2102 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Neal Grandgenett
  2. https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-education/teacher-education/about-us/directory/neal-grandgenett.php
  3. 32 years
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. Metropolitan Omaha Education Consortium, Omaha STEM Ecosystem
  1. Neal Grandgenett
  2. Assistant Professor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha STEM Ecosystem, Metropolitan Omaha Education Consortium
  1. Anne Karabon
  2. Assistant Professor of Early Childhood and STEM Education
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Nebraska Omaha
  1. Amelia Lanier Knarr
  2. Instructor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Nebraska Omaha
  1. Kota Takahashi
  2. Assistant Professor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Nebraska Omaha

Biomechanics to Offer Diverse Young Minds Opportunities to Develop, Explore, ...

NSF Awards: 1759000

2021 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades K-6

The use of the human body can be an amazing learning manipulative in the teaching of P6 STEM concepts. This project, called Biomechanics to Offer Diverse Young Minds Opportunities to Develop, Explore, and Learn STEM (BODYMODELS) is an ITEST Strategies project designed to investigate the potential of a learning model that leverages the technology-rich and interdisciplinary STEM context of Biomechanics to enhance the understanding of mathematics and science concepts and the interest of students in STEM occupations among elementary students in grades 3-6.  The project purses the following four objectives:

1) Train cohorts of 3rd–6th grade in-service teachers to become knowledgeable and effective STEM instructors who can confidently integrate technology-enhanced Biomechanics lessons into their school’s STEM disciplines.

2) Empower the teachers by helping them develop and pilot Biomechanics lesson modules, hands-on activities, instructional methods, and personal implementation plans, including for culturally relevant pedagogy in the context of inquiry-based lessons.

3) Partner with organizations in the Omaha Citywide STEM Ecosystem to engage diverse professionals in Biomechanics-related fields to assist teachers in developing and refining their personal implementation plans.

 

4) Investigate the impacts of the Biomechanics intervention on teachers’ and students’ confidence in teaching and learning STEM concepts and their attitudes toward the STEM disciplines, as well as on student STEM content knowledge.

This video overviews the shared approaches of the project, and its many collaborative partners.

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Discussion from the 2021 STEM For All Video Showcase (14 posts)
  • Icon for: Neal Grandgenett

    Neal Grandgenett

    Lead Presenter
    32 years
    May 11, 2021 | 10:13 a.m.

    Hi everyone,

    Welcome to our BODYMODELS video!  We are excited that you stopped by to take a look at the video and we are so pleased you are here.  We are a bit curious on whether you see the use or integration of the field of biomechanics to learn STEM topics in elementary, middle, or high school instruction in your area schools?   Cheers, Neal Grandgenett, PI

  • Icon for: DeLene Hoffner

    DeLene Hoffner

    Facilitator
    Lead Teacher
    May 11, 2021 | 04:00 p.m.

    I really enjoyed your video and project.  What were your most profound lessons  learned through your work? 

  • Icon for: Amelia Lanier Knarr

    Amelia Lanier Knarr

    Co-Presenter
    Instructor
    May 13, 2021 | 11:09 a.m.

    One of the biggest lessons I learned was how standards focused/centric the teachers were throughout the development of the Storylines.  My background is in biomechanics and engineering so working with teachers was new to me, so hearing the teachers discuss which standards would best apply to their classrooms was incredibly informative for me.  It was also interesting because some of the standards I assumed would be simple to address with biomechanics were not the standards teachers were considering.  So one lesson I would take forward would be to understand the important/valued standards for each teacher from the very beginning. 

  • Icon for: Myriam Steinback

    Myriam Steinback

    Facilitator
    Independent Consultant
    May 11, 2021 | 04:08 p.m.

    Your project sounds very interesting. I saw a lot of excitement on the part of teachers and students. It would be helpful to learn about exactly what the students are doing - I wonder if you can give some examples. Thanks.

  • Icon for: Michelle Friend

    Michelle Friend

    Co-Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 12, 2021 | 05:27 p.m.

    There was a huge variety! Each teacher worked to create lessons that fit with their own grade level and standards. We had one teacher who had students design their own animal using clay, experimenting with having a metal skeleton or not; one teacher jumped on an ice storm to have students engage in inquiry about balance and walking on ice; a few used kamigami robots to have students learn about how animals move and about habitats. 

  • Icon for: Myriam Steinback

    Myriam Steinback

    Facilitator
    Independent Consultant
    May 13, 2021 | 12:05 p.m.

    Thanks for clarifying, Michelle - teachers are amazing in their creativity! Did you offer suggestions, or was it all up to them? Wonderful lessons, no doubt.

  • Icon for: Josie Melton

    Josie Melton

    Facilitator
    Post-Doctoral Researcher and Senior Instructor
    May 11, 2021 | 06:09 p.m.

    Thanks for sharing - Besides leveraging professionals in Biomechanics fields to support teachers in lesson planning, how do students make connections between the activites and related STEM occupations to address the project goal of increasing interest in STEM fields? How does this project measure the impacts on students' interest in STEM occupations?  This is an exciting aspect of the project!

  • Icon for: Michelle Friend

    Michelle Friend

    Co-Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 12, 2021 | 05:21 p.m.

     

    Not surprisingly, the teachers usually have to make fairly explicit connections between careers and activities unless it's relatively obvious. But one of the amazing outcomes was the extent to which teachers really identified the ways in which biomechanics is evident in many, many careers, such as how ice skaters use their bodies to control things like how fast they spin, and how coaches can use that knowledge to help athletes. 

    Because the local school districts are naturally protective of students, we were only able to directly measure student outcomes during our one-week summer 'camp' during the professional development. We did find some gains, but of course it is a long time between elementary school and careers, so we also recognize the impact of just inspiring students to know there are careers in fields they hadn't even realized existed. 

  • Icon for: Josie Melton

    Josie Melton

    Facilitator
    Post-Doctoral Researcher and Senior Instructor
    May 13, 2021 | 03:15 p.m.

    I agree that helping students make connections between what they are learning and potential careers can make strong impressions, even on the youngest students. Thanks for your response.

  • Icon for: DeLene Hoffner

    DeLene Hoffner

    Facilitator
    Lead Teacher
    May 13, 2021 | 09:38 a.m.

    Bravo to all for this wonderful discussion! Thank you for viewing and adding your questions and expertise. Please share the STEM Showcase with others so they can participate in the discussion too. Let's get more educators involved in viewing these top projects. Voting and discussion ends on May 18th at 8PM EDT. (but viewing is open anytime) https://stemforall2021.videohall.com/

     

    For presenters, what are your next steps going forward?

  • Icon for: Amelia Lanier Knarr

    Amelia Lanier Knarr

    Co-Presenter
    Instructor
    May 13, 2021 | 11:11 a.m.

    Directly related to this project, our next steps are really focused on writing up the results from our different perspectives.  We have a few publications under review but there is always more to write about! Beyond this project myself of some of the other Co-PIs have put forth some grant proposals within NSF to hopefully move this work forward and continue to incorporate biomechanics at every level of education.  Fingers crossed we get some positive feedback!!

  • Icon for: DeLene Hoffner

    DeLene Hoffner

    Facilitator
    Lead Teacher
    May 16, 2021 | 12:29 a.m.

    Thank you for your excellent response.  I really enjoyed hearing about your project.  

     

  • Icon for: Monica Cardella

    Monica Cardella

    Funder
    May 18, 2021 | 05:23 p.m.

    Thank you for your work on this project and thank you for sharing the work of this project in your video! 

  • Icon for: Neal Grandgenett

    Neal Grandgenett

    Lead Presenter
    32 years
    May 18, 2021 | 05:27 p.m.

    Thanks Dr. Cardella.   We certainly appreciated your recent help and engagement! 

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.