Back to School with STEM

NGSS Things to Know for August

1) Active Engagement in the Practices: The science and engineering practices
    (i.e., "practices") allow students to make their thinking visible. The Framework 
    for K-12 Science Education identified eight important practices that are essential
    for all students to learn and discuss how those practices look different over time
    from Kindergarten to grade 12 (see Appendix F: Science and Engineering Practices 
    in the NGSS for summaries of what students should be able to do by the end of
    each grade band for each practice and see the appendix of the Evidence 
    Statements for a description of each part of each practice).

2) Hard copies of the NGSS are available from www.nap.edu/ngss. If you choose to
    print them on your own, you can find PDFs arranged in two ways online here. One
    arrangement shows the performance expectations listed by topic, and the other lists
    them by disciplinary core idea.

3) RVCC prepares teachers for science standards
    (Raritan Valley Community College; July 27, 2015)

4) Building an Investigation, NGSS-style 
    (by Tom Hathorn, CORElaborate; July 6, 2015)

Now lets take a closer look at and see how the students and expanded learning program practitioners  have been engaged in STEM activities during the month(s) of July and August.

Name of Out-of-School-Time Provider: Sacramento Chinese Community Service 
Center and Sacramento START

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

Grade Level of Activity: 3rd thru 4th

Number of Students who Took Part in the Activity:  60 per 3 hour session

Type of Activity: River Bend Outdoor Education Summer Program

Learner Outcomes - Students will:

• Learn about the history of the American River Parkway
• Learn about the importance of being stewards of the environment
• Learn about the various habitats and organisms that call the River Bend area home
• Take part in an Engineering Design Process Challenge
• Conduct a bioassessment of a stream by sampling aquatic macro invertebrates
• Identify different macro invertebrates that they discover in the American River
• Take a nature hike through River Bend Park

A Mule deer greets the students as they arrive at River Bend.

Ranger Joe greets the Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center students.

START Students identify the local aquatic macro-invertebrates.

Name of District(s): Elk Grove Unified School District, San Juan Unified School District,
and Twin Rivers Unified School District

Grade Level of Activities: K thru 12th (Taught to the frontline practitioners who work with these students)

Number of Expanded Learning Program Practitioners who took part in the activities: 252

Type of Activity: STEM Professional Development for Expanded Learning Program
Practitioners

Learner Outcomes: Participants will:

• Learn about the importance of engaging youth in high-quality STEM learning activities
• Learn how to incorporate the 5 LIAS Principles into a learning activity
• Learn skills and strategies for materials management, grouping, facilitating inquiry, and accounting for different learning modalities
• Learn about the Engineering Design Process (NGSS) and how to engage our youth in STEM learning activities  that utilize the Engineering Design Process
• Learn how to engage students in and facilitate (from the side) low cost, high-quality, open design, hands on NGSS aligned (specifically the Engineering Design Process) STEM learning activities
• Learn about and practice debriefing strategies that will allow us to deepen our students' understanding and check for understanding
• Discuss not only how to modify these STEM learning activities to fit the age / need of their students, but also how to make them interdisciplinary

TRUSD Expanded Learning Practitioners learning about air resistance.

SJUSD Expanded Learning Practitioners working on meeting the criteria and constraints of the Tower of Power Challenge.

Anna Kirchgater (EGUSD) expanded learning practitioners create their own anti-gravity string inventions.

STEM / Expanded Learning / and Other Pertinent Educational Articles

1) California Furlough Bill Would Provide Relief for Cash-Strapped After School 
    Programs (Kathryn Baron, Education Week, July 27, 2015)

2) Summer school: Oasis in East San Jose, San Ramon, Oakland
    (Sharon Noguchi, Mercury News, July 20, 2015)

3) 8 Ways to Make Students Feel Welcome on First Day of School
    (Chad Donohue, neaToday, August 5, 2015)

4) 12 Things Students Remember Most About Good Teachers
     (Saga Briggs, informED, June 28, 2015)

5) New Teachers: Designing Learning Environments
    (Edutopia, May 7, 2015)

6) 3 Strategies to Improve Student Writing Instantly
    (Ali Parrish, Edutopia, October 27, 2014)

7) Teacher Shortages Spur a Nationwide Hiring Scramble 
    (Credentials Optional) (Motoko Rich, NY Times, August 9, 2015)

8) Creative Destruction in Teaching (and the Ongoing Relevance of Teachers)
    (Don Wettrick, Edutopia, June 22, 2015)

9) What do Students Lose by Being Perfect? Valuable Failure
    (Holly Korbey, KQED News, August 12, 2015)

10) Many Students Lack Access to Computer Science Learning
      (Brandon Busteed and Susan Sorenson, Gallup Blog, August 20, 2015)

11) How The Common Core Will Help The United States Bring Up Its Grade
      On Mathematics Education
      (Max Marchitello and Catherine Brown, EdBrief, August 20, 2015)

12) Federal Decision Limits California's Local Control Over Programs to 
      Help Low-Income Students
      (EdBrief August 20, 2015)

13) New Universal Meal Service Option Now Available for High-Proverty School
      Districts
      (EdBrief August 20, 2015) 

14) Creative Ways To Solicit Youth Input
      (Public Profit)

15) New Report: What Cities Have Learned About Building After School Systems
      (Wallace Foundation, July 2015)

16) Newly Released State of the State of Expanded Learning in CA 2014-2015
      (California After School Network)



STEM (and other interdisciplinary core content) Activities / Videos / Websites /
Podcast

1) Why Study Math? Because It's Forever.
    (TED Talk, Eduardo Saenz de Cabezon)

2) Should students learn coding? Students, schools disagree, poll finds
    (CBS News, Video)

3) Teacher Shortage? Or Teacher Pipeline Problem
     (Eric Westervelt, NPR, August, 19, 2015) (Podcast)

4) Disrupting Tech's Diversity Problem With A Code Camp
    For Girls of Color
    (Eric Westervelt, NPR, August 17, 2015) (Podcast)

5) Study Finds Education Does Not Close Racial Wealth Gap
    (Brakkton Booker, NPR, August 17, 2015) (Podcast)

6) When A Budget Motel Is Home, There's Little Room For Childhood
     (Tess Vigeland, NPR, August 16, 2015) (Podcast)

7) STEM Teaching Tools Website (Resources)
     
8) 20 Skills that Make STEM Click (Resource: Click2Science PD)

9) STEM Activities (Click2Science PD)

10) Engineering Adventures Activities (Grades 3-5: Free Activities)

11) Engineering Everywhere Activities (Grades 6-8: Free Activities)

12) K-3 STEM Class Lessons (Free Activities)

13) Integrated STEM Activities for Middle and High School Students
      (Free Activities)



STEM / Educational Grants

1) The Big List of Educational Grants and Resources (Edutopia)

2) Field Trip Grants from Target (Deadline: 12:00 PM CST September 30, 2015)

3) Grant Wrangler: STEM Grants (Rolling Dates)

4) CREEC Grant Data Base  (Rolling Dates)

5) California After School Network Funding Opportunities (Rolling Dates)


STEM / Other Content Area Professional Development / Misc. / Events / Contest

1) Adolescent Learning Symposium - Los Angeles (September 21, 2015)

2) 2015 California STEM Symposium (October 28 - 30, 2015)

3) Electricity Fair (Grades Pre K-12) (September 12, 2015) (Free)

4) Project WET and EEI (Grades K-12) (September 26, 2015) (Free)

5) Solar School House (Grades K-12) (October 3, 2015) (Free)

6) GEMS Dry Ice Investigations (Grades 5-12) (October 29, 2015) (Free)

7) GEMS Electric Circuits (Grades 3-9) (November 7, 2015) (Free)

8) Code.org Workshops (Numerous upcoming dates)


Thanks again for all that you do in the field. Please keep us posted about STEM events/activities in your area. Please feel free to contact us at any time.

Monica Gonzalez-Williams (SCOE: Region 3: After School Regional Lead):
mgonzalez@scoe.net

Phil Romig (SCOE: Science Curriculum Specialist): promig@scoe.net

Mark Drewes (SCOE: Project Specialist II: After School) mdrewes@scoe.net

STEM Fun in the Summertime

As the calendar inches closer towards fall, we here in Region 3 wanted to take a moment to applaud all of the Summer Learning Programs and their efforts to increase the amount of high-quality, hands-on, inquiry-based STEM activities that they exposed their students to during the Summer of 2014. Thank you for all of your hard work; for you are truly making a difference in the lives of your students.


Here is a last look at some of the STEM activities that the Summer Learning Programs in Region 3 facilitated to their students:

Name of Out-of-School-Time Provider: Roberts Family Development Center

Name of District: Twin Rivers Unified School District

Grade Level of Activity: 3rd thru 12th grade

Number of students who took part in the activity: 20

Type of Activity: Javelin Rockets (Testing the final product) from CA Teacher Pathway

Learning Outcomes- Students were able to: 

• construct and fly paper rockets
• investigate launch angels versus distance with their rockets
• students will apply their understanding of Newton's laws of motion to design a game or activity for a microgravity environment
• collect data points that they will be able to plot on an X and Y axis graph
• locate the launch angle of their rocket
• discuss what made their rockets fly either shorter or longer distances
• discuss what made their rockets fly the way that they did

Contact: Imani Lucas with any further questions that you may have about this activity. His email address is: imani_lucas@yahoo.com

Roberts Family Development Center students showing off their Javelin Rockets.

Javelin Rockets at rest before the big launch.

Name of Out-of-School-Time Provider: C.A.R.E. 

Name of District: Western Placer Unified School District

Name of the School Site: Creekside Oaks Elementary

Grade Level of Activity: 3rd thru 12th grade

Number of students who took part in the activity: 20

Type of Activity: Javelin Rockets from CA Teacher Pathway

Learning Outcomes- Students were able to: 

• construct and fly paper rockets
• investigate launch angels versus distance with their rockets
• students will apply their understanding of Newton's laws of motion to design a game or activity for a microgravity environment
• collect data points that they will be able to plot on an X and Y axis graph
• locate the launch angle of their rocket
• discuss what made their rockets fly either shorter or longer distances
• discuss what made their rockets fly the way that they did

Contact: Cassandra Moore with any further questions that you may have about this activity. Her email address is: cmoore@wpusd.k12.ca.us

C.A.R.E. students getting ready to test their Javelin Rockets.

Javelin Rockets cleared for takeoff!!

Javelin Rockets engineers group photo.

Name of Out-of-School-Time Provider: Target Excellence

Name of District: Twin Rivers Unified School District

Name of School Site: Madison Elementary

Grade Level of Activities: K-6

Number of students who took part in the activity: 50

Type of Activity: Summer Learning Program STEM Showcase

Learning Objectives: Students had to design their own science experiment based 
                                      upon an area that they were interested in. They had to formulate
                                      a hypothesis based upon their understanding of their area of 
                                      exploration. Then they had to follow the scientific method in order
                                      to test their hypothesis. The culminating event was to present 
                                      their findings to their families at a STEM Fair.

These two Target Excellence students explain their seed experiment.

This Target Excellence student explained the difference between sweet vs sour experiment.

These two Target Excellence students explain about how they determined which potato chip had more acid.

The chip experiment display.

For more information on this STEM Showcase please contact Teddy Lao at teddy.lao@targetexcellence.org.

Name of Out-of-School-Time Provider: Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

Grade Level of Activity: K-6

Number of students who took part in the activity: 100

Type of Activity: Visiting Davis Farms to learn about agriculture, water conservation, and community service, etc.

SCCSC student with his recent harvest.

SCCSC students learning about how string beans grow.

STEM and Other Pertinent Articles:

1) Blueprint to Improve Teaching of STEM in California

2) Coordinating Federal STEM Education Investments: Progress Report

3) Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of After School 
    and Summer Learning for Student Success

4) Google's White Male Heavy-Staff Underlines Tech's Diversity Problem

5) Report Looks At Impact of After School STEM Programs on Students

6) DIY Girls: Building Tech Skills at Summer Camp

7) In Tech, some minorities are too minor. This group wants to change that

8) Relationship Building Through Culturally Responsive Classroom
    Management

9) Examining the impact of after after school STEM programs

10) Wallace Foundation Study reveals Summer Learning Program
       Enrollment Increasing




STEM (and other Integrated Core Content) 
Activities/Videos/Websites/Podcast:

1) 8 Essential Classroom Skills (Video) (All Grades)

2) Brain Breaks: Move and Focus (Video) (All Grades)

3) Facilitating Academic Discourse (Video) (Grade 8)

4) Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management (Video) (All Grades)

5) Fraction Manipulatives (Video) (Grade 6)

6) Density and Buoyancy: Making Eggs Float (Video) (Grade K)

7) How Windy Is It? Make a wind gauge. (Grade 3-6)

8) Sky's the Limit (Curriculum from Engineering Adventures) (Grades 3-5)


STEM Grants:

1) Teens Teach Tech Grant
    Applications are now being accepted for the Teens Teach Tech Grant to be awarded 
    funding for a Teens Teach Tech program in your community! These programs serve 
    as a series of informational workshops led by teens, meant for older adults to learn 
    how to use modern technological devices. By teaching senior citizens to be comfor-
    table with modern devices, the teens will also be strengthening intergenerational 
    relationships and supporting community development. The grant will provide teens 
    with proper training materials and will aid with promotional advertising for the 
    program. 
    (Apply Before September 15, 2014)


2)  Captain Planet Foundation
     Grants are made for activities that promote and support high-quality educational 
     programs, enable children and youth to understand and appreciate our world through
     learning experiences and engage them in active, hands-on projects to improve the 
     environment in their schools and communities. CPF grants are limited to $2,500 and 
     preferential consideration is given to applicants who have secured at least 50% 
     matching or in-kind funding for their program.
     (Deadline: Will fund as many projects that annual resources will allow.)

3)  Toshiba America Foundation Grant: Grades K-5:

     Toshiba America Foundation's mission is to provide teachers with additional funds to 

     support classroom projects. After school, summer projects, and independent study 

     projects are not eligible. The Foundation strongly encourages projects planned and led 

     by individual teachers or teams of teachers for their own classrooms. Any K-5 teacher 

     in a public or private (not-for-profit) school is eligible for a grant to support science or

     math education up to $1,000 for project materials. 

     (Deadline: October 1, 2014) 

STEM / Misc. / Events / Contest:

1)  Solar Schoolhouse Primer: Workshop for Educators:
     (SMUD Hosted) (Free) (Grades 4 - 12) (August 23, 2014)

2)  Folsom Powerhouse Museum Electricity Fair
    (September 6, 2014) 

3)  GEMS Electric Circuits:
    (SMUD Hosted) (September 20, 2014) (Free) (Grades 4 - 8)

4)  2nd Annual California STEM Symposium:
    (September 22-23, 2014)

5) Techbridge Announces Launch of Role Models Matter
    Online Training

6)  Click2Science Launches a New Skill to Make STEM Click

7) Project WET Common Core and EEI:
    (SMUD Hosted) (October 11, 2014) (Free) (Grades K-12)

8) GEMS Dry Ice Investigations and Chemical Investigations
    (SMUD Hosted) (October 16, 2014) (Free) (Grades 5-12)

9)  Get to Know Contest:
      The Contest invites you to get outside and create original works of art, writing, 
      photography, videography and music inspired by nature. Get Outdoors and “Get 
      to Know Your Wild Neighbors”. The goal is to be as creative as possible. For 
      inspiration, check out some of the amazing programs offered by our partners. Then, 
      get outdoors and get to know! Submit your work for a chance to win cool prizes. The 
      contest runs from May 1^st to November 1^st - Get started today! 
      (Deadline: November 1, 2014)

10) 2014 Digital Media and Learning Contest
      (Applications accepted September 3 through November 1, 2014) 
      (Award amount will range from $10,000 up to $150,000)


Thanks again for all that you do in the field. Please keep us posted about STEM events/activities in your area. Please feel free to contact us at any time.

Monica Gonzalez-Williams (SCOE: Region 3: After School Regional Lead):
mgonzalez@scoe.net

Phil Romig: (SCOE: Science Curriculum Specialist): promig@scoe.net

Mark Drewes: (SCOE: Project Specialist II: After School): mdrewes@scoe.net

PS: The title for this month's blog post was inspired by Sly and the Family Stone's "Hot Fun in The Summer Time"