There has been debate over whether emphasizing STEM learning in schools is truly needed or not. Recently, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce came out with a study which indicates that, “STEM, Healthcare Professions, Healthcare Support, and Community Services will be the fastest growing occupations, but also will require high levels of post-secondary education.” The Economic Policy Institute however, argues that their study and data, “…strongly suggest that there is a robust  supply of domestic workers available for the IT industry,”  and "for STEM graduates, the supply exceeds the number hired each year by nearly two to one, depending on the field of study." So, who is right?

As an educator, I see a need for more meaningful learning in the classroom in general and this includes the concepts that STEM content gives to learners. We have fallen away from teaching children what it means to critically think and problem solve in a way that is in need for this time in society. We are leading to (or are in) a technological renaissance. This indeed affects how successful a person can be in our current and upcoming workforce.

What seems to be missing from the argument is that this kind of thinking also lends itself to creative thinking. No, arts and humanities should not be dismissed as subjects. Balance creates a whole package. Making strong connections across all areas however, can be done. Guiding and not instructing students is the goal. This is to encourage thinking outside the box in order to generate new ideas to age-old problems. While there may be a surplus of “IT workers” to jobs, this is only one part of a much larger field. Engineering and technology applies to many fields and science goes hand in hand with both.

The way students have been taught in general has been flat and disconnected over the years. STEM learning and the Next Generation Standards attempt to help students synthesize and make more meaningful connections across subject matter in general. Much like the concept behind an ecosystem, we want students to see the big picture from different perspectives. This way of thinking is something that can benefit the workforce overall and can grow a new generation of people to be the creative innovators that are needed, people who can help continue to solve systemic challenges in the world.

With regard to the point that there is not enough jobs to fill the amount of people gaining degrees in these areas, I am reminded of the adage, “If you build it, they will come."

Studies mentioned:
Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce

Economic Policy Institute

This year, I decided to make my technology goals to focus around using our school's new iPads this year. I tend stick with the philosophy to practice and incorporate what a school site does have with regard to software or tools first, before going down other technology paths.

After starting my year off with The Poetry Project, a conversation came up on how to be able to have data which showed how many people may have clicked on student QR codes that had been placed about in the community. This discussion, as well as being a grad student in the throes of research and data within my own program, spurred the idea of The Survey Project.

There are several ways to address analytics. It depends on the level of analytics you are looking for in your results.  Analytics can be anything from the number of hits on your You Tube post to more in depth information such as location, purchasing patterns, and potential trends, to name a few. Google Analytics is a great resource to incorporate with middle and high school students. Results from a survey can be used in various ways by how one chooses to sort and disseminate the data provided.This is a valuable skill for kids to participate in at any age. My audience is eight-year old 3rd graders, so general understanding of reading results was needed.

As with many teachers across the U.S., I have been working to incorporate Common Core standards into my teaching this year before official testing starts up again in the 2014-2015 school year. I tend to come up with an idea or design first and then seek standards that relate to the project. However, working with standards first is a sound way to go when creating material or curriculum. Start with your goals or standards first and then work backwards. For me, it can be easier for the standards to reveal themselves based on my outlined concept.

I decided to make this project tighter on the outset when writing it up and then follow the steps as it was written while in the classroom.  I began the project this past week with my students. I was pleased with how the introduction and activities following have gone, so far. I will post the project after it is completed with my students. We will also be incorporating an interactive wall to assist with reinforcing knowledge. More to come!

(To read Survey Project Part 2, go here).

Like many schools, my elementary school started purchasing iPads this past year for use with students. My principal is very supportive of technology and encouraged the staff to experiment and play with them in order to feel comfortable with using tablets down the road with our students. One day, he came to me with an idea of coming up with a lesson for my 3rd graders using a free app we had discovered that could also incorporate QR codes. I am definitely a person that if you propose a concept or idea to me, I will run with it!

I took these two components and created what I call the The Poetry Project.  This project incorporates writing, technology, problem solving, new common core standards and community outreach. The idea of community outreach is especially appealing to me, and I feel is an important aspect that should be a consistent theme that is integrated with projects and curriculum, in general.

First, what is a QR code? A QR code is essentially a type of bar code, like you would find on food products or on items you purchase at a store. Bar codes have been around for decades, but stores have mainly been the ones who have had the devices to scan them.

QR codes have been around since the 1990′s, but didn't become popular until the last five years, primarily due to mobile technology, which is accessible to the average consumer. This, coupled with free online scanning software that a person can download onto a mobile device, has made QR codes quite popular. QR codes work in the same fashion as bar codes, but tend to be used for directing someone to a site, an advertisement, information, etc.

I decided that I would incorporate the free app Haiku Deck with a poetry lesson on, you guessed it, haikus. The students were then introduced to the app. I am a proponent that less instruction is actually more, so I encouraged the students to play with the app and discover for themselves the various functions. (NOTE: always give explicit instruction on general rules,handling, care of technology tools before anything else. I tell my students, this is a tool, not a toy that you do do not own!). Then we came together and shared out what we had learned about using the app and the iPad as a whole class. Students then took their haikus they wrote from notebook into Haiku Deck. I loved seeing children engaged and the sense of accomplishment they felt when finishing their poem on the iPad. A pro of Haiku Deck is that it saves online within their site vs a download.

The second part was generating QR codes for each digital poem. I knew this would be a more challenging feat with 8-year olds.  I already pictured the minute steps that would be needed to be taught, such as what a “link” is, how to highlight, copy and paste a link, etc. and probably groaned softly under my breath.

We had used iPads for the first part, but I decided that it would be easier to have the kids use laptops for this activity. A quick survey showed most kids had never used a laptop before, so I made time to give a quick and dirty overview on laptops, as well as how they should be handled, etc. Here’s the general breakdown. These steps were modeled by me  to the class. I had my kids work in pairs, as I find for their age group, partners are way better, so they can help one another.

• Basics on how computers work (I will post a separate blog on this topic sometime)
• What a link is
• Different ways to highlight information- (I used Word to practice this first)
• What a QR Code is (I created a very basic digital presentation that I showed students, so they actually understood the concept!)
• Where you can create a QR code (online or with a smartphone- some kids knew this, as their parents had a scanner on their smartphone)
• Copying their link and then going to the QR generator page to paste it
• Printing out the QR code
• Verifying their QR code worked by using a downloaded scanner on the iPads

We were in the home stretch. All the hard work had been done. The last component was pasting our QR codes to colorful construction paper. We then discussed how we should “get people’s attention,” to encourage them to scan our codes. I likened it to instead of stopping to smell the roses, stop to read a poem. We decided on a tag line, “A Haiku for You! Scan me!” They also wrote their name and our school’s name on the bottom. The students were then instructed to hit the streets and choose a store, restaurant, library, etc. in the community and ask if they could place their haiku in their storefront. We discussed how you approach a store merchant and what to say, as well as using polite terms, even if the merchant declined their request.

Challenges/What I Learned

Did this project happen in a week span? No! I had no idea how long this process would take. If you constantly worry about timelines, you are apt to turn down opportunities for growth or a potentially awesome project. I simply integrated time for mini-lessons and work within other aspects of our day.

If I had to give a general time (excluding our time learning poetry and writing them first), I would say 6-8 sessions between 1/2 hour and 1 hour slots. Really, it depends on how you choose to approach and break down the above steps. Another a minor organizational challenge is knowing which QR code belonged to who, as they all just come out as big squares, with no availability to type in info that humans can read. I would have preferred this then having to take time to scan 22 QR codes with kids.

The main takeaway that one should always keep in mind is don’t give up! Technology can be overwhelming when you have 30 bodies in the class, technical issues, etc. Remember, it is ok not to be an expert and to learn with your students. It’s ok if that one lesson fizzled and not much got done. If you don’t practice, you will never improve on your own skills. We tell our students this all the time. This applies to adults as well!

What Did The Students Learn?

• What a haiku is and its structure
• Practice of basic grammar skills and spelling
• How to use an iPad
• How to use Haiku Deck
• How to highlight, copy and paste information
• What a QR code is and how people use it
• How to generate a QR code
• Why community outreach is important
• Making school/learning connections to the real world
• That kids can teach adults (there were a number of adults who did not know what those square, squiggly boxes they see around were!)

By empowering our students at any age with the idea that they can make a difference and have a voice is  one of the best lessons I can give to my students.