Question

Discuss the steps you would need to take in order to make your practicum classroom a STEM learning environment. Support your steps with research.

Answer 1

Here I'm discussing 5 ways to create a great STEM:-

1) Create an environment where everyone is teaching and learning

This is more than semantics. It is one of the fundamental problems with how we think about schools. Teaching and learning co-occur. If we remove the dichotomy of teaching and learning, we can recognize that students can also teach each other.

for ex:- if you face some problem then you should ask the student to help you this way you can create an environment that supports all of these relationships.

2) Encourage students to investigate questions in their own way :

Students should have more voice and choice in STEM subjects. I advocate an approach where a teacher poses a scientific question to students in middle or high school, such as, “How is the strength of an electromagnet affected by the number of turns of wire?” Students have to design an investigation to answer the question, collect and analyze data, and support an answer with evidence.

It’s OK for students to fail at first. When an experiment doesn’t go the way you thought it would, it’s a wonderful opportunity for students to learn.

3) Let students follow their unique interests :

Students should explore topics that are meaningful to them. Meaningful topics are those that students themselves are curious about: How do I contribute to climate change? What does it mean that my neighborhood is a “food desert” and why does that matter?

4) Encourage collaborative learning across disciplines:

STEM fields are no longer isolated from each other. Breakthroughs are often the result of collaboration. As but one example, the paper reporting on the first discovery of gravitational waves has more than 100 authors. STEM is a social endeavor, and we should represent that to students as they carry out investigations. Ideally, students should see themselves as part of a community of learners and scientists, engineers or mathematicians.

5) Assess, Assess Assess :

What works? What doesn’t? Assessment provides invaluable guidance.