Notes from the Field
Submitted by Timothy Boyle, June 7, 2011
The only thing more popular than turning failing public schools into charters or linking student test scores to teachers these days is STEM education. Gaining momentum for several years now, the combined teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is one of the current darlings of the Department of Education.
Individually teachers know what all of these disciplines are, and I think the average teacher has varying degrees of comfort teaching them. The Planning and Scheduling Timeline we follow emphasis 21st century skills and an effort has been made to incorporate the STEM idea into our curriculum. At our most basic level, elementary science teachers are trying to follow packaged curricula of companies like Science Teaching for Children (STC) of Full Option Science System (FOSS). Those with the equipment, expertise, and most importantly time to teach science can go even further. I’d like to take one lesson I’ve taught recently and identify how it meets the goals of STEM.
The third and final module fourth grade students undertake is FOSS’ Structures of Life. The first half of this module concentrates of life cycle of plants. In Investigation 1 part 3 students are given the following focus question, how much water can a seed soak up? Students have previously discovered that dormant seeds are “woken-up” by the right conditions, notably the presence of water, and that seeds are changed by water. After observing the change in seeds, and identifying that water is the cause for the swelling of the seed, students have to figure out how they can isolate and measure the mass of the water the seed has soaked up.
I always enjoy asking a question that the students don’t readily know the answer to. When asked how to measure the water the seed soaks up, students usually immediately think of how they have measured liquids before. When the idea of measuring cup or graduated cylinder is shot down, there is a terrific moment of confusion. This confusion leads to discussion about how we know there is water in the seed. Students describe the change they saw in the seeds from dormancy to the beginnings of germination. After some prodding we usually type a sort of equation on the board. A soaked seed = a seed + water. Students can see very quickly that they need to measure both parts of this equation. Figuring out how to measure a dry seed is the easy part. Students easily remember that they have used a balance to find mass before. The mathematical and scientific components of this lesson are firmly in place. Next comes a bit of engineering.
While students use balances in science, it is unfortunately not a regular practice. Some review of how to setup a balance and ensure its accuracy is necessary. Putting all the pieces of the balance together takes no time, but students can forget exactly how to make sure their balance is balanced. Once one student remembers that the line on the fulcrum matches the line on the beam, each group quickly adjusts their balances. I know it’s a stretch to call this engineering, but the maintenance of a tool like balance is close.
Dry seeds are passed out during day one and students share with each other how to know exactly when they have arrived at the measurement of the seed. Each group shares its results and we average out the mass of 5 dry seeds. I again pose the focus question, how can we measure how much water a seed soaks up? Students now have one of the data points they need. I tell the students that next science class we will have soaked seeds to measure. On day two of this investigation students can quickly find the mass of the soaked seeds. All their data and observations are collected on a worksheet provided by FOSS that serves as an organizational chart. The concept of finding the mass of just the water cements itself when the students have both the mass of the dry seeds and the soaked seeds. The math, science, and engineering come right out of the lesson, it takes a little extra to add the technology component.
In an ideal world my students would be digital natives that feel just as comfortable using social media to share their work as pencil and paper. Access to the web is sporadic at best in the community I teach in, and time to teach a tech skill is scarce. I would love for students to tweet out their results and questions about science, but the process has become cumbersome with District firewalls in place.
I have found the best way to incorporate technology into the classroom is with Discovery Streaming. I can build an assignment based on viewing different media sources (video segments, images) and having the students answer questions. Students can log into an assignment page, view the directions for the assignment, view the materials I select for them, and then submit their answer. I try to find materials related to a given lesson’s focus question and have students answer the focus question on the assignment. The technology allows for students to go at the own pace, and allows me to check the answer anytime I want. The technology also allows students to readily and easily compare their answer with their classmates’ answers. Basically, the assignment process takes some of the heavy-lifting out of recording and sharing our work.
I’m not sure any Department of Ed. Folks would endorse this description of STEM, but hopefully how I understand my use of the idea encourages you to think about how you understand STEM.