A publication of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center

Volume 5 • Issue 1 • January 2015

Developing an Integrated STEM ApproachA key component of a successful STEM magnet program is its integrated curriculum. Developing this curriculum often requires adopting a new instructional approach rather than simply adding more science courses, purchasing new technology, or taking a field trip. In this new approach, students learn from doing and questioning rather than just memorizing information and observing experiments.

While multiple types of integration can exist within a STEM magnet program, full integration is best seen in a project- or problem-based approach that completely blends the disciplines and facilitates hands-on learning. Implementing the curriculum requires collaboration among instructional staff and across subjects. This includes having

teams of teachers work together to develop integrated STEM lessons that drive students toward complex thinking; ensuring lessons are delivered effectively to enable students to make connections across subjects; and continuously improving instruction to build on lessons learned, new content, and innovative practices.

Ensuring that your STEM curriculum meets the needs of your students, parents, and community requires developing a school culture that promotes a strong vision for what STEM should look like in your magnet school. With strong teacher buy-in and a clear vision, your magnet program can succeed in creating an integrated STEM curriculum. Use the principles and strategies in this issue of The Magnet Compass to guide you as you think about how to take your STEM curriculum to the next level.

Expand and Immerse Bringing STEM into your magnet school does not mean closing the door to other subject areas. Many schools now add the arts to STEM to create STEAM. Some schools take it even further to include all subjects—one acronym for this is STREAMS (science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, mathematics, and social studies).

Whatever acronym you decide to use, a concerted effort to include all teachers in your STEM implementation will have benefits for your students and your program. Seeing themselves as part of the plan will help teachers of all subjects take shared ownership of the magnet program. The teachers you thought were “outsiders” to STEM may have ideas about ways to integrate content that core STEM teachers would not have considered.

In addition, involving all subject teachers will help remove any barriers between subjects and departments so your school can provide students with a fully integrated learning experience that reflects real life. Then, you will be moving toward the true goal—an immersive STEM experience.

Implementing a STEM Approach . . 3

Creativity in the Classroom . . . . . . 5

Complexity in STEM Lessons . . . . 6

Elements of a Successful STEM Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

INSIDE THIS ISSUEREGULAR FEATURES

The Needle Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Mapping the Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Magnet Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Promoting diversity, academic excellence and equity through magnet schools

A Message From the Magnet Schools Assistance Program

Anna Hinton, Director of Parental Options and Improvement; Brittany Beth, MSAP Program Officer, Management and Program Analyst; Justis Tuia, MSAP Program Officer, Management and Program Analyst; and Tiffany McClain, MSAP Program Officer, Management and Program Analyst

Led by the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education, or CoSTEM, the administration is coordinating STEM education programs

across 14 federal agencies. Connecting with partners from nonfederal institutions, states, and local schools and organizations helps to leverage federal efforts.

As one of three lead agencies within CoSTEM, the Department focuses on improving STEM instruction and helping all agencies support the federal STEM education vision. Together, agencies look to develop “A portfolio of federal STEM education investments and assets that helps prepare a diverse and internationally competitive workforce and a society that understands STEM practices and concepts so that all citizens are prepared to succeed in the current and future economy.”

Specific goals and objectives associated with the vision address workforce preparation and STEM literacy, and aim to build interest, engagement, proficiency, and diversity among students, educators, and citizens. They also include a mandate to identify, develop, research, and share evidence-based practices that will help to achieve the vision.

CoSTEM developed a 5-year strategic plan for STEM education, based on

design principles across areas that include underrepresented groups. Here, and in the area of evidence-based practice, you will see direct connections to your magnet school work. In fact, the magnet schools approach exemplifies many of the principles on which our national strategic plan rests, such as supporting educator and leader performance, encouraging student engagement in STEM subjects and career paths, building institutional capacity, creating clear goals and using data to measure progress, employing evidence-based practices, and connecting to community resources to make learning relevant.

All of these principles come into play when developing STEM curricula. Implementing a STEM magnet program often requires shifts in the instructional approach, but with proper planning and support your magnet program can succeed—and play its part in helping CoSTEM achieve its goals.

This issue of The Magnet Compass offers ideas about developing STEM materials, integrating STEM into other areas of the

The magnet schools

approach exemplifies

many of the principles

on which our national

strategic plan rests.

curriculum, and making STEM learning exciting for your students. The principles and strategies in this issue will help you build strong and sustainable magnet programs as we move toward achieving our shared mission of fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

This publication is produced by the Magnet Schools Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center (MSAP Center), a technical assistance resource for MSAP grantees and the general magnet schools community. The MSAP Center provides grantees and magnet schools with technical support by offering tools, information, and strategies to assist in planning, implementing, and sustaining programs. The ultimate goal of the MSAP Center is to help magnet schools provide communities with educational opportunities that promote diversity, academic excellence, and equity.

www .msapcenter .com

DIRECTOR

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Manya Walton

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Elizabeth FordNancy Balow

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Maggie Bray

EDITORIAL SERVICES

Synergy Enterprises, Inc .

The views expressed in the newsletter do not necessarily reflect the position or policy

of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and no official endorsement by ED should be inferred.

This newsletter was produced in whole or in part with funds from the U.S. Department of Education under

contract number: ED-OII-13-C-0073.

January 2015 • page 2

Implementing a STEM Approach Implementing STEM curricula in a magnet school takes careful planning and does not happen overnight. Follow the steps below to ensure that your STEM approach is successfully developed and implemented.

January 2015 • page 3

Include a mix of lesson types. When planning, start with a few integrated lessons and gradually scale up to a true project-based approach. This will help to generate buy-in among

teachers who are unsure about implementing STEM content. Project- or problem-based learning takes time for teachers to master and may require some scheduling changes. At first, plan an integrated STEM project for every quarter or semester and provide guidance on other integration methods that can be used regularly. For example, a multidisciplinary approach can unite subjects around a common theme for a specified time, providing students with continuity and cursory connections across subjects. In contrast, an interdisciplinary approach fosters a higher level of integration within a lesson or across subjects, and focuses on a concept that is common among subjects so students can see how the concept applies differently in various subject areas.

Provide time for collaboration. Give staff time to work together to plan fully integrated lessons. Create groups that cut across

grades and subjects, and rotate members so teachers continuously work with new people to generate new ideas. Encourage informal work, too, so that staff feel comfortable asking colleagues for help if they have questions about a lesson.

Plan and demonstrate. Develop a plan for how STEM lessons should look at your school, and communicate this plan clearly to staff and stakeholders. Empower teachers

by pointing out ways they have used an integrated STEM instructional approach even if they did not know it was STEM. Then encourage them to build on those experiences as they develop new lessons and curricula. Provide sample lessons of various types that teachers can use as examples. Community partners, industry experts, and teachers within the school who are early adopters of STEM can provide peer support, co-teaching, and curriculum writing expertise.

Use existing resources. Existing curricula, even if they are not specifically STEM, can be used as a starting point to ensure standards are still included. States may also

provide frameworks for certain types of non-traditional courses. Make staff aware of the wealth of online resources of STEM lessons. Connect with other magnet schools that have implemented similar programs.

Developing Integrated STEM Lessons“Mapping the Way” spotlights exceptional, innovative researchers. This article features Jo Anne Vasquez, Ph.D., Consultant at the Helios Education Foundation. An author, past president of the National Science Teachers Association, and a former member of the National Science Board, Vasquez provides expertise to help schools and districts implement fully integrated STEM programs. In this article, she shares strategies magnet leaders can use to develop STEM lessons and curricula and build staff support.

across subjects. “In engineering we define a problem, while

Jo Anne Vasquez, Ph .D ., Consultant

Implementing a STEM program, like “any new approach, is all about changing the system,” Vasquez said. First, “Get everybody on the same page about the operational definition of STEM and what STEM teaching and learning should look like in their school. Then give teachers some opportunities for success. Bring some STEM lessons for them to try. Then have teachers work as a team to see where those natural connections in their standards are

and where they might be creative about designing lessons. Early adopters can co-teach with others” to build support for and understanding of the new STEM program.

“Most people want to go right to problem-based or project-based learning, which we hear most often associated with STEM.” However, it usually helps to start at a lower level of integration and build up—in fact, lower levels of integration remain valid methods of integrating STEM even when project- or problem-based learning has been implemented across the school. A multidisciplinary approach uses a theme that appears in each STEM and core course during the same time period to draw connections among subjects, while an interdisciplinary approach achieves a higher level of integration and can take place across subjects or within a single lesson. For example, the concept focus with an interdisciplinary approach might be “cause and effect.” In a fully integrated STEM lesson, “all disciplines come together and you do not see any separation of skills and knowledge within the disciplines,” Vasquez explained. “The students do not think about which discipline the task falls under.”

One implementation barrier can be teachers’ assumptions about what it takes to teach engineering or interdisciplinary STEM lessons. “They hear the word engineer and they think it has to be done by somebody from outside.” Vasquez explained that engineering design practices enable connections

in science we ask a question.” When students “are defining a problem, working out a solution, and building something, they are implementing engineering design.” Applying these concepts in a lesson can integrate engineering without the need for outside expertise.

In fact, some teachers may already teach this way without realizing it. “Students are building things in most classrooms.” The key is to help teachers develop what they already do into something that supports a STEM teaching and learning approach.

It is not always necessary to buy a STEM curriculum. “My experience shows that if schools use what they already do and ratchet that up with natural connections within their own standards and by integrating 21st century skills, the students really start to blossom and understand why they are learning it. STEM teaching and learning is all about application. The students still need content knowledge and skills,” Vasquez explained.

If schools use what they already

do and ratchet that up with natural

connections and use 21st century

skills, the students really start to

blossom. Jo Anne Vasquez

Vasquez advised magnet leaders to “go slow, have a strategic plan, make sure teachers have input into that plan, and then find someone knowledgeable to help implement, even if it is someone creative in the school who has already started to make those natural connections.” In closing, she stated, “I think we have made STEM difficult for teachers to understand,” but it does not have to be. The idea of integrated curriculum is not new, but for awhile “it went back to being a siloed approach. However, I think now the pendulum has turned because teachers are starting to become aware of those natural connections and ways to apply what the students are learning into other core areas.”

January 2015 • page 4

Creativity in the ClassroomThe concept of creativity can be a great way to engage students and to seamlessly transition between subjects. Emphasizing a large concept such as creativity will help students and teachers see common threads among disciplines, even when specific standards and topics within subjects may not seem connected initially. Curriculum or lesson plans can include a place for teachers to explain how creativity is used in the lesson. Demonstrate to teachers and students that creativity underlies all subjects using the strategies below.

Make explicit the artistic aspects of scientific endeavors. Both science and art help people explain the world

around them. The “a-ha!” moment that leads to a new scientific invention is like the spark of inspiration for an enduring poem or painting. Great figures of the past who are often studied in school, such as Galileo or da Vinci, moved seamlessly from scientific to artistic tasks—Galileo’s famous drawings of sunspots seen through his telescope or da Vinci’s Vitruvian man blend scientific discovery with art. In addition, arts and STEM are often linked in the real world—for example, attractive design is a key component of how engineers develop products and how architects design houses. STEAM projects should make these overlaps explicit.

Integrate arts-related activities. Art does not have to be an add-on to what happens in the STEM classroom. Whether or not you are a STEAM school, the arts can be easily integrated into

STEM lessons, particularly those that are project based. Arts integration can range from the unobtrusive (e.g., including product design and color on a project rubric) to more obvious (e.g., having students write and present a play on a STEM topic). Provide opportunities for STEM and arts teachers to share ideas about how they can reinforce one another’s lessons and encourage students to develop creativity in many areas.

Encourage making and tinkering. You might also encourage creativity in the STEM fields by giving students the opportunity

to explore and discover learning on their own. Similar to project- or problem-based learning, making and tinkering both focus on a constructivism-based personalized learning approach. Making is when students actively engage in creating a physical product, while tinkering is a mind-set that encourages students to learn through inquiry, discovery, and exploration. Both STEM and arts projects can help students develop this type of mind-set. Making and tinkering also have strong connections with the engineering design process and the creativity that lies therein.

January 2015 • page 5

Complexity in STEM Lessons While the concepts of difficulty and complexity may seem interchangeable, in reality they are different. Difficulty refers to the amount of effort required to complete a task within a certain mode of thinking, while complexity refers to the thought process used to complete the task. Often teachers will increase the difficulty of the lesson without increasing the complexity of the task. Increasing the difficulty requires students to complete more work within one order of thinking without having them progress to a more complex way of thinking.The benefit of integrated, project-based STEM lessons is that complex activities are built into the learning experience. The following levels of complexity are based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy, which classifies levels of intellectual behavior that are important in learning; the levels become more complex as you move down the list. Each level is defined and paired with an example of an essential question for a lesson on chemical elements. Use these examples to encourage STEM teachers to increase the complexity of their lessons.

Level Definition Example of essential question

Remember This is the lowest order of thinking.Students are asked to recall information by identifying, listing, or describing items.

What are 10 chemical elements?

Understand Students explain information by summarizing or paraphrasing.

What is an atomic number?

Apply Students use or implement the information in a familiar situation.

If neon has an atomic number of 10, how many protons does it have?

Analyze This is the first level of higher-order thinking. Students explore understandings and relationships by comparing, organizing, or deconstructing information.

How would you compare the chemical properties of iron and gold?

Evaluate Students justify a decision or course of action through experiments, critiques, or hypotheses.

What do you conclude based on the experiment we did in class?

Create This is the highest order of thinking. Students develop new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things by designing, constructing, planning, or inventing.

What experiment would you design to test how two elements interact?

January 2015 • page 6

Using STEM to Revitalize a School“Magnet Moments” spotlights personnel from districts and programs that have effectively implemented innovative ideas or research-based practices. This article features Kim Moore, Principal of Middleton High School in Tampa, Florida. Moore redesigned the school’s STEM curricula and programs, growing Middleton into a nationally recognized STEM magnet school. In this article, she details the process she used to enact this transformation.

When Moore started as Middleton’s Assistant Principal for Magnet Curriculum, she conducted a needs assessment and reviewed the viability of the magnet programs: “We had 10 different magnet programs, but we weren’t really good at any of them,” she said. She also looked at industry trends and interviewed industry partners to determine skills students would need at

graduation. “Our goal is to have every student prepared when they leave us for college or career,” she stated.

Kim Moore, Assistant Principal

Based on what she learned, Moore rebranded the school as a Precollegiate STEM Academy and redesigned four STEM magnet programs to “support and become very good at.” The first step was “laying out the vision. It was important to get the magnet teachers to buy in and share the vision.” Her plan covered 3 to 5 years to reach full implementation.

Moore recommends starting with your strength. “Once I had the vision, I started working with the engineering program because it was our strongest magnet. Then I could shift my focus to the computer systems engineering program the next year,” and so on until all four programs were in place.

The school developed its own curriculum for the video game design program. This was “much more challenging” than buying a curriculum, but district and school support helped. “We started with the framework put out by the Florida Department of Education. Then my instructors wrote the curriculum, based on their skill sets, with help from other teachers in the district,” Moore said. She also hired a specialist instructor, noting “most of my instructors are

from industry” to ensure students receive the most relevant education possible.

In terms of STEM integration, Moore said, “Math is the universal language that ties everything together” even though each of the four academies focuses on a specific aspect of STEM. “We also try to scream our theme across the entire school. We try to create opportunities for our teachers to work across the curricula,” she explained. Engineering projects tie multiple subjects together, and lessons across subjects are aligned with a common concept when possible—for example, learning about Roman history, reading Roman literature in English language arts, and building Roman-style bridges or aqueducts as an engineering project.

Middleton gets support from its STEM Advisory Board, made up of industry partners, community partners, professional associations, and district and school personnel. “The advisory board (1) keeps our program current, (2) lets us know which direction industry is going, and (3) takes on initiatives to support the program.” In addition, community partners manufacture parts for the robotics program, provide guest speakers and visiting instructors, and provide internships for students. “Your program won’t grow without those types of relationships,” Moore said.

Our goal is to have every

student prepared when they

leave us for college or career.

Kim Moore

Kim advised other magnet leaders “not to try to conquer the world, but to start off with two or three things they can do well and build on those. In addition, have a clear vision of what you want to do. If you do that, you can have a great program.”

More InformationFor more information, visit the STEM Beacon .

January 2015 • page 7

Elements of a Successful STEM ProjectHere are some guidelines for a rigorous STEM project. Build these into lesson plans and classroom observation rubrics so everyone understands what is expected.

Relevance. The project should be relevant tothe concepts studied, tied to the real world, and transferable to future learning. The project should help students understand the purpose of learning STEM concepts.

Resources. Students should be given sufficient timeto plan, design, and create their projects, and they should have access to the required materials, whether they are high-tech such as laptops or low-tech such as colored pencils and construction paper.

Complexity. The project should connect multiplesubjects and require students to use higher-order thinking skills. Rather than lecturing to students, the project should give them an opportunity to discover concepts and ideas for themselves.

Collaboration. The project should include plentyof opportunities for students to work together, share knowledge, and solve problems together. And, at the end of the project, they should have the chance to share what they have learned in the classroom and beyond, perhaps with the whole school or the community.

Novelty. Ideally, the project should be new for thestudents. It should help them look at a concept in a new way and make connections between subjects. Novelty also works for teachers—encourage teachers to change projects slightly each year based on feedback, or switch them out completely, so every year feels fresh and exciting.

Substance. Project work should be substantial ratherthan monumental. That means the goals should be quality over quantity and critical thinking over repetition. Students should become immersed in the project work and should be excited to work on it each class period in a way they would not with a worksheet or book report.

BibliographyBanks, F. and Barlex, D. (2014). Teaching STEM in the Secondary

School: Helping Teachers Meet the Challenge. New York: Routledge.

Martinez, S.L. and Stager, G. (2013). Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press.

Sousa, D.A., and Pilecki, T. (2013). From STEM to STEAM: Using Brain-Compatible Strategies to Integrate the Arts. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Truesdell, P. (2014). Engineering Essentials for STEM Instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Vasquez, J.A., Sneider, C., and Comer, M. (2013). STEM Lesson Essentials: Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

For technical assistance, contact the MSAP Center.

Call toll-free: 1-866-997-6727

E-mail: msapcenter@leedmci.com

Visit: www.msapcenter.com

January 2015 • page 8