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49 Amazing Teaching Moments in STEM ultimate STEM49 amazing teaching moments in STEM #MSUrbanSTEM, 2015-2016 ultimate STEM 49 amazing teaching moments in STEM #MSUrbanSTEM, 2015-2016 Michigan State University I | ultimate STEM This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ September 2015 ultimate STEM | II The only shame is to pretend that we have all the answers. – Neil deGrasse Tyson THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO TEACHERS EVERYWHERE. III | ultimate STEM ultimate STEM | IV Contents Preface VII C5 45 Parkour Monkeys 105 William R. Brown Bethany Blackwood Acknowledgments IX Kendra L. Mallory Laura Frcka Kyle Radcli Oscar Newman Project Team XIII Aurora Tyagi Libby Robertson Jeanettra Watkins Halyna Sendoun 4x+y=Awesome! 1 Fitzgerald Crane Cosmic Clouds 61 Pentagonal 118 Lidia Ortiz Joanna Calandreillo Melinet Ellison Tasia Pena Albert Lang Sandra Jackson Eu Hyun(Choi) Tang Stephen Tow Preston Lewis Valia Thompson Delora Washington Lucas Smith Lucy Young Andrew Stricker BLISK15 14 Shujuana Lovett Heike Crabs 74 STEMradarie 135 Jennifer Schultz Karoline Sharp Gretchen Brinza Tracy Iammartino Tim Nuttle Je Erickson Laura Boyle Melanie Yau Sushma Lohitsa Edward Kania Katleya Healy Darnella Wesley Juven Macias BLT w/ Cheese and Mayo 29 Seven Overaching Themes 148 Molly Lahart Jammin’ Teachers 89 Chris Layton Kevin Connolly Thomas Sherlock James Edstrom Leigha Ingham Marianna Jennings Bessie Rahman Daphne Moore Tracey Walker-Hines V | ultimate STEM ultimate STEM | VI Preface Every educator has had an amazing teaching moment. It is that magical moment, The universe is when the topic comes to life and the energy in the classroom is palpable. These made of stories, are moments that we cannot help but share — we run out and corner the first person we meet and insist on telling them about it. These are the stories that not of atoms — give meaning to our professional lives. Muriel Rukeyser This book is a collection of such amazing teaching moments. This book contains forty-nine such amazing teaching moments in the STEM disciplines. These 49 educators, from the Chicago Public Schools, came together as a part of the Michigan State University run Urban STEM program. These talented educators were selected after a rigorous review process to be part of this year-long fellowship. Each of them came with deep experience and passion for teaching the STEM subjects and more importantly for the success of their students. It is this depth of experience and passion that these stories seek to capture and convey. These educators share a passion for STEM education and see it as a fun and exciting way to look at the world. Their excitement is evident in the teaching successes presented in this book. These educators believe science is a cool map to understanding life and the world in which we live. Math is a fun language that has links to everyday objects as well as the secrets of the universe. VII | ultimate STEM Engineering is a vast playground of inventions waiting to be developed and/or repurposed while technology allows us to extend the ways our bodies and minds function. So these stories help us understand what makes these teachers tick. These stories help us learn from the best. This book, however, is more than these individual stories. The educators in the UrbanSTEM cohort went a step further. They shared their stories with each other (in small groups) and then put their collective minds together to identify themes that cut across these stories, to find nuggets of wisdom that are shared across these diverse amazing teaching moments. Then, the research and support team went on to find common themes that cut across these teaching moments, and found seven overarching key ingredients that make them amazing. Thus this book contains not just the stories but also these themes. In all, this book has 49 key ingredients, powerful themes, and seven overarching themes that would be of interest to other educators as they seek to create the ultimate STEM curriculum. Enjoy. ultimate STEM | VIII Acknowledgements This book (and the program that helped create it) is the result of the hard work and effort of a large team of people. First and foremost, none of this would have been possible without the generous support of Wipro Ltd., and their commitment to education in the STEM disciplines, particularly in urban districts such as Chicago. We would specifically like to thank Anurag Behar of Wipro and the Azim Premji Foundation; and Kapil Shrama of Wipro for their efforts in making this project a reality. We are also grateful to Microsoft for their donation of Surface Pro tablets for the first and the second cohorts of teachers in our program. A special thanks to Dr. Jim Ptaszynski, and Jacqueline Russell for helping make this happen. We would also like to thank Chicago Public Schools for their partnership. In particular, we would like to mention Aarti Dhupelia, Former Chief Officer of College and Career Success; Alan Mather, Current Chief Officer of College and Career Success; Dakota Pawlicki, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Projects; Litrea Hunter, Chicago based recruitment and sustainability coordinator; and Lana Brown, outreach specialist, for their kind support. This has been a genuine partnership between MSU and CPS and these individuals are among many who have made this possible. IX | ultimate STEM There are numerous people at Michigan State University Finally, a heartfelt thanks to the 49 teachers who are the and the College of Education (too numerous to mention) second cohort of the 2015-2016 MSU-Wipro Urban who have helped in ways large and small in making this STEM Teaching and Leadership fellows. This project project a reality. We would like to specially thank Dean Don runs on their shoulders. The 49 reflections in this book Heller for his support, Marcy Wallace for helping navigate are testimony to their creativity, passion, and concern the intricacies of budgets and other red-tape, and Jessica for excellence in STEM learning. They often work in Pham and Heather Johnson for administrative support. challenging contexts with multiple pressures on their time and energy. It has been our privilege to work with them The planning, technology, and evaluation team at MSU and learn from them and we thank them for giving us this consisted of (in alphabetical order) Inese Bertzina-Pitcher, opportunity. Swati Mehta, and Christopher Seals. This book was the brain-child of Punya Mishra and the instructional team, Sincerely, which includes Missy Cosby, Akesha Horton, Candace Marcotte, Rohit Mehta, and Kyle Shack. Swati Mehta The MSU-Wipro Urban STEM Fellowship 2015 took the lead in providing feedback and shepherding the Teaching Team writing process, cleaning up and organizing documents in (Punya Mishra, Missy Cosby, Akesha Horton, Candace Marcotte, consistent format. Thanks also to Jonah Magar, Expresso Rohit Mehta, & Kyle Shack) Book Machine coordinator at MSU Libraries, for helping with the printing process. The book was designed by Smita September 2015, East Lansing, MI. Sawai. We would also like to thank the leadership team at MSU: Dr. Punya Mishra, Dr. Sonya Gunnings-Moton, and Dr. Leigh Graves Wolf. Their commitment to excellence in teaching in general, and to urban education in specific, can be felt in every aspect of the program. ultimate STEM | X Additional resources related to this book and the project can be found at msurbanstem.org XI | ultimate STEM ultimate STEM | XII Project Team Project Directors Dr. Sonya Gunnings-Moton, Dr. Punya Mishra, Dr. Leigh Graves Wolf Instructional Team Dr. Punya Mishra, Missy Cosby, Dr. Akesha Horton, Candace Marcotte, Rohit Mehta, Kyle Shack Chicago Public Schools Liaison Dakota Pawlicki, Litrea Hunter, Lana Brown Assessment & Evaluation Chris Seals, Inese Berzina-Pitcher, Rohit Mehta Technical Support Rohit Mehta, Swati Mehta Project Management & Administrative Support Jessica Pham, Inese Berzina-Pitcher, Heather Johnson In-house Journalist Chessi Oetjens Preliminary Curriculum Development Team Dr. Michelle Schira Hagerman, Andrea Zellner, Day Greenberg XIII | ultimate STEM ultimate STEM | XIV amazing Teaching Moments XV | ultimate STEM ultimate STEM | XVI TEAM 4X+Y=Awesome! • Fitzgerald Crane Lidia Ortiz Tasia Pena Eu Hyun (Choi) Tang Valia Thompson • 1 | ultimate STEM Fitzgerald Crane AMAZING TEACHING MOMENT An Enlightened Catastrophe Oliver, like many of his peers in my fourth grade classroom, was a highly inquisitive boy with a natural proclivity for understanding. Oliver questioned everything and often stayed up late, pondering the fate of the world. That is what lead to his problem. He found the current commercial iterations of the A lucky man, surrounded alarm clock to be insufficient for his needs. The mere buzzing of a mechanical by wonder, and blessed device placed proximally on his nightstand, was found to be easily stifled with a knack for enjoying by the sonic-sucking powers of a fluffy pillow. The resultant tardiness and it. The proud father of two accompanying feelings of anxiety manifested in genuine symptoms of stress. amazing daughters, poised He decided to do something about it. to take over the world. A fourth grade teacher at Edison Regional Gifted Oliver was primed to accept his personal learning challenge. Powerful Center and primary witness moments of understanding are often fueled by the provocation of fixing one’s to the wonder of the world world. Oliver embraced the challenge of engaging in the engineering design on a daily basis. process maximally through his quest to build the perfect alarm clock. As his teacher, I served as a guide, coach and fellow thought partner. Together, we developed a digital design notebook to collect his ideas, research and reflections. ultimate STEM | 2 After brainstorming multiple iterations, Oliver developed a single prototype from one promising idea: “The Alarm Alight”.
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