Advancing the education of STEM educators
Improving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teaching in K-12 schools requires high-quality preparation, support and professional development for teachers. Several of Minnesota's Private Colleges are working to do just that.
At the College of St. Catherine, a new STEM certificate and minor is helping future teachers gain expertise in the four STEM disciplines. Since many of the fastest-growing occupations of the future will be tied to STEM, giving K-12 students a foundation of knowledge and building their skills in problem-solving and logical thinking is critical.
As a recent article in Minnesota Monthly noted, “If young students are inspired and excited about math and science, they’re more likely to continue along the STEM track as they get older. Competent, qualified, passionate teachers are key to igniting this spark of interest.”
Instilling teachers with the knowledge, relevance and excitement of STEM is exactly what the St. Kate’s minor aims to do. In Engineering in Your World, one of the minor’s five required courses, education students discover the relevance of the topic on the first day. “We do an exercise called “Naked City,” where they examine several cityscapes and countryscapes,” said Yvonne Ng, who co-teaches the class and directs St. Kate’s Center for Women, Science and Technology. “They realize that we live in a world that’s engineered…and if so much is engineered and they know nothing about it, they see why it’s important,” she said.
“Many women feel uncomfortable teaching science and mathematics, and a large number of K-6 teachers are women,” said Tony Murphy, the associate dean of education at St. Kate’s who proposed the STEM focus. “The STEM certificate and minor are purposefully designed to give our graduating teachers confidence and a comfort level in these areas so they can help their students learn and enjoy science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” he said.
Courses in the certificate and minor are co-taught by education and STEM discipline faculty, ensuring that students learn about the subject matter and why it matters, as well as how to teach it. Most importantly, the courses provide context for these future teachers.
St. Kate’s student working on a scaled furniture assignment in engineering class
In Ng’s engineering class, students do a project where they actually have to build a structure out of spaghetti or paper. “It requires science, math, reasoning and an awareness of the world around them,” Ng said. “They are graded based on a measurable outcome. To get an 'A', their structure must support 30 times its weight.” She observes that these shoestring projects also show students that they can teach a concept without spending much money.
Ng wants these future educators to see their place in teaching STEM. “We’re investing in teachers by building their interest and skills — which they, in turn, pass onto their students.”
A focus on science teachers and teaching
This summer more than 400 K-12 teachers of science from throughout Minnesota are participating in 19 no-cost workshops offered by Hamline University’s Minnesota Science Teachers Education Project (MnSTEP). Funded by a $2.3 million grant, the workshops build teachers’ proficiency in science and help them teach to state standards. Topics include earth science, biology/environmental science, chemistry, physics, and inquiry and assessment for both elementary and secondary teachers.
Earth science teachers investigate an outcrop of iron formation on the Gunflint Trail while participating in a geology course that's part of the MnSTEP program
“State science standards require that students know how to construct testable questions, form valid hypotheses, design investigations and formulate conclusions based on data. Our programs model how you can teach this process in the classrooms,” said Lee Schmitt, MnSTEP project director.
Schmitt recently returned from the earth science MnSTEP workshop in the Duluth area. “We parked at a rock outcrop and had teachers spend time observing, and then we had an evidence-based discussion,” he said. “Teachers had to form a hypothesis about what that rock told about the region, then test, measure and eventually make a presentation about their conclusions. Doing real scientific inquiry was a powerful experience for these teachers.”
Teachers not only learn new content, but they do it in the context of inquiry, according to Schmitt. “It increases their confidence in the science content they teach and their comfort in using an inquiry-based approach, which will help move students to greater understanding,” he said.
The evaluations at the end were overwhelmingly positive, Schmitt said. “The teachers enjoyed the experience, the frustrations, the joy of discovery — and they appreciated being treated as professionals. It really fires them up for teaching science.”
Improving math instruction
Participants from the 2007 workshop worked in small groups to determine the volume of different fruits
At Augsburg College, 34 K-8 charter and magnet school teachers recently completed a nine-day workshop in conceptual mathematics. Now in its fifth year, the yearlong Conceptual Mathematics Institute aims to increase teacher understanding of math concepts and how best to teach them.
During the academic year following the summer workshop, teachers work on a Lesson Study project. Through two more group meetings at Augsburg and individual mentoring at their schools, they plan and reflect on lessons. “Our discussions about the mathematics content of lessons as well as students’ thinking, understanding and misconceptions — are invaluable,” said Linda Stevens, project director for the institute.
According to Stevens, different content is emphasized each year. This year the focus was on integrating algebraic reasoning into geometry and measurement. Teachers used manipulatives such as a geoboard to investigate different areas of shapes and were able to recognize how children's understanding of area develops from a concrete level to an abstract level of thinking. “This will help the teachers prepare more effective lessons," Stevens said.
If increasing STEM graduates is a goal of society, you need to begin with the younger students, according to St. Kate’s Tony Murphy. And teachers who participate in programs like those at St. Kate’s, Hamline and Augsburg will be well equipped to help their students learn.
See Stem Background (PDF) for more information about our colleges' commitment to STEM education. Find out about the Science Research Institute at Concordia University, St. Paul.