Mid-year Report Logo 1 by Jackson Doughty, 2013 STEM ARC Committee

1.Overview of discussions 2.Findings/research 3.Preliminary recommendations 4.Next steps 5.Questions for consideration

1.Promote and teach "21st century skills"21st century skills 2.It's an excellent preparation for life and any profession 3.Connects class content with "the real world" 4.Adds a new level of fun and creativity to standard course content 5.Introduce students to STEM professions as an option

1.What are we doing well with STEM? 1.Administratively 2.Inside/outside classroom 2.How can we improve on what we do? 3.What high-impact STEM activities can we implement immediately and over time?

1.Continuation of STEM ARC 2.Teacher workshops 3.Measure STEM progress

1.IPC will dovetail well with existing science curriculum. 2.Discovery center and related PBL 3.Turn science topics into “authentic problems” 4.Correlate math skills and science

1.Robotics competitions 2.Technology relevance to history/geography topics (e.g., debate format in higher grades) 3.Expert guest speakers providing integral view of science 4.6 th grade integrated science/woodshop project

1.Science curriculum 2.9 th grade computer tech class 3.Computer science 4.Robotics club 5.STEM club continuation

Visits to other schools Coordination with Strategic Planning External research (students, faculty, compatible schools) Begin making community connections – Local higher ed. (JHU, MSU, UMBC) – Industry (NASA, NSA, SP parent/alumni affiliations) Finalize recommendations

1.What resources are necessary? Teachers, materials, funding 2.Teachers don’t collaborate as much as we should. What models and research are out there for how this is done well? 3.How do we get teachers to realize STEM doesn’t mean more work? 4.Project-based learning: – What skills do we want kids to have at end of each year? – How can we integrate different classes to teach the skills?

Logo 2 by Evan Sauter, 2013