1. Making Connections to the Real World
STEM Education In
Maryland
STEM Education
101
What? Why? How?
Making Connections to the Real World

2. Today’s Outcomes Participants will:
Review the concepts that support STEM Education in Maryland.
Identify connections between the STEM Standards of Practice and the skills needed in the 21st Century workforce.
Develop a plan of action to begin or continue implementing STEM Education at your school and/or in your district.

3. Multiple Perspectives Merged into One
What is STEM?
The purposes of this activity are as follows:
To express multiple perspectives about STEM Education
To relate individual understandings of STEM Education to the perspective maintained by MSDE
To expand the general understanding of STEM Education through interpretation and communication of information
“Build To Express”
Multiple Perspectives Merged into One

4. “Build To Express”
You will have only one (1) minute to explore the items in your Lego Kit, and only three (3) minutes to work with your team to build a model that communicates your group’s understanding of STEM Education.

5. Here are the Rules Questions? Ready … Set … Go
STEM In Maryland
Here are the Rules
All team members take part in the activity
Everyone shares
Everyone listens
Please defer judgment
Build on the ideas of others
Questions?
Ready … Set … Go
12min

6. STEM In Maryland
Sharing Out
As you share out, explain the group’s understanding of STEM Education.
Explain the group process used in completing this activity.

7. STEM In Maryland
STEM Education is an approach to teaching and learning that integrates the content and skills of the STEM disciplines and other disciplines to answer complex questions, investigate global issues, and solve real-world problems and challenges to prepare students for post-secondary study and the 21st century workforce.
STEM Standards of Practice define STEM instruction by defining the combination of behaviors, integrated with STEM content, which are expected of STEM-proficient students.
STEM Standards of Practice Frameworks identify what students must know and be able to do to demonstrate STEM proficiency.

8. STEM-Centric Pedagogy
STEM In Maryland
STEM-Centric Pedagogy
STEM-Centric Pedagogy
Challenge Based Learning
Problem Based Learning
Project Based Learning

9. should always include a connection to a career field
STEM In Maryland
STEM Education
should always include a
connection to a career field
so that students recognize the practical application of knowledge and skills in everyday life.

10. The Basics STEM In Maryland What STEM Is… What STEM Is Not…
An approach to teaching and learning
How you teach
Integration of content
Transdisciplinary
Student-Centered
A complement to curricular pacing and daily instruction
FOR ALL STUDENTS!
Just science
A curriculum or content area
What you teach
Teacher-Centered
Just a project
An add-on or diversion
Just for special populations

11. One Company’s Secret Weapon for Innovation
Why STEM?
The purpose of this activity is to Identify connections between the STEM Standards of Practice and the skills needed in the 21st Century workforce.
The Deep Dive
One Company’s Secret Weapon for Innovation

12. STEM In Maryland
Deep Dive Task #1
Individually, as you watch the video, make a list of the skills and knowledge students will need to be successful in the environment of the 21st Century workforce.

13. Deep Dive Task #2 STEM In Maryland
Working as a group, compare your list of skills and knowledge with those written down by others in your group.
Record your group’s responses on chart paper.
Place a star next to skills and knowledge that you think are STEM-related.

14. Deep Dive Task #3 STEM In Maryland
Each bag contains one puzzle. The puzzle represents one of the seven STEM Standards of Practice (SOPs).
Work with your team to connect the pieces of the puzzle to uncover how the SOP is operationalized in the classroom.
Make a quick circuit around the classroom to look at all seven SOPs.

15. STEM Standards of Practice
STEM In Maryland
STEM Standards of Practice
Engage in Inquiry
STEM proficient students will engage in inquiry to investigate global issues, challenges, and real world problems.
Ask questions to identify and define global issues, challenges, and real world problems.
Conduct research to refine questions and develop new questions.
Standard
STEM Proficient Student Statement
Student Proficiencies

16. Deep Dive Task #4 STEM In Maryland
Now, compare the STEM Standards of Practice to the list of skills you created as you watched the video.
Write the number of the STEM Standard of Practice that matches each skill on your group’s list (or would be needed to develop that skill).

17. Deep Dive Task #5 STEM In Maryland
Examine the PARCC Assessment Items included in your bag.
In your group discuss how the STEM Standards of Practice support the knowledge and skills students will need to answer the PARCC Assessment Items. Think conceptually as well as instructionally.

18. Group Share Out STEM In Maryland
Take a few moments to reflect on the questions below. Jot down your thoughts and ideas and be ready to share with others.
What are the instructional implications of the skills needed for the 21st century workforce?
How do the STEM Standards of Practice support acquisition of this knowledge?

19. Why STEM? STEM In Maryland
To inspire and prepare Maryland’s students to be both college and career ready and STEM-proficient members of society in order to prepare generations of learners to meet the challenges of the global society through innovation, collaboration, and creative problem solving.

20. Units, Lessons, Environments, PLC’s, and the Community
The How of
STEM
We want to help educators realize that instruction is changing, and in order for instruction to change, how we plan and how we implement instruction also has to change.
This represents a paradigm shift in the way we work; and it requires a necessary change of mind-set on the part of classroom teachers and administrators.
Units, Lessons, Environments, PLC’s, and the Community
Ideas and Strategies to Jumpstart Your Mission

21. STEM In Maryland
So, How Can You Make STEM Part of What Your Students Do
in the Classroom Every Day?
Four Essential Tasks
that teachers can do in order to lead their students to successful STEM Education
Dr. Shelley Green
Professor of
STEM Education
Nova Southeastern University
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
"Voting Next Steps and Tips." STEM in The Early Grades. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014

22. Dr. Green’s 4 Essential Tasks
STEM In Maryland
Dr. Green’s 4 Essential Tasks
Task I – Change Your Lens
Task 2 – Enlist a Village of STEM Educators
Task 3 – Integrate STEM Across Disciplines
Task 4 – Give Kids More Than Just Access to Technology

23. STEM In Maryland
How Does Each of Dr. Green’s 4 Essential Tasks Support the Implementation of STEM Education?
Move to a corner of the room.
In your group discuss how the Task featured there supports and enhances the creation of a STEM-centric classroom?
Record your responses on chart paper.

24. STEM In Maryland
Let’s Discuss
Now, let’s look at Dr. Green’s 4 Essential Tasks one at a time and discuss how they are involved in the creation of a STEM-centric classroom.

25. Task #1: Change Your Lens
STEM In Maryland
Task #1: Change Your Lens
Most teachers do not have to overhaul the way they teach in order to become strong STEM educators.
“It is about changing the lens through which we view our teaching practices.”

26. Task #2: Enlist a Village of STEM Educators
STEM In Maryland
Task #2: Enlist a Village of STEM Educators
Teachers should not have to carry the entire responsibility for STEM Education.
We need partners.
School Districts
Business Partners
Higher
Education
It Takes a Village – A Global Village!
School Districts
Higher Education
Business Partners
STEM EDUCATION

27. Community Connections provide real-world context for learning
STEM In Maryland
Community Connections provide real-world context for learning
When a community partner or STEM specialist visits the classroom, he/she brings genuine experience and expertise that connects the content and skills being covered in the classroom to their use and importance in the real world.
These experiences provide relevance for the learning and demonstrates authentic application of the knowledge and skills to deal with real-world problems.

28. Task #3: Integrate STEM Across the Curriculum
STEM In Maryland
Task #3: Integrate STEM Across the Curriculum
The skills developed through STEM learning need to be integrated.
“So much would be gained if all teachers – art, music, reading, social studies, math, and science – were able to spend some of their precious professional development time on STEM.”
~ Dr. Shelly Green

29. Task #4: Give Kids More Than Just Access to Technology
STEM In Maryland
Task #4: Give Kids More Than Just Access to Technology
Mere exposure to educational technology is
not sufficient for true STEM learning.

30. A Thoughtful Analogy STEM In Maryland Conventional System
Learning System

31. The Traditional Traffic Signal
STEM In Maryland
The Traditional Traffic Signal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

32. “Dear Bored of Education … so are we!”
STEM In Maryland
Traditional Teaching
“Dear Bored of Education … so are we!”

33. The Round-About … A Completely Different Approach
STEM In Maryland
The Round-About … A Completely Different Approach

34. Embrace the Change. Go with the Flow!
STEM In Maryland
Embrace the Change. Go with the Flow!

35. STEM In Maryland
Collaborative, Effective, Thoughtful, Problem Solving, Interactive, For Everyone, Engaging, Hands-on, Real-World Context

36. Take It Back! Put It into Action in Your School or District
A Placemat or
Your STEM Plan?
Work alone or with a small group to develop a plan for yourself, your school, your department or grade level.
Where Do We Go From Here?...
Next Steps…
Take It Back!
Put It into Action in Your School or District

37. Key Take-Aways STEM In Maryland STEM starts with quality instruction
STEM requires teachers who measure their own success by students’ success
STEM requires teachers who are willing to break down the silos and work together toward a common goal
Look for the natural connections among disciplines
Should we change the title of the slide? Additional takeways. These take-aways should be used for handouts as well.

38. Key Take-Aways STEM In Maryland STEM involves a mixture of disciplines
STEM requires an environment that encourages risk-taking
STEM requires teachers who are willing to foster the vision and be innovative and creative
STEM requires articulation with schools in the feeder pattern
Should we change the title of the slide? Additional takeways. These take-aways should be used for handouts as well.

39. Key Take-Aways STEM In Maryland
STEM requires a commitment of time as well as dedication and patience. Take the first step and PERSEVERE!
Different content area teachers should form a team and plan together. Not just Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, but other content areas as well, including the arts, health, physical education – wherever the fit is natural.

40. Key Take-Aways STEM In Maryland
STEM requires support from the administration in terms of expectations and the environment
STEM starts with a vision of the outcome: What do you want to accomplish? Where do you want this to go?
STEM requires community involvement

41. Key Take-Aways STEM In Maryland
STEM team members should think out of the box. This is not “business as usual”. Both the process and the product are going to be different.
Integration of different content areas should be a NATURAL FIT.
Lessons/Units/Projects should involve an authentic, real-world issue, problem, challenge, scenario, situation, etc. (can be of local, national, or global scope).

42. STEM In Maryland
Key Take-Aways
STEM experiences should be hands-on and student-centered. No more “Sage on the Stage.”
To assess, students should be asked to demonstrate their understanding.

43. ROOTS AND WINGS STEM In Maryland
“There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.”
~ Denis Waitley

44. STEM Education In
Maryland
Evaluation