Test your STEM Knowledge & Upcoming Webinar Listings

kristielAll Topics, STEM Education

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stem-knowledge-testAnother school year is underway leaving educators and administrators with the challenge of providing their students with the best education possible given the limited resources available to them. With the continuing pressure of new academic standards and the demand for STEM in the classroom, this task is more trying than ever. Studica is hosting two live webinar presentations this month to help you find solutions to STEM challenges and detail how solutions like the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program can help you implement new curriculum. Sign up today and consider some of the following questions to see how well your school measures up in the STEM Test.

Studica’s Upcoming Live STEM Webinars (follow links to sign-up today):

STEM Knowledge Test

Q- Are you teaching true integrated STEM education that blends the core areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or are you teaching one small part of what makes up STEM?

  • True STEM education is integrated. It blurs the lines between math, reading, writing, science and so on. It shows students how these subjects work together, support one another, and are all important to understand and master.

Q- Are you teaching STEM to satisfy a range of specific academic standards, like Common Core Standards, or just a few general standards that could easily be addressed in other ways?

  • Any program—including a STEM focused program—that is a part of your classroom activities should be one that helps you meet many different academic standards. Not simply a few “general” standards that could be met by numerous activities.

Q-Are you teaching STEM through a loose group of unrelated activities plugged into classes that are otherwise not truly STEM focused, or are you dedicating a regular class period to STEM education?

  • The goal of an effective STEM initiative should be to create activities where each day builds on what was learned in the days before. This requires the students to synthesize the knowledge and skills they’ve learned so far to answer present challenges.

Q-Are you presenting STEM in a way that is engaging or dry? Are you using a “Project-Based” learning approach?

  • A truly engaging classroom experience challenges students to roll up their sleeves and get actively involved in finding answers to problems being discussed. Most experts agree one of the most effective methods for teaching STEM is by creating exercises where certain results will occur and students have to discover why they occurred through experimentation, research and trial-and-error activities.

Q- Do your students ask “Why do I need to know this?” or “When will I ever use this?”

  • If they do, it’s likely they don’t understand how the concepts covered in class will connect to their future careers, or to any other useful purpose. A good way to address this common problem is create assignments embedded in “real world” scenarios. It is extremely important to put students in a situation where they must understand why a skill is necessary by using it to perform a function. In doing so, they will be more likely to learn and retain it.

STEM Solutions

Based on what you’ve read, is your school adequately meeting the STEM education challenge or are you failing? The good news is that even if you fall into the latter camp, there are solutions available, such as:

  • Petition your school or district to hire extra personnel devoted to developing and teaching a hands-on STEM education course. Allocate time and funding to create curriculum aligned to current standards.

PROS: Establish a customized program to meet your specific needs

CONS: Time intensive, money intensive, requires dedicated manpower and support system

  • Join with one of the state or national STEM centric curriculum programs, which provide you with their own standards focused curriculum.

PROS: Immediate access to an existing program and materials. Often, a high quality program offering specialized classes in specific STEM disciplines designed by experts in the field of education and technology.

CONS: Can have significant costs associated—will often require annual fees for curriculum and or software access, and also require purchase of an extensive list of materials. Training is required. Deviation from provided curriculum format is usually frowned upon.

PROS: Provides complete, day-by-day, detailed classroom curriculum, along with all materials and software required to conduct a STEM focused, project-based learning course. It is designed to address the most current academic standards including: Common Core standards for Math, Science, Reading and Writing; NSES Content Standards; Standards for Technological Literacy and ISTE standards.  No annual fees. Curriculum developed by noted educator and STEM expert, Tom White. An affordable, easily scalable solution that provides everything you need in one place.

CONS: You aren’t using it already! While we must direct you elsewhere if you’d like to explore options one and two, we invite you to attend our live webinar presentations to learn about the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program as a solution to your STEM dilemma. These webinars will provide some background on why STEM is such an area of concern, why project-based learning is so effective for teaching STEM and provide an overview of the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program and its curriculum. To reserve your spot for either of these informative webinars, simply follow the links below:

Studica’s Upcoming Live STEM Webinars:

If you are unable to attend either of these presentations, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. Our fischertechnik Product Manager, Lance Zurek, will be happy to make arrangements to connect with you personally, provide you with more information and answer any questions you may have.
The tools are available. There is no longer an excuse why every school and every student can’t succeed at STEM. Studica prides itself in working with schools and educators to find the right solution for their academic institutions. Use this opportunity to learn more about the latest STEM education, it only takes forty minutes of your time. Your students and their future are worth it.

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