typos I make herein.  I have no time for it.  

With all that said,  let me know if you are out there and interested in the NGSS.