What Is STEM?

Let’s Talk About STEM In Education!

 

STEM stands for

Science

Technology

Engineering

Mathematics

 

It stands for everyone!

We use STEM in our everyday lives, so I would like to share

with you what STEM in education is NOT:

It’s NOT a $1,000 drone.

It’s NOT a $500 robot.

It’s NOT a $2,500 computer.

It’s NOT a $700 cell phone.

It’s NOT just for gifted children.

STEM in education IS problem-solving. Our children NEED the mindset and

skillset of problem-solving. It is encouraging for ALL students to think, and

struggle with real-world problems. 

How do you create a mindset for our students to learn STEM? If you are a

newbie to STEM, I have free STEM Drip Tips which I used in my classroom. Also,

I’ve used a modified NASA Engineering By Design visual that has helped me

teach my students with special needs. These are freebies are sent straight to

your inbox. Click here to get begin your STEM in Education journey.

 

Let’s Get Started: 

Let’s begin by addressing our students as scientists and engineers. 

The expectations are consistently low. As educators, we intentionally judge our

students on what they can’t do and not on what they CAN do. Unfortunately,

too many educators consider our students who are minorities incompetent to

learn STEM. Unfortunately, too many teachers believe STEM in Education is too

complicated to teach a culturally diverse population. Well, it starts with

baseline data. You need to get that “previous knowledge”. Please don’t take for

granted that a student can identify what a scientist is nevertheless what they

look like. Their answers may surprise you. Just take a quick survey. 

What is a scientist? What is an engineer? 

Ask a student” What does a scientist look like? What does an engineer look like? 

 Just Google It! What do you see? Better yet……

 What do you NOT see? A considerable amount of people who are represented

by minorities: girls, people of color, and people with disabilities.

One of my successful techniques for getting my students to believe they were

scientists and engineers was teaching them basic coding skills from code.org.

They share my same passion for cultural diversity in STEM, especially in

computer science. Check out their blog https://codeorg.medium.com/  

My upper elementary and middle school students didn’t have any clue about

Computer Science, nevertheless Software engineering. Hourofcode.org ROCKS!

I’ve mentioned earlier about my students participated in the school district

science fair. Each student was assigned a specific engineer or scientist job based

on their strength. Software engineer, sound engineer, data analyst. Yes, they

owned their titles and felt a sense of empowerment. 

During the beginning of the COVID shutdown, my students continued to track

the weather in order to determine the bestest time to release our butterflies.

They had to track the current temperature, the high and low temperatures,

  precipitation, and wind speed. For my students who could not physically write,

they gave me verbal answers. Before the shut down, the local meteorologist

came to visit our classroom. Yes, having a real-world scientist visit our

classroom was mind-blowing. Can we say cheaper than a field trip!

STEM In Education is solving real-world problems.  

We need to talk about minorities in STEM. For instance, let’s chit-chat about

Black Inventors and Innovators. Yes, I can talk for hours about Garrett Morgan,

The NASA Hidden Figures, and George Washington Carver. There are several

online resources devoted to them. How did they get their claim to fame? Their

innovative minds helped solve real-world problems. Their products help shape

our daily lives.  There are several everyday items that were invented by Black

inventors.  And yet, our students know little to nothing about these scientists

and engineers. Think about it. Inventors and Innovators are engineers! Do you

know about these Black Inventors and Innovators? 

Phillip Downing: He designed the mailbox system. 

Gladys Mae West: She created the Global Positioning System.

Sarah Goode: She invented the cabinet bed.  

Benjamin Banneker: He designed the first US domestic wooden clock. He

published several Farmer’s Almanacs with an accurate solar eclipse prediction. 

Lewis Howard Latimer: He invented the carbon filament which made Thomas

Edison’s innovation of the light bulb last longer and made it safer to use. 

Side note: Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb. He was an innovator, he

improved the design of the lightbulb. A British Chemist, Sir Humphry Davy

invented the lightbulb. 

 LET US PAUSE Right Here:

Have you heard of Ralph Braun? He was an inventor with a physical disability,

who designed the wheelchair lift-accessible vehicle. Right? This guy who had a

disability solved his own real-world problem with his determination and

ingenuity. So, why would we limit students with special needs exposure to

STEM in Education? Who are some other inventors and innovators with a disability?

Temple Grandin (Autism) Invented the “squeeze box” for animals

Thomas Edison (Learning Disability) Invented the phonograph, movie camera,

carbon microphone, incandescent light bulb

Stephen Hawking (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Research on black holes, gravity 

Farida Bedwei (Cerebral Palsy) Computer Engineer Innovator

STEM In Education needs to embrace and encourage our girls. I absolutely love

to see my female students fascinated with STEM activities. It’s an EPIC moment

for me, to witness their struggle to their “I got this.”

Sally Ride (1st female NASA astronaut) 

Ada Lovelace (Mathematician Innovator) 

Marie Van Britten-Brown (Home security system)

Ellen Ochoa (Hispanic astronaut) 

Stephanie Kwolek (Invented Kevlar fabric)

Margaret A. Wilcox (Invented the car heater)

Ann Tsukamoto (Stem cell research)

 

STEM IS Experiential. “Learning By Doing It”

Let’s tell the Truth. How many times have you looked at an owner’s manual in

order to put something together…to assemble a bookshelf, to download a

computer program? You looked at it for about 2 minutes, toss it to the side, and

tried to crank out it.  Right?  You just worked it out because you wanted to,

BECAUSE you NEEDED to do. Now, you might stumble or get frustrated, you

might pick up the manual. However, you did not give up. It is not always easy

to see yourself stumble through a problem. However, it is essential for our

students to stumble and fumble their way to solving a  problem, no matter

what kind of diverse background they came from. 

STOP Asking our students what they want to

be when they grow up. 

START Asking our students which problem will

you solve when you get older? 

This is NOT an ‘oh by the way’ moment for me. I truly believe all students can

learn STEM. I taught students with severe disabilities how to problem solve

through STEM.  

STEM in education is about teaching our students how to solve real-world

problems.  Therefore, all students need to be encouraged to think like 

scientists and engineers.  My STEM Drip Tips helps you make this happen.

My modified NASA Engineering By Design printable will help you make STEM

in education more accessible. 

 

Feel free to DM me with your questions.