SCIENCE EDUCATION taken to a new level
Many adults when they reflect back on their school days will usually point to math and science as their least favorite due to all the reading and writing involved with it.
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Here in the Imperial Valley, one of the schools applying the new methods and standards in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education is De Anza Magnet School in El Centro.
For the new school year, the school has now added another vital element to its curriculum in two new STEM labs which are expected to further the students’ level of understanding of scientific concepts.
“It’s an additional step to add to what we’ve been doing,” said school Principal Richard Sanchez.
One of the STEM labs is setup for elementary level students. At that level, students are grouped into teams of four to complete a mission. Each of the four members of the group has a specific task with one taking the lead with the activities the group is doing, one in charge of getting the background information on what they’re set to do, another student in charge of writing down observations and the other handles the materials that will be needed during the experiments.
Students in each group change roles and each of the groups are tasked with a different activity and rotate throughout the school year.
Some of the missions laid for the students are exploring and identifying the ratio of air, water and different gases present in different layers of the atmosphere, another group is tasked with identifying the properties of sedimentary rocks and another experiment explores the relationship between sound and vibrations.
The goal of the missions is to get the students to better understand the concepts by first reading on the background of the mission they’re about to undertake, do a hands-on experiment to understand the concept and write down their observations.
The new approach is part of the Next Generation Science Standards. The standards were developed by a consortium of 26 states, the National Science Teachers Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Research Council.
The guidelines are intended to help students gain a deep understanding of core scientific concepts, understand the scientific process of developing and testing ideas, and to have a greater ability to evaluate scientific evidence. Curricula based on the standards may cover fewer topics, but will go more deeply into specific topics, possibly using a case-study method and emphasizing critical thinking and primary investigation.
“It’s a very comprehensive program to increase the scientific literacy and understand how the world works and to experience science through phenomena and experimentation with a deeper level of understanding,” Sanchez said.
For the junior high-level students, the model adopted at De Anza is having the students work in pairs and take part in different expeditions. The STEM lab for the junior high level has a total of 18 stations in which the students will experiment and learn more about electricity, robotics, cultivation, sound and musical instruments.
Technology resource teacher Ascension Reyes said the big focus is to get the students to learn the concepts of doing them rather than relying on reading lengthy chapters or listening to a lecture which allows the students to get a better understanding of the concepts.
An example he mentioned had to do with thermal physics, in which the students get background information on the subject and start experimenting with how well different objects transfer and absorb heat. Once they’ve done that, they look at the properties of an insulated container which absorbs little heat and then have the students create their own insulated container and compare how well it did and write down their observations.
“So far, they’ve bought it. The great thing about this approach is they don’t know what’s going to happen next and keeps them interested to keep going and find out,” Reyes said. “The hope is that they go through the 18 expeditions and along the way will touch upon STEM concepts that are taught at these grade levels while doing it hands on, and in the process, learn about the careers connected to them.”
Eighth grader Victor A. Lopez agrees that learning the hands-on concepts is a much better way for him to understand the ideas rather than by non-stop reading and writing. The activities he was focusing on at the time were understanding how a music instrument works and exploring how to make instruments out of ordinary objects such as a straw.
“It has helped me a lot to understand how sound works and different tools and techniques that can be used to make instruments,” he said. “I didn’t know you could make an instrument out of a straw — it’s very interesting to learn how musical instruments work and how you can make one in a few minutes.”
By exposing the students to different areas of science and gain a deeper understanding, the hope is that the curiosity instilled in them will lead them to continue to be curious about how the world and nature work and aid in potentially finding an adequate career path for them in STEM.
According to economic projections by the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the U.S. will need at least one million more STEM professionals than it will produce in the next decade for the country to retain its historical preeminence in science and technology.
Sanchez said teachers and El Centro Elementary School District have been very supportive of the efforts to continue to foster STEM education.
The new standards are part of a movement that began more than a decade ago and Sanchez hopes that some of the students currently enrolled in their school can eventually be among those STEM professionals continuing to move the Valley and overall nation forward.