{"id":4570,"date":"2018-01-16T19:11:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T02:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/?p=4570"},"modified":"2018-01-16T19:11:35","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T02:11:35","slug":"4570","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/2018\/01\/16\/4570\/","title":{"rendered":"Case #1 STEM Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0 really enjoyed watching Case #1 and #2 as they both pertain to my role as a senior math, calculus and physics teacher. \u00a0I found Case #1 particularly interesting as I had collaborated with this teacher on two different ETEC projects in the past year. \u00a0I had always found this STEM program quite interesting and inspiring and enjoyed gaining an appreciation for his workspace and watching how his students engage with the program. \u00a0Below are some themes that stuck out with me:<\/span><\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/span><\/p>\n

My years of experience teaching math and physics onboard a sailing high school have reinforced my belief that students learn best when they recognize the relevance and applications of what they are learning. \u00a0In this case, students are working through problems and then testing their conclusions in real life.\u00a0 Awesome!<\/span><\/p>\n

Guide on the Side:<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, much of the knowledge the students were acquiring did not come from the teacher; it was the product of self-directed inquiry and discussing with more-knowledgeable peers. \u00a0The role of the teacher here is to provide enough information for the teams to get started and then offer direction and support while holding each group accountable to their learning when necessary. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Quality vs Quantity<\/span><\/p>\n

As opposed to my rather traditional classroom where we might solve a dozen or so questions in a class, these students were solving one big question over the course of a long period of time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Resources<\/span><\/p>\n

Students had access to superb materials, resources, and tools. \u00a0In one video, we see the teacher showcase the material testing equipment suitable for testing the limits of various materials. \u00a0We also notice students are using computers and other electronics to develop code.\u00a0 I appreciated how digital technology was connected with hands-on materials.<\/span><\/p>\n

This case definitely left me with a few questions concerning management and accountability of learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. How does the teacher manage, support and direct so many teams while holding each student accountable to the course objectives (particularly with less motivated students)?<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. How are the mechanics of physics\/math assessed? \u00a0Or are mechanics less important?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I recall the teacher once saying during one of our conversations that he does struggle with class control at times. \u00a0Not that students are often misbehaving, but more struggling to know where each team is at. \u00a0In a traditional classroom, the teacher is able to manage learning expectations and the pacing of course content fairly easily. \u00a0Here, the teacher really needs to trust that the students are intrinsically motivated to solve problems using the tools available to them. \u00a0For this program to be successful, the teacher needs to understand what the students are able to accomplish, understand the tools and resources available and build a class culture that supports inquiry and curiosity. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The use of digital technologies and hands-on material definitely ameliorate conceptual challenges in understanding physics and material design. \u00a0\u00a0Students can feel what happens to the strength of the materials when they modified or rearranged. \u00a0Learning needs to grow from prior knowledge and experience and what better way than have students constantly test their most intimate form of knowledge, their intuition.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I\u00a0 really enjoyed watching Case #1 and #2 as they both pertain to my role as a senior math, calculus and physics teacher. \u00a0I found Case #1 particularly interesting as I had collaborated with this teacher on two different ETEC projects in the past year. \u00a0I had always found this STEM program quite interesting and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47611,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1669386],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-video-cases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47611"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4570"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4572,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4570\/revisions\/4572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}