9194 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Sharon Brusic
  2. Professor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. Millersville University
  1. Nanette Marcum-Dietrich
  2. http://www.millersville.edu/edfoundations/faculty/dietrich_n.php
  3. Teaching Environmental Sustainability - Model My Watershed
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. Millersville University
  1. Taylor Neuman
  2. Graduate Assistant
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. Millersville University
  1. Jennifer Shettel
  2. Associate Professor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. Millersville University

Integrative STEM for Teachers of Young Students (iSTEM4ToYS)

NSF Awards: 1611652

2017 (see original presentation & discussion)

Undergraduate

Researchers in the iSTEM4ToYS project are exploring how to best prepare Pre-kindergarten to grade 4 (PK-4) teachers for Integrative STEM (iSTEM) teaching and learning. The project is based on the premise that early childhood educators who are enthusiastic and confident in integrating STEM into their teaching are crucial to engaging students early and motivating them along a path to become the next generation of STEM innovators, workers, and knowledgeable citizens. The grant targets Millersville University (MU) undergraduates enrolled in the Integrative STEM Education Methods minor as part of their PK-4 teacher preparation program. The overarching goal of this project is to determine which component(s) of the iSTEM minor at MU have the greatest impact on these future teachers. Investigators are exploring which research-based features of MU’s iSTEM program are the most significant transformational elements that may increase the likelihood that undergraduates who complete the minor will effectively integrate iSTEM techniques in their future classrooms. By evaluating which features have the maximum impact, researchers will be able to improve their teacher preparation program and make recommendations on how to replicate these outcomes at other teacher preparation institutions, thereby contributing to an understanding of how to better prepare PK-4 teachers as competent and passionate iSTEM educators. This video provides an overview of the iSTEM4ToYS project which kicked off in August 2016.

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Discussion from the 2017 STEM for All Video Showcase (30 posts)
  • Icon for: Sharon Brusic

    Sharon Brusic

    Lead Presenter
    Professor
    May 14, 2017 | 05:49 p.m.

    We are still in our first year of getting this project off the ground and we are seeking input on many aspects of our program. Here are a few questions that we brainstormed during our most recent project staff meeting. We are interested in your feedback to these questions -- or any other aspect of our project.

    1. What are your recommendations for programs or professional development opportunities that our STEM minors in early childhood education (undergraduate students) should pursue?
    2. What are the suggested venues for presentations or potential publications that we should consider? (We are already engaged in ITEEA, NSTA, and NCTM...to name a few.)
    3. What specific resources do you have to recommend that might support our research efforts?

    Thanks for your feedback and support!

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 15, 2017 | 06:47 a.m.

    Thanks for viewing our video! We appreciate any feedback or suggestions you have for us regarding our project!

  • Icon for: Heidi Larson

    Heidi Larson

    Facilitator
    Project Director
    May 15, 2017 | 11:33 a.m.

    Thanks for the video, Sharon and Jennifer. You have me excited about your project! As for resources, check out the New York Hall of Science (NYSci) at http://nysci.org/ Through an Investing in Innovation grant and others they are researching how to integrate STEM learning in classrooms in engaging and student-centered ways. One of the researchers in particular, Harouna Ba, specializes in learning through play. 

    Others? 

     
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    Jennifer Shettel
  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 07:38 a.m.

    Fantastic resource, Heidi! Thanks so much! This is an absolutely perfect fit for our project.

     
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    Heidi Larson
  • Icon for: Heidi Larson

    Heidi Larson

    Facilitator
    Project Director
    May 16, 2017 | 11:20 a.m.

    I you do talk to Harouna, you can tell him that I referred him to you. I noticed that is at least one other science hall represented in these videos, and probably many around the country that might also be helpful. I'll keep an eye out. 

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 11:31 a.m.

    Thank you!

  • Icon for: Steven Rogg

    Steven Rogg

    Facilitator
    Associate Professor of Education - STEM
    May 15, 2017 | 10:08 p.m.

    Sharon and Jennifer, Great concept! I'd love to learn more about the integrative STEM minor and especially how the five research-based elements are enacted. With respect to PBL, for example, I'd worked years ago with IMSA's PBL model, and more recently with the Buck Institute's "Gold Standard". So I am very interested in how you incorporate research on PBL (etc.) into the clinical experiences and praxis of the  program. I am in awe.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Jennifer Shettel
  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 07:37 a.m.

    Thanks, Steven! We're excited too! We are firm believers in PBL learning and working with authentic problems of practice that include field-based experiences with young children.  Thanks so much for the PBL links! We will add them to our resource list.

  • Icon for: Jennifer Yurof

    Jennifer Yurof

    Facilitator
    May 16, 2017 | 09:37 a.m.

    Hi Sharon and Jennifer - like, Stephen, I would love to hear more about the integrative STEM minor. Is this minor only available for students who attend Millersville University? What is involved in students achieving a STEM minor?

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 11:38 a.m.

    Hi Jennifer! Thanks for your interest in our project. Currently, this minor in Integrative STEM is an option for students who are majoring in our ERCH (Early Childhood PreK-4) or ECSP (Early Childhood/Special Education Dual) programs.  It is specially designed to focus on how to integrate STEM across the curriculum with young children. It is an 18-credit minor (although one course overlaps with the major, as allowed by our University's policy) and the final class in the minor is a field-based, practicum experience.

  • Icon for: Sharon Brusic

    Sharon Brusic

    Lead Presenter
    Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 11:40 a.m.

    Hi Jennifer and Steven,

    Our STEM minor is only for Millersville University students who are in the early childhood education major and they take five additional courses. All of the courses are specifically designed for them. The courses include Introduction to STEM Pedagogy, Children's Engineering, Product Design, Integrative Learning using Experiential Strategies, and Integrative STEM Practicum. We are trying to help them address content and pedagogy in an integrative way rather than taking additional science and math courses specifically. We have only been doing the minor for about two years and we are still trying to refine our approach. But, there is a big focus on hands-on experiential learning using a problem-solving and design approach. For more information, please see iSTEM Minor @ MU. Thanks so much for your questions.

     

  • Icon for: Jennifer Yurof

    Jennifer Yurof

    Facilitator
    May 17, 2017 | 09:34 a.m.

    Thanks so much for the additional information. It would be amazing to see the STEM minor available to students at other colleges and universities. Perhaps this project will increase awareness of this option and others will follow in Millersville University's footsteps!

  • Icon for: Katie Rich

    Katie Rich

    Researcher
    May 16, 2017 | 09:55 a.m.

    Hello Sharon and team,

    I was excited to hear about this project. In our work, we are aiming to eventually develop instructional materials that help teachers deliver integrated math + CS instruction for K-5. We plan to make the materials educative, but acknowledge that integrated teaching will also require both in-service and pre-service professional development. This is really interesting and I really look forward to reading more about your work.

    I'm wondering if you have any data or even just thoughts on how your students have applied the integrative STEM minor in their teaching. Have schools in general been supportive in allowing teachers to try out integrative approaches? Does it help to have a school culture that allows for integrative teaching, and do you have thoughts on how such a culture can be fostered? We're lucky enough to work with a school that has taken math + CS integration on as part of the school identity, but I've often wondered about the extent of the impact of the school-wide support.

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 11:41 a.m.

    HI Katie! Thanks for your interest. Our local schools are just starting to get involved with offering integrated STEM education at the elementary level.  We agree that helping schools craft a vision that includes integrative STEM, rather than isolated subject areas, is an important first step! We are just in the first year of our grant, so data collection is in the initial stages.  We are excited to disseminate our findings eventually so that others might be able to replicate or build from our program!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Heidi Larson
  • Icon for: Sharon Brusic

    Sharon Brusic

    Lead Presenter
    Professor
    May 16, 2017 | 11:47 a.m.

    Hi Katie,

    As Jennifer and Nanette noted, we are hoping to start gathering data about this in the year ahead. In my experience, some schools are much more approachable about integrative approaches than others. We are doing a lot of our practicum work in informal environments (e.g., after-school programs) right now because it's so much easier to try new things that way and get buy-in. Our ultimate goal is to graduate students who are leaders in making change in the schools where they go to do more project-based learning and integrative approaches. That's way building their confidence and enthusiasm is such an important component of our program.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Heidi Larson
  • Icon for: Heidi Larson

    Heidi Larson

    Facilitator
    Project Director
    May 18, 2017 | 06:15 p.m.

    Jennifer, Sharon, and Nanette, I look forward to hearing about your preliminary results and the progress of your program next year at the video showcase!

  • Icon for: Nanette Marcum-Dietrich

    Nanette Marcum-Dietrich

    Co-Presenter
    Teaching Environmental Sustainability - Model My Watershed
    May 16, 2017 | 11:18 a.m.

    Hi Katie - 

    These are all great questions.  We are in year 1 of our grant and we are beginning to collect data to answer these questions.  

    One initial impression I can share is from a professional development iSTEM environmental education program we hosted called Stream to Sky. During this professional development program,  the richness of the participants' conversation and depth of their discussion was enhanced because the program was purposefully designed to have 1/2 pre-service teachers and 1/2 inservice teachers in attendance.  This mix of novice and expert was truly valuable. 

     

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Heidi Larson
  • Adrienne Groff

    Graduate Student
    May 16, 2017 | 09:49 p.m.

    This is awesome!  I look forward to hopefully hearing more about this minor.  Not only am I a 2nd grade educator in a local school, but I also am the coordinator for our afterschool program that is a science based program aimed at students in 3rd-5th grade that we want to provide additional support in reading and math in order to get them to the proficiency/advancement mark.  As a coordinator I am always looking for ways to provide exciting and engaging ideas/concepts for not only our students but our teachers as well.  I am eager to hear more about this minor and some of the ideas that you all have for integrating STEM into schools in more than just a science way.

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 17, 2017 | 01:44 p.m.

    Thanks Adrienne! We are excited for it, too.  The students are learning about a whole new way of thinking, learning, and teaching!

     

  • Icon for: Heidi Larson

    Heidi Larson

    Facilitator
    Project Director
    May 17, 2017 | 03:43 p.m.

    I've been thinking more about your questions on where to present and publish. I did a search and came up with this list of National and Texas STEM educator conferences: http://www.vivifystem.com/blog/2016/1/16/stem-e... Here is MSPNet's listing of 2017-2018 STEM Conferences: http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/stem_conf And I've heard of presenting at STEM Lab conferences, such as in Boston or MIT. Also AERA 

    Having your students present as they do in the video seems a great way of spreading the word. 

    Do others have ideas for where to present or publish? 

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 18, 2017 | 08:02 a.m.

    Thank you for these resources, Heidi!

  • Icon for: Steven Rogg

    Steven Rogg

    Facilitator
    Associate Professor of Education - STEM
    May 18, 2017 | 06:28 a.m.

    Another interest of mine in learning more about the STEM minor, is the pipeline issue. To what extent are entering secondary prepared to teach in integrative ways?

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 18, 2017 | 08:02 a.m.

    Steven - A great question! For most of our pre-service teachers, this is a really new way of thinking about teaching because they didn't experience it themselves.  They are also unsure if they are "allowed" to teach the kinds of things they are learning in their minor in the schools, but we are hoping to change that! One of our goals in this project is to influence the STEM pipeline by developing young teachers that have an integrated STEM mindset.

  • Icon for: Heidi Larson

    Heidi Larson

    Facilitator
    Project Director
    May 18, 2017 | 06:18 p.m.

    Can you tell us what prompted you to start this program? Is there research or experiences you could share that helped you decide that you wanted to focus on this? 

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 19, 2017 | 06:12 a.m.

    Heidi - We were concentred with the research that shows that children - especially girls - have developed (or not developed) a STEM identity by the end of fourth grade.  Fourth grade! Combine that with a population of young teachers who are hesitant in their own STEM abilities. We wanted to influence the STEM pipeline by helping our early childhood majors understand that their ability to teach and integrate STEM is the best possible way we have to make sure that fourth graders DO see themselves in a STEM career!

  • Icon for: Heidi Larson

    Heidi Larson

    Facilitator
    Project Director
    May 18, 2017 | 06:26 p.m.

    Could I make one note about the video? Although I thought the content was great, is it possible for you to lessen the volume of the music, a lot? For me it was a bit distracting, and people with ears like mine would appreciate a quieter background so we can better grasp and understand the main focus, the content. 

    Not taking away from my being impressed with the program and the rest of the video, however! :- ) 

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 19, 2017 | 06:12 a.m.

    We appreciate the video design feedback!! It was our first video attempt, so we would greatly appreciate any advice to make next year's video even better. :0)

  • Icon for: John Ward

    John Ward

    May 22, 2017 | 01:39 a.m.

    Hi Millersville STEM Team:

    This is a very compelling project!  How many undergraduate students do you expect to go through it each year, both during the piloting and then once the project is completed?  Also, out of curiousity, is there a particular reason why this project is pegged as PK-4 rather than PK-5?

  • Icon for: Jennifer Shettel

    Jennifer Shettel

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 22, 2017 | 01:48 p.m.

    Hi John! Thanks for watching out video and reaching out! Like any minor, this one is completely optional for students, but it IS a very popular choice! We limit each cohort to 25 students and we are now admitting students to our 5th and 6th cohorts! 

    To answer your second question, PA changed their certification levels for teacher educators.  Currently, we certify in Early Childhood Ed (grades PreK-4) and Middle Level Ed (grades 4-8) in addition to secondary ed students.  Students also can elect a dual major in Early Childhood and Special Education which is grades PreK-8.  It's a little confusing, to be sure!

  • Icon for: John Ward

    John Ward

    May 22, 2017 | 02:47 p.m.

    Ah, very interesting.  Thanks Jennifer, and best wishes for this exciting project.

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.