Spring Forward With STEM

Federal STEM Education: 5 Year Strategic Plan

The Committee of STEM Education National Science and Technology Counsel has released the 5 year strategic plan for Federal STEM Education. In this report, a number of inter-related goals are highlighted:

• It will help Federal STEM efforts reach more students and more teachers more effectively by reorienting Federal policy to meet the needs of those who are delivering STEM education (i.e. school districts, states, colleges, and universities)

• It will help in reorganizing efforts and redirecting resources around more clearly defined priorities with accountable lead agencies

• It will enable rigorous evaluation and evidence-building strategies for Federal STEM-education programs

To view the whole report, click here.


The Next Generation Science Standards: Standards with a Purpose:

Few things are more inspiring than watching a student ask "why" - except, perhaps, seeing that student use their skills and knowledge to confidently and effectively seek an answer to their own questions to make sense of the world around them. Read more here.




Pathways To College And Career Readiness:
Bringing The New California Standards To Life Through Linked Learning

The Education Trust-West has recently released a report titled "Pathways to College and Career Readiness: Bringing the New California Standards to Life Through Linked Learning," which discusses how implementing linked learning pathways into curriculum can ease the transition into the new state standards.

For more information and to read the full article, click here.


Assemblywoman Bonilla Calls for Funding for NGSS, Local Schools, and Teacher Development

Assemblywoman Susan A. Bonilla has recently announced the induction of AB 631. The bill seeks to allocate approximately $2 billion from the State General Fund to be invested for professional development and enhanced technology-based instruction that is aligned with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.

For more information and to read the full press release, click here.


Change the Equation Highlights the Aging STEM Workforce

In recognition of Engineer's week, Change the Equation has released an article titled: "Where are the young STEM workers." This article highlights the aging STEM workforce, where despite growing demand for employees, young STEM professionals are scarce.

For more information, and to read the full article, click here.



NGSS: Things to Know for March 2015

1) The NGSS EQuIP Professional Learning Facilitator's Guide is now available. It is a series of 10 modules that were designed to provide guidance on building the capacity of educators and education leaders to use the EQuIP Rubric for Science. To access these guides, click here.

2) The annual NGSS Network Leadership Conference just wrapped up in San Francisco, California. The conference brought together state teams (e.g., state education agency staff, district leadership, and key stakeholders) to work on implementation planning. Look out for the powerpoint presentations and other resources associated with the conference to be posted to nextgenscience.org in the coming weeks.

3) Interested in learning more about the implications of NGSS science and engineering practices on instruction, assessment, and professional development? Check out this article by Richard Duschl and Rodger Bybee.

4) Linden, Rahway prepare for the new science standards by Michelle H. Daino

5) HS-ETS1-2: (Standard of the month) Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.



Now lets spring forward to see what the real STEM Stars of Region 3 have been up to within the past month. The following STEM learning activities are activities that our expanded learning program practitioners have engaged the children of Region 3 in recently:


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

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

School Site: Kit Carson International Baccalaureate Candidate School

Grade Level of Activity: 6th thru 8th

Number of Students Who Took Part in the Activity: 20

Type of Activity: Engineering Everywhere: Food for Thought: Engineering Ice Cream

Learner Outcomes: Students will:

• learn that they can use the Engineering Design Process to help solve problems
• learn that engineers design technologies to help people and solve problems
• learn that they have talent and potential for designing and improving technologies
• they too are process engineers
• be engaged in open ended challenges that are directly tied to NGSS standards
• also learn to work in collaborative groups

Students working together to engineer a spaghetti tower that can host a marshmallow. Prep. Activity #1

Students taste testing the ice cream they just created. Activity #2

Students engineering the perfect container to house their ice cream in.

Process Engineers who are now pitching their new ice cream product to their peers.

For more information on this activity, please feel free to reach out to the site coordinator at Kit Carson Wendy Tsan at wendy@sccsc.org


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

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

School Site: Nicholas Elementary School

Grade Level of Activity: 5th

Number of Students Who Took Part in the Activity: 20

Type of Activity: Computer Coding

Learner Outcomes: Students will:

• be engaged in a collaborative, creative curriculum that is aligned to CCSS
• learn how the Internet works
• learn about basic computer programming logic
• learn about problem solving
• be engaged in creative learning

Nicholas students engaged in computer coding exercises.

For more information on the computer coding learning activities that the students of Nicholas are engaged in after school, please contact Rian Carroll (site coordinator) at Rian-Carroll@scusd.edu



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

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

School Site: William Land Elementary

Grade Level of Activity: 4th/5th

Number of Students Who Took Part in the Activity: 25

Type of Activity: Roller Coaster

Learner Outcomes: Students will:

• use knowledge of potential / kinetic energy to construct a roller coaster
• discuss the effects of gravity and friction in the context of their roller coaster design
• use the Engineer Design Process
• understand that the height of an object is related to the distance that an object can travel

Students engineering their own roller coasters.

For more information on this after school activity please contact David Constancio at david@sccsc.org



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

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

School Site: Martin Luther King Jr. K-8

Grade Level of Activity: 6th thru 8th

Number of Students Who Took Part in the Activity: 25

Type of Activity: Electric Play Dough

Learner Outcomes: Students will:

• explore and understand the continuity between conductive materials that allow electricity to flow freely
• create a circuit with conductive dough and insulating dough that will light up an LED light bulb
• use the Engineering Design Process

Students creating a circuit that will light up an LED bulb.

For more information on this after school STEM learning activity, please contact Josh Yang (site coordinator) at josh@sccsc.org

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

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

School Site: Caroline Wenzel Elementary

Grade Level of Activity: 3rd thru 5th

Number of Students Who Took Part in the Activity: 25

Type of Activity: Marble Mazes, Suspension Bridges, and Boat Building

Learner Outcomes: Students will:

• use the Engineer Design Process
• discuss the effects of gravity and friction in the context of their marble maze
• engage in a collaborative activity
• explore designs of bridges and boats

Caroline Wenzel students engaging in STEM month activities.

For more information on these after school STEM learning activities, please contact Kae Saeteurn at kae@sccsc.org

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

Name of District: Sacramento City Unified School District

School Site: John Still K-8

Grade Level of Activity: 2nd thru 3rd

Number of Students Who Took Part in the Activity: 25

Type of Activity: Star Readers Activities using Nexus tablets

Learner Outcomes: Students will:

• use the Nexus tablet to access the app Read Me to help them improve their reading skills
• improve upon their 21st Century Skills
• build on their love for reading

Students using the Nexus tablet to read to each other.

For more information on this after school STEM learning activity, please contact Kaycee Moua (site coordinator at kaycee@sccsc.org

STEM and Other Expanded Learning Program Pertinent Educational Articles

1) Teachers can get plenty of help in implementing standards by Tricia Shelton (Kentucky Teacher)

2) Why Chevron is Helping Fund STEM Education by Tim Bajarin (Time Magazine)

3) Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff by Keith Heggart (Edutopia)

4) Strategies to Support English Language Learners by Todd Finley (Edutopia)

5) A Project Idea for Student Power by Milton Chen (Edutopia) 

6) 4 Tips to Build Student Confidence by Matt Levinson (Edutopia)

7) Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement by Heather Wolpert-Gawron (Edutopia)

8) The Numbers Add Up To This: Less and Less Opportunity for Poor Kids by Marilyn Geewax (NPR)

9) Math Love, Game Based Learning, And More From NPR Ed at #SXSWEdu by Anya Kamenetz (NPR)

10) Quality Matter for Youth in School-Based OST (Report by Public Profit)

11) Expanded Learning, SB 1221, and More: An Interview with Michael Funk, California After School Division Director (Part 1) by Sam Phia  Click here for part 2 (Temescal and Associates)

12) Expanded Learning Time: A Summary of Findings from Case Studies in Four States
      by Center for Education Policy



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

1) Young Gifted and Black Teaches Oakland Students History with Music (KQED) (Video)

2) Five Keys to Rigorous Project - Based Learning (Edutopia) (Video)

3) 12 Empowering Children's Books To Add To Little Girls' Bookshelves (Bust) (Resources)

4) The Teacher Who Believes Math Equals Love by Cory Turner (NPR) (Podcast)

5) Where Have All of The Teachers Gone? by Eric Westervelt (NPR) (Podcast)

6) Behold The Humble Block! Tools of The Trade by Eric Westervelt (NPR) (Podcast)

7) Teaching The Holocaust: New Approaches for A New Generation by Eric Westervelt (NPR) (Podcast)

8) NGSS: A Vision for K-12 Science Education (Teaching Channel) (Video)

9) Downloadable professional development guide shows you how to conduct a workshop for educators who will be teaching Engineering Adventures or Engineering Everywhere curricula. We've just enhanced the experience with four new after school PD videos that illuminate some of the activities in the workshop. (Free Resources)


STEM Grants: 

1) Apply now for Colocation America's STEM Innovtion Grant, which provides funding to nonprofit charitable organizations in order to foster youth engagement in STEM Learning.
(Awarded up to $7500) (Deadline: March 27, 2015)

2) Grant Wrangler: STEM Grant Database (Grants available for Grades K-12) 

3) Grant Wrangler: Health and PE Grant Database / Resources




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

1) Invisible Universe (Grades 6-12) This GEMS unit has great take away lessons which can be used in Physics and Anstronomy. (March 19, 2015 4:30 to 7:00 PM) (SMUD) (appetizers provided) (Free)

2) Energy and Me (Grades preK-3) In Energy and Me! teachers will learn how to present energy concepts with playacting, singing, and dancing. Teachers will receive a classroom kit from Project Learning Tree. (March 21, 2015 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM) (breakfast and lunch provided) (SMUD) (Free)

3) Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center's STEM Expo
(March 26, 2015 from 3:330 PM to 5:30 PM at Will C. Wood Middle School)

4) Code.Org Workshops at Elliott Ranch Elementary Computer Lab on 4/11/15 and 4/25/15
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (Free)

5) Code.Org Workshops at Arden Middle School Computer Lab on 4/18/15
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Free)

6) 2015 Central Valley STEM Conference (April 25, 2015 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM)

7) ConnectED Studios: Hunger Games Challenge (Deadline: May 1, 2015)

8) CalSAC presents the Afterschool Challenge Registration Available (May 11 - 12, 2015)

9) Take the English Learning in Action: Introduction training to learn about how English learners are identified in California public schools and recognize the second language acquisition levels. Participants obtain strategies for providing social and academic support to newcomers, including tips for facilitating discussion and maximizing peer support in after school programs. (Online Training) (Free) (CASRC)

10) Be sure to visit the Digital Open Education Sources page on the OER Commons Web site for lessons and activities can be implemented in expanded learning environments with minimal preparation and materials. (Online) (Free) (CASRC)

11) The Building Number Sense Through the Common Core resource explains how to teach young students about fluidity and flexibility with numbers, an understanding of what numbers mean, and the ability to compute operations and to compare numbers (number sense).
(Free to checkout from CASRC)

12) Based on a specific theme, each tub in the Learning Science Activity Tub Series contains a unit overview, up to 40 student-centered activity cards, hands on activities, and manipulatives. Subjects include: Solar System, Insects, Rocks and Soil, Electricity, Simple Machines, and Animals.
(Free to checkout from CASRC)

13) The Creative Minds Out of School curriculum consists of three thematically based units, each containing seven lessons that teach various visual arts concepts and skills (a total of 21 lessons).
(Free to checkout from CASRC)

14) Keeping it Real: Drug Resistance Strategies is a culturally competent and research-validated alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use prevention curriculum that teaches drug resistance skills to middle school students. (Free to checkout from CASRC)


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

This Valentine's Day, Let's Remember Dr. Daniel Hale Williams and Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (January 18, 1856 – August 4, 1931) was an American surgeon. He was an African-American general surgeon, and performed one of the first successful pericardium surgeries. He also founded Provident Hospital, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States. At the time that he graduated from medical school,
black doctors were not allowed to work in Chicago hospitals. As a result, in 1891, Dr. Williams started
the Provident Hospital (in Chicago) and training school for nurses in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Williams was the sec on to have successfully performed pericardium surgery to repair a wound. Henry Dalton was the first. Dalton successfully performed pericardium surgery to repair a wound in
1891, with the patient fully recovering.

In 1893, Williams repaired the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish, the second on record. Dr. Williams performed this surgery without the benefit of penicillin or blood transfusion at Provident Hospital; in Chicago, on July 10, 1893. Roughly 55 days later, James Cornish had successfully recovered from his surgery.

In 1893, during the administration of President Grover Cleveland, Williams was appointed surgeon-in-chief of Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C., a post he held until 1898 when he married and moved to Chicago. In addition to organizing the hospital, Williams also established a training school for African-American nurses at the facility.

Williams was a teacher of Clinical Surgery at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and was an attending surgeon at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He worked to create more hospitals and for accessibility to African Americans. In 1895 he co-founded the National Medical Association for African American doctors, and in 1913 he became a charter member and the only African American doctor in the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler (February 8, 1831 – March 9, 1895) was an American physician. Rebecca Lee was the first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States. She married Dr. Arthur Crumpler after the Civil War. Her publication of A Book of Medical Discourses in 1883 was one of the first written by an African American about medicine.

In 1831, Rebecca Davis Lee was born in Deleware to Matilda Webber and Absolum Davis. She was raised in Pennsylvania by an aunt who cared for infirm neighbors. During the antebellum years, medical care for poor blacks was almost non-existent. She moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts by 1852 and was employed as a nurse until she was accepted into the New England Female Medical College in 1860. It was rare for women or black men to be admitted to medical schools, during this time. When she graduated in 1864, Rebecca Lee (later Crumpler) was the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree, and the only African American woman to graduate from New England Female Medical College.

Crumpler first practiced medicine in Boston, primarily for poor women and children. During this time she "sought training in the 'British Dominion'".

After the American Civil War ended in 1865, she moved to Richmond, Virginia believing it to be "a proper field for real missionary work, and one that would present ample opportunities to become acquainted with the diseases of women and children. During my stay there nearly every hour was improved in that sphere of labor. The last quarter of the year 1866, I was enabled to have access each day to a very large number of the indigent, and others of different classes, in a population of over 30,000 colored." Crumpler worked for the Freedmen's Bureau to provide medical care to freed slaves; She was subject to "intense racism": "men doctors snubbed her, druggist balked at filling her prescriptions, and some people wisecracked that the M.D. behind her name stood for nothing more than 'Mule Driver'".

Rebecca married Dr. Arthur Crumpler around the time of her graduation but by the time she moved back to Boston. Her neighborhood on Joy Street in Beacon Hill was a predominantly African American community. She "entered into the work with renewed vigor, practicing outside, and receiving children in the house for treatment; regardless, in a measure, of remuneration.





STEM Articles:

a) The Georgetown STEM Report (Executive Summary)

b) K-12 NAE STREM Report

c) Integrated STEM Education: What is it? What Should it be?

d) MissionBit's Volunteer Hackers Close the Computer Science Education 
    Gap In SF's Schools

e) 'Math Bites' show with Danica McKellar makes numbers hip

f) What Afterschool STEM Does Best

STEM Activities/Videos/Websites/Podcast:

a) Do Math in Your Head

b) How Gardening Enables Interdisciplinary Learning

c) How making Robotics Captivates Kids' Imagination

d) Learning STEM Skills by Designing Video Games

e) Science Bob Experiments

f) California Academy of Sciences Teacher Resource Page

g) In Oakland, Using Video Games to Build a Bridge to Silicon Valley

STEM Profesional Development Opportunities:

a) Solar School House Primer: (For educators: Grades 4-12, Free)
    March 1, 2014

b) Project WET Training (Training is Hosted by Yolo County Office of Education)
    (February 28, 2014 is the registration deadline) Training is March 8, 2014

c) Up Your Game Older Youth Conference (Hosted by Region 6)
    (February 28, 2014 is the registration deadline)
     March 22, 2014 is the training date
     (Fee: Free unless you no show)
 

STEM/Misc./Events/ Grants/ Contest:

a) Teen Safe Driving Grant (Deadline: Rolling)

b) Fender Music Program Grants (Deadline: Rolling)

c)  SMUD Solar Car Race (Entry Deadline February 28, 2014)

d) Placer County STEM Expo (March 1, 2014)

e) The Young Naturalist Award (Deadline: March 1, 2014)

f) Access Fund: $10,000 (Deadline: March 1, 2014)

g) Siemens "We Can Change the World" Challenge (Deadline: March 4, 2014)

h) National Science Foundation Grants

i) SPARK Grant Finder

j) American Heart Association- Childhood Obesity Rapid Response Fund
   $15,000 to $100,000 (Deadline: Open)


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-William (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