STEM
Education
101
What? Why?
How?
Making
Connections to
the Real World
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.
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
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.
Here are the Rules
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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
Sharing Out

As you share out, explain the
group’s understanding of
STEM Education.

Explain the group process
used in completing this activity.
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 postsecondary 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.
identify what
students must know and be able to do to demonstrate
STEM proficiency.
STEM-Centric Pedagogy
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.
The Basics
What STEM Is…
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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!
What STEM Is Not…
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Just science
A curriculum or content
area
What you teach
Teacher-Centered
Just a project
An add-on or diversion
Just for special
populations
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
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.
2. Working as a group, compare your list of
skills and knowledge with those written
down by others in your group.
3. Record your group’s responses on chart
paper.
4. Place a star next to skills and knowledge
that you think are STEM-related.
5. Each bag contains one puzzle. The puzzle
represents one of the seven STEM Standards
of Practice (SOPs).
6. Work with your team to connect the pieces of
the puzzle to uncover how the SOP is
operationalized in the classroom.
7. Make a quick circuit around the classroom to
look at all seven SOPs.
STEM Standards of Practice
Engage in Inquiry
Standard
STEM proficient students will engage in inquiry to
investigate global issues, challenges, and real
world problems.
STEM Proficient Student
Statement
A. Ask questions to identify and define global
issues, challenges, and real world problems.
B. Conduct research to refine questions and
develop new questions.
Student Proficiencies
8. Now, compare the STEM Standards of Practice
to the list of skills you created as you watched
the video.
9. 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).
10. 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.
Group Share Out
11. Take a few moments to reflect on
the questions below. Jot down your
thoughts and ideas and be ready to
share with others.
A. What are the instructional implications
of the skills needed for the 21st century
workforce?
B. How do the STEM Standards of
Practice support acquisition of this
knowledge?
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.
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
So, How Can You Make STEM Part of
What Your Students Do
in the Classroom Every Day?
Four Essential
Tasks
Dr. Shelley Green
Professor of
STEM Education
Nova Southeastern University
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
that teachers can do in order
to lead their students to
successful STEM Education
"Voting Next Steps and Tips." STEM in The Early Grades. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014
Dr. Green’s 4 Essential Tasks
o
Task I – Change Your Lens
o
Task 2 – Enlist a Village of STEM Educators
o
Task 3 – Integrate STEM Across Disciplines
o
Task 4 – Give Kids More Than Just Access
to Technology
How Does Each of Dr. Green’s 4
Essential Tasks Support the
Implementation of STEM Education?
o Move to a corner of the room.
o In your group discuss how the Task
featured there supports and enhances
the creation of a STEM-centric
classroom?
o Record your responses on chart paper.
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.
Task #1:
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.”
Task #2:
Teachers should not have to carry the entire
responsibility for STEM Education.
We need partners.
It Takes a
Village – A
Global Village!
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.
Task #3:
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
Task #4:
Mere exposure to educational technology is
not sufficient for true STEM learning.
Conventional System
Learning System
The Traditional Traffic Signal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Traditional Teaching
“Dear Bored of Education … so are we!”
The Round-About …
A Completely Different Approach
Embrace the Change. Go with the Flow!
Collaborative, Effective, Thoughtful,
Problem Solving, Interactive, For Everyone,
Engaging, Hands-on, Real-World Context
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.
Next Steps…
Take It Back!
Put It into Action in
Your School or
District
o STEM starts with quality instruction
o STEM requires teachers who measure
their own success by students’ success
o STEM requires teachers who are willing
to break down the silos and work
together toward a common goal
o Look for the natural connections among
disciplines
o STEM involves a mixture of disciplines
o STEM requires an environment that
encourages risk-taking
o STEM requires teachers who are willing
to foster the vision and be innovative
and creative
o STEM requires articulation with schools
in the feeder pattern
o
STEM requires a commitment of time as
well as dedication and patience. Take the
first step and PERSEVERE!
o
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.
o
STEM requires support from the
administration in terms of expectations
and the environment
o
STEM starts with a vision of the outcome:
What do you want to accomplish? Where
do you want this to go?
o
STEM requires community involvement
o 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.
o Integration of different content areas should
be a NATURAL FIT.
o Lessons/Units/Projects should involve an
authentic, real-world issue, problem,
challenge, scenario, situation, etc. (can be
of local, national, or global scope).
o STEM experiences should be
hands-on and student-centered. No
more “Sage on the Stage.”
o To assess, students should be
asked to demonstrate their
understanding.
ROOTS AND WINGS
“There are two lasting bequests we can give our
children: One is roots, the other is wings.”
~ Denis Waitley
Evaluation