Strengthening Rigor in STEM: Putting the R in STEM...Wait, What?

As we embark on our journey to make our children and students more critical thinkers and problem solvers, we often come upon really fun activities for students to engage in.  (Those who know me are cringing because they know how much I hate the word "fun". Fun implies that nothing is being learned, so I much prefer the word "engaging".)

Unfortunately this hazard transfers to students because the engaging activities that we're asking them to participate in really are...um, well, fun.  And that's great, but we want to make sure that we don't lose site of the goal to learn so we need to introduce our R into STEM- Rigor.

How do you Strengthen Rigor in your STEM projects?  In this series, we'll explore different ways to keep students engaged yet ensure that they are learning and stretching both in content and STEM Skills.

STEM Skills Challenge- Newspaper Table

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been sharing the importance of teaching STEM skills and weaving them through your curriculum.  They teach our students how to be persistent problem solvers, how to deepen 21st century skills and how to become leading contenders in the workforce.

Forbes Magazine researched the 10 most critical skills that employers are looking for in candidates and found that the majority of these critical skills are STEM skills. The top three skills? Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgement and Decision Making.

This week, students will get to practice all three of those skills as they work on this week's Skills Challenge.  Students will work with a team to build a sturdy table out of nothing more than newspaper and masking tape that will hold the most weight.  Much like the real world, teams will be challenged to use only the resources provided and work within design and time requirements.  May the best team of designers win!

STEM Skills Challenge Handout: Newspaper Table

STEM Skills Challenge- Paperclip Airplanes

During this series on STEM Skills Challenges, we are focusing on  the soft-skills that help make our students well-rounded and, according to local businesses, more employable.

This week's challenge is an individual challenge that will exercise student creativity as well as math skills.

For this challenge, students will work individually to design and construct a paper airplane that will carry the maximum amount of paperclips the farthest distance.

This tricky little challenge will require some thought and planning in working with multiple variables, but will help students to think critically about how to obtain the highest point value.

STEM Skills Challenge Handout: Paperclip Airplane

NED,KU,JUW,College buses looted despite Operation

Despite the operation in Karachi by the Rangers and Police,4 points/vans of educational institutions have been mugged in Karachi by the miscreants.

It all started on September 3,when armed men looted the Karachi University(KU) point near Banaras Chowk.Armed men snatched the money,mobile phones and other valuables from the students.Later an FIR was registered due to the protest by the students.Second incident occured on September 28 near Karachi University when unknown men stopped the Jinnah University for Women(JUW) van and looted the valuables from the girls.

On October 1,NED University point was looted in the Nazimabad area.Last incident occured on October 8,when a college van was mugged in the Nazimabad area.Students lost their cell phones and watches in the incident.

Police said they have indentified the people involved in looting the KU and NED points,and claimed they belong to a political party that have presence in Pashtun dominated areas.Efforts were made to arrest these culprits.

Students have asked the higher authorities to provide their buses proper security.

STEM Skills Challenge- Gumdrop Bridge

Employers today are looking for students who have learned how to think and how to problem-solve.  With the adoption of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), we are getting closer to making that a reality, but so many states and districts are still focused on standardized testing (which- surprise-  did not make the list of qualities that employers are looking for in qualified candidates.)

This series focuses on those skills as well as the other "soft-skills" that aren't necessarily spelled our in the curriculum, but make students well-rounded problem solvers.

This week's challenge is the Gumdrop Bridge.  In  this challenge, students work in teams to design and build a bridge that will span 10 inches.  Sounds like a pretty easy challenge, but as students start experimenting with their materials of gum drops and toothpicks, they will find that there is more there than beats the eye.

This fun little challenge encourages students to work on team building, collaboration and communication skills- more of those soft skills- that help students become successful in a workplace environment.

STEM Skills Challenge Handout: Gumdrop Bridge

STEM Skills Challenge Series

What if STEM stood for something different? As you know, the actual acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, but aside from content, the concept encompasses many more essential skills like: problem solving, critical thinking, team-building, self-esteem, self-motivation and more.

At a recent symposium in the Seattle area, business leaders were surveyed regarding the skills, attitudes, attributes, and aspirations that they feel are the most important to the success of students in the future. Among the results?

• Critical thinking, learning, and analytical problem solving
• Communication
• Adaptability
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Self-direction and self-awareness
• Technical skills and computer literacy
• Fundamentals of education including math, science, and English
• Creativity
• Cultural competence and global awareness
• Emotional intelligence

This series on STEM Skills Challenges will harness the power of STEM challenges and focus on these essential success skills that our students need to be effective in the STEM workforce.

STEM Essentials- Developing Effective STEM Units

In this series we have learned how to plan and develop an effective STEM unit.  Planning a unit like this is very time-consuming if done right, but the outcomes and student progress will be well worth the effort!

Here are the basic steps in the process:

• Develop a Plan for your STEM unit
• Craft Different Types of Assessments for before, during and after your project
• Create a Rubric (at least one!) for assessing students throughout the project and at the conclusion of it
• Use the Engineering Design Process to plan the remaining lessons that fit with your curriculum objectives
• Communicate Results through written reports as well as oral presentations
• Redesign and Debrief to assess student understanding and any misconceptions

Each step contains a basic explanation...and a free handout to help you plan your own effective STEM unit!

How Does STEM Improve Student Learning?

Research shows us the implementing STEM education does indeed improve student learning.  The real question here is HOW?

STEM education is a very interesting blend of interpersonal skills, and content skills- both of which are needed and desired in the ever-growing STEM workforce regardless of if the level of education the job requires.

In addition to meeting grade level curriculum requirements, STEM helps students to grow in areas that aren't necessarily measured by the state curriculum or even classroom assessments, but that are necessary skills that contribute to a student's self-worth and confidence.

Some of those interpersonal skills that we often overlook due to all of the administrative pressures are communication, critical thinking skills collaboration, project management, decision making, problem solving, stress management, etc.  STEM naturally build these skills by placing students in real-life project situations that not only require their understanding, but also their application.  As a result, it makes STEM education a powerful tool for students and teachers.

FREE Workshop- Engineers as Educators

In my work with AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), we offer a FREE workshop called Engineers as Educators.  Engineers as Educators is a community outreach workshop designed to help our Professional Members learn how to work with K-12 students (in formal or informal settings).  Please note- You do not need to be an AIAA member to attend.

Here's the workshop description:

When a paratrooper pulls that rip cord, what’s on his mind? Calculations about acceleration, speed, load capacity, and gravity? Probably not.

To you, these calculations are elementary. But to the elementary student, parachuting is ‘AWESOME’ and the formulas behind it are complicated. How can you bridge that gap?

Make that leap. Pull that educator rip cord within you and share with students your knowledge as an aerospace professional. 

AIAA will teach you to inspire students about the marvels of aerospace engineering. Share your passion in a manner students can relate to. Register now for the Engineers as Educators Workshop and you’ll walk away armed with the tools to help you plan and execute powerful experiences and excite the next generation of engineers.
Learn how to:

• Connect your work to classroom objectives
• Plan memorable experiences
• Use simple and clear vocabulary
• Engage students with hands-on experiences

And the fine details:
Who: Everyone (You do not need to be an AIAA member to attend)
What: AIAA Engineers as Educators Workshop (includes lunch)
When: Saturday September 7, 2013 from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM PDT 
Where:  Kirkland Library Meeting Room, 308 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland, WA 98033
Why: To learn activities, tips and tricks that you can use when working with K-12 students

The workshop is completely FREE, but you must register in advance. You can use the link above or click here to register.  If you're in the greater Seattle area, we'd love to see you there! 

NCEAC Accredited Universities

National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC) is an accreditation council under Higher Education Commission(HEC) that looks after all the matters regarding the accreditation,faculties and curriculum of Computer Science programs of all varsities of Pakistan.


Currently,the following Computer Science programs of varsities of Karachi are recognized by NCEAC as per their website.

Institute of Business Administration(IBA)

FAST- National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences

Iqra University(IU)

Bahria University

Hamdard University

Jinnah University for Women

Pakistan Navy Engineering Colllege(PNEC) - NUST

Creative Online Teaching Portfolios

It occurred to me the other day that there is  probably a better way to present myself to possible clients/employers than to lug my presentation binders with me.  After all, I specialize in Instructional Technology, so why not take advantage of that?

Like the current battle between Kindle and books, I still like the paper aspect.  I like holding the product in my hands and I think others appreciate its simplicity.  Just whip out the portfolio and turn to the correct page.  Prospective clients/employers can pass it around and flip through it to their heart's content.  With that said though, I don't feel comfortable letting my portfolio out of my sight.  It contains originals of many artifacts and its loss would be detrimental.  So, I decided to see what online portfolios have to offer.  Here are two of my favorite ones:

I've sung the praises of Prezi before.  It's not really what you would identify as a portfolio, but I like the way that it allows me to go to any page in any order and I can include images, videos, and even PowerPoint presentations in addition to text.  I also like that the templates allow me to put some graphic design (not my strong suit) into the Prezi giving it that added touch of professionalism.  Plus, I can have an educator account that allows me to have 500 MB (in comparison to the regular free account with 100 MB), a way to make my Prezis private and I can even hold an online meeting.


I also like Wikispaces as a unique solution.  I can use a free account (with additional benefits for educators) and if I get a little creative, I can password protect it giving access to only people who I want to see my personal information.  I have all of the usual bells and whistles at my fingertips like links, images, videos,  and even code.  Plus, I can create unlimited pages up to 2GB of content to make it a one-of-a-kind way to show off my skills.

Infographics: A 21st Century Tool for STEM

I have to admit, I've been rather intrigued by infographics lately.  They are so sleek and shiny and share pertinent data and statistics in an aesthetic fashion.  Not to mention, they seem to be everywhere.  They seem so simple, but try putting one together.  They are complex little animals that force you to think about your audience, your relevant information... and your communication skills.  As a result, they are the perfect tool for use in a STEM education classroom.

By requiring students to create an infographic, students are required to use those higher level thinking skills of Bloom's Taxonomy.  Students must consider which data to use and summarize it in a succinct way that will communicate effectively (Evaluation).  They must plan and organize the content (Synthesis) and prioritize and categorize it, allowing the user to make visual connections to the content (Analysis).

Infographics are a creative way to teach 21st century skills through STEM education by seamlessly integrating them into your curriculum.  There are many infographics creators to pick from, but my favorite right now is Picktochart.  It's easy to use, allows for student creativity, provides a decent selection of themes, images and icons and best of all it's free.  Students can also export their infographics to a standard format (PNG or JPG) for use in another program or medium. And, for creative minds or first timers, there are video tutorials that walk through the entire process as well as a comprehensive resource section.




Starfish Education is not affiliated with Picktochart (other than being happy users of their service) and is not compensated in any way for posting about their company or online tools.

Using Google Earth...on Mars?

In writing curriculum for the University of Houston/NASA Mars Rover Celebration, I had the opportunity to explore a little more in Google Earth...Mars.

What a great way to engage students and take a trip to Mars!  By activating the Google Earth Mars function, students can explore Mars freely on their own by spinning Mars to different locations and clicking icons that display facts and images.  Students can even visit specific locations on Mars by using the "Fly To" feature or chat with Meliza, Mars' resident alien, to learn more about the red planet.  

If free exploration isn't for you, students can take a guided tour of Mars, narrated by Ira Flatow and Bill Nye. Or, if you're feeling creative, record and narrate your own tour of Mars.

For an out-of-this-world experience, download Google Earth at: http://earth.google.com/mars/

How do I implement STEM in my Classroom?

So, how do you implement STEM education in your classroom?  This is often the most perplexing question to teachers.  Implementing STEM education in your classroom isn't difficult.  You might even already be doing it and not know it!

Build Knowledge
To successfully implement STEM education, build you own knowledge.  What makes an engaging STEM lesson? A STEM lesson is one that incorporates the four disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  It allows students to experience these disciplines as they would in the real world, not in segments of 45minutes, which is how they are taught in a traditional classroom.  Allowing students to experience these disciplines in an integrated form engages students in a real-world, meaningful experience.  A good STEM lesson also allows students to collaborate- with others in their own classroom or students around the world.  Providing collaboration helps to strengthen communication skills and aids students in working together to find a possible solution to a problem.


Seek Resources
Search the Internet, talk to colleagues, or consult with someone who specializes in the field of STEM education (like me!).  Be careful to look for the signs of a true STEM lesson.  An exemplary STEM education lesson/project should contain:

• The integration of each of the four disciplines- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
• A hands-on task - usually one that asks students to find a solution to a problem
• A real-world connection
• An opportunity for students to think creatively, work collaboratively, and solve problems
• A natural tie to your curriculum- STEM projects are incredibly fluid and incorporate so many skills from each of the disciplines that, barring an appropriate grade level, it should fit seamlessly into your curriculum

Implement Challenges
Once you've found some great STEM lessons and projects, it's time to implement!  Keep in mind that students are excited to engage in STEM projects, so setting ground rules, reviewing expectations and using your classroom management skills will be key.  As you work through the project with students, take the opportunity to facilitate and help each team by asking key questions.  Asking questions allows you to probe how deeply students understand the concepts and immediately clarify if any misconceptions arise.

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