VCU STEM

Lesson on application of engineering techniques to understand biological systems - activities include analyzing DNA profiles of bank robbery suspects and 3D building of DNA

Students extend knowledge of skeletal system to biomedical engineering design, specifically the concept of artificial limbs.  Associated activities include designing, creating, and testing lower leg prosthetic limbs and designing splints/casts.

automated counting of red blood cells - might be good for integration with anatomy class

This lesson has students build their own barometers they can measure air pressure with. In this way students learn about the development and implementation of meteorological instrumentation. Students can measure air pressure for a given amount if time (say, a week or a month) and then discuss what qualities of their barometers could possibly be improved upon. This aspect relates to engineers constantly reevaluating their work and improving upon existing methods.

This is a neat lesson for teaching students in physical science classes about simple machines, how they work, and how they benefit society. Students have to design their own simple machines that would assist in lifting an elephant onto a train car (although an different scenario could easily be substituted). Requires very few materials.

This is a wonderful resource. Many teachers are always searching for resources and ideas for the SMART Board.

I constantly use smart exchange! It is wonderful and there are tons of free templates for review games, etc. too!

I liked this so much, I even looked up Geometry resources. Shirley

testing for macromolecules - happy meal

I use this same lab to identify macromolecules. However, I use products from the grocery store such as apple juice, egg whites, and cooking oil. We even allow the students to bring different items in order to make it a more inquiry based lab.

Explore molecule shapes by building molecules in 3D! How does molecule shape change with different numbers of bonds and electron pairs? Find out by adding single, double or triple bonds and lone pairs to the central atom. Then, compare the VSEPR model to real molecules!

Resources, links, legistative information

STEM defenders

I liked this so much, I was planning to post it, too.

Connecting students and scientist

This video is long, but it breaks down all parts of TPACK and provides examples. This video stresses the importance of using the TPACK model to solve "wicked" problems. The presenter also discusses the importance of creativity in this process. There are many great examples provided in the video. My favorite example was about the third grade teacher who used technology to enhance students understanding of maps. The class took a trip to DC and used cameras and mapping software to record their journey. The main points of the video are: teaching with technology is a wicked problem, wicked problems require creative solutions, and that teachers are the designers of the Total PACKage, and that solutions need to be novel, effective, and whole,

I have shared this with my technology integrated group, since we has cited TPACK as the basis for our school's program. This video does a beautiful job of conveying this information and I hope we use this to assist our staff as we struggle to implement technology uses for learning. I particularly like the acknowledgment of the difficult nature of this. The humorous nature of the presentation along with depth of scholarly foundation contained is excellent!

Noteworthy statements in this document: - "the three sets of activity types (conceptual knowledge building, procedural knowledge building, and knowledge expression) are presented including compatible technologies that may be used to support each type of learning activity" - "technologies listed in the tables are meant to be illustrative" this work is based upon : Millar, R. & Driver, R. (1987). Beyond processes. Studies in Science Education, 14, 33-62. National Research Council. (2000). Inquiry and the national science education standards.Washington, DC: National Academy Press. This article's citation: Blanchard, M. R., Harris, J., & Hofer, M. (2011, February). Science learning activity types. Retrieved from College of William and Mary, School of Education, Learning Activity Types Wiki: http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/file/view/ScienceLearningATs-Feb2011.pdf

Great article breaking down each letter of STEM

This website is a brief overview of the TPAC model. Basically TPAC is a framework that incorporates technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. According to the website, "As teachers, we understand intuitively the layers of complexity that technology adds to our work with students but the TPCK (also TPACK) framework makes these layers of complexity explicit. It captures the kinds of knowledge required for the effective integration of technology in the classroom."

Innovation to me is the enhancement of education using customized tools. Recently, there has been great buzz about promoting SMART technologies- a collaborative leaning software that accommodates a variety of learning styles- promoting varied instruction. The SMART notebook collaborative learning software is the world's leading lesson creation software that opens options for interactive lessons that support student-centered learning. Of the vast technologies within this field I seemed to find SMART boards as a very innovative tool for classroom instruction. A SMART board is basically an interactive white board that allows teachers to project a website or image from the laptop to the white board. These SMART boards are capable of storing and saving lessons as well as turning simple lessons into more interactive and customized ones geared to enhance student learning. I think this application is more useful in disciplines such as Science because science changes all the time and has the ability to be much "active" using the web- this is not to say that it cannot be useful in the other disciples however.

For my undergrad, one of my professor's was working on a smart phone app to help with Dendrology for students currently learning the extremely boring subject. It's a really cool idea, and caused me to be very interested in a wide variety of education related apps on my smartphone. I think smart phones has the potential to take education the next mile, but much like video games they need the extra little push to help accomplish stem education.

PBS Kids has activities that do a good job of linking engineering to science, math, and technology. The website has many characters which my students identify with. Many of the activities and concepts, that are covered, are for younger students, but some are for the upper grades.

Great website- it is very "children" oriented due to the nice colors, drawings and simplicity. I love it for the content that is accessible by young learners but I appreciate it even more because it has very innovative classroom activity suggestions (as well as lesson plans) for teachers. Even more importantly, there have a listing for family activities for each subject, which I think is great because learning can be even more meaningful when it is done outside of the classroom.

Innovation with implications in currciulum areas of Physics, Chem, and Env. Science

I really like how the website provides "featured articles" that are very current and pertain to "hot issues" going around currently. It's great to have a wide variety of information in terms of subject so that student's can learn more; however, being able to read up on something more recent might intrigue them a bit more because they are familiar with it.

I use the website all the time for student independent research idea generation! For our students seeking to enter ISEF, Siemens, and other science competitions new & exciting ideas energize them and get them to push to the next level - find mentors and perform high caliber science.

Project Based learning explained