Technology is ever expanding and evolving into bigger and better ideas! We can't just sit back while the world moves forward, we need to get involved. STEM schools plan on providing our future with just that. After much research on STEM schools, I have found out a lot more than I had thought. I had a lot of concerns on STEM schools and what they are all about, and based on some comments I got last post, there were other concerns as well.
STEM schools are a form of a public school, the difference is in the curriculum. They allow for open enrollment from kindergarten. I've found that they take students from K and keep them until high school. The motto for STEM schools is to have the "curriculum join technology". I can see many benefits to STEM schools, but I still have many concerns with the idea of a school strictly focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math. I've gone through the general STEM standards and found that they follow NSA (national science standard), ITEA (national technology standard), ABET (national engineering standard), and the NCTM (national mathematics standard). The link will take you more in depth with how exactly each standard is used.
During my research, a quote from the Cannon Rive STEM school in Fairbault, MN, really caught my attention. It said that they want their students to leave school by being able to "see all knowledge as connected, rather than artificially separated into disciplines". I'd like to know what you all think about this statement (and be honest because I'm torn). On one side, I'd have to agree with the whole idea they are trying to portray. But, then the other half of me is more confused than anything else. I can see what they mean by taking science, tech, engineering, and math and making it into one cohesive idea, but then what happens when they try to incorporate literacy, social studies, and the arts? This is where I decided to go next...
Not every public school, Montessori school, or private school all have the exact way of teaching everything, it goes the same for STEM schools. I checked around a couple different schools, a few in MN and one or two I found in Iowa. Something I found in common with all of them was that they incorporate literacy activities in the context of other subjects. This was their idea of making sure literacy wasn't missed. I can tell they are making an effort to make sure that reading and writing aren't missed by having it included in each of the STEM areas, but is that really enough!? I don't know.
The last point I'll leave you with is that STEM schools take science content very seriously and this can be a huge advantage for our future, but could also be detrimental to some students who don't learn that way. STEM's focus is on providing "higher-level critical thinking skills needed to solve problems in the real world" to their students.
First I have to say that your blog really got me thinking. The deeper I get into my schooling the more I'm realizing my ideas and thoughts are changing.
ReplyDeleteMy son attends Classical Charter School in Appleton and I have to admit I'm starting to question the school's philosophies. At Classical reading, writing and math are the biggies. Literature, history and science are also very important but it all seems to revolve around writing, at least in the 4th grade. The teacher seems to be more concerned about writing a paper in a science class then actually learning science.
Ok so where am I going with this: use this example to show how you could make a STEM school work. Here is a way that a STEM school might work. In a writing class you have the students write a paper on a volcano. You look for facts but most importantly writing skills. Then for science class you have them perform a hands on project like making a model volcano where they learn about the type of volcano, etc. This could also be engineering. You can tie in history about the volcano and area, geography and even social studies looking at the cultures surrounding the volcano, and so on. You get the point. It could work with a lot of planning, not just by the teacher, but the school as a whole.
So getting back to Classical or any specialized school for that matter; the risk in these schools is the possibility of missing out on opportunities to engage students in other areas of study because they are too specialized.
So did I totally confuse you? I'm sorry if I did, but it makes sense to me. :)
No, I totally get what you are saying and LOVED hearing about it! That is really too bad about your son's science classes! I can see in importance of literacy and writing, but not when it comes to math or science. I completely understand the incorporation of literacy in science now much better for the STEM schools, thank you!
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