STEM cells get students thinking

by ELEANOR WHITEHEAD

Kendal Publicity Plugs

In June, 2007, the Ohio General Assembly made an unprecedented commitment to statewide science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education by signing into law initiatives that span the entire Pre-K-16 education continuum and build student teacher capacity throughout the system.

The state dedicated more than $200 million for STEM-related education initiatives. These STEM-related education investments fell into seven categories, one of which is developing STEM schools and programs of excellence. During each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2009, the state budget allocated $3,283,000 to support this facet of the program. This funding enabled the STEM subcommittee to award grants to serve students in grades K-8.

According to a January, 2009, press release from the Ohio Board of Regents, Ohio Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Schools and Programs awarded $5.9 million to boost Ohio's competitiveness in STEM and STEM Education.

The STEM Subcommittee of the Partnership for Continued Learning announced, subsequently, the recipients of Ohio STEM Schools and K-8 STEM Programs of Excellence awards. The state's $2,857,000 investment in STEM schools for middle school and high school students and $3,127,000 investment in STEM programs for students in grades kindergarten through eight are designed to significantly strengthen Ohio's competitiveness in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEM) and STEM education.

The K-8 Programs of Excellence establishes programs in any of the grades kindergarten through eight, which offer a rigorous and diverse curriculum based on scientific inquiry and technological design, that emphasize personalized learning and teamwork skills, and that will expose students to advanced mathematical and technical scientific concepts within and outside the classroom.

The proposals of eight STEM Schools and 19 K-8 STEM Programs of Excellence collaborations received new or renewed funding.

Among the K-8 STEM Programs of Excellence new award winners was Oberlin's Langston Middle School. The school was awarded $158,893. Identified as The SITE 21 (STEM and IB Together for Excellent 21st Century Learners), the program will engage all students in grades K-8 through the implementation of programs such as Gateway to Technology, Smart Skies, and the development of 36 six-week STEM embedded learning units.

The seventh grade students, during the first quarter of the current school year, have been involved in Introduction to Technology. Word processing and Power Point are a component of this study.

Amy Swislocki, Langston seventh grade science teacher, shared an article written by student Judith Lesesne.

Lesesne wrote, "I have learned many things in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) in the past two months. This program has helped me in many ways. The first thing we learned was internet safety. This is very essential in middle school computer classes because you could get into a lot of trouble, or get someone else in trouble, through cyber bullying, sending pictures without consent, etc. So, it's important for you to know what links to click and what links not to click.

We also learned the basic components that make up a computer. And this helped us in many ways because, if we pressed something wrong on the computer, we would probably know how to fix it or what happened.

Then we began a typing program called Type to Learn 4. It gets you started on where your fingers should be and what keys to go back to after you have typed other keys. At the beginning of each lesson you have to take a kind of preparation thing called Security Check.

This is just something where you type so that they know that you know what you're doing. As you progress in levels, you get higher ratings and words per minute. It also tells you your rankings, whether you're a student, secretary, or teacher, etc. The program includes four games you play that help you practice. The last thing you have to do is the Final Challenge; it goes over everything you have learned in that lesson. If you don't pass, they'll tell you that you are close. Then you have to take a few more lessons before you can pass that level. Overall, Type to Learn 4 is challenging sometimes, but it teaches a lot.

Another fun thing we did was Power Point Presentations on an invention. Before we got started, our teachers took about a week to go over every single step that we needed to make a full Power Point, like how to insert pictures from clip art or the internet. We also learned how to insert sound into our slides and change our slide designs, which was really fun. It made making the Power Point more fun (even though it got a little distracting sometimes).

STEM is very fun and educational. We are not the only ones who get something from it. Fellow classmates get to take from what they see in our presentations because, every assignment or project we do, our teachers have us present to the class. It is fun for students to see what we have come up with, and next time they might incorporate something from another student's project into their project. STEM has made me a better typist. I know that when I have to type a paper for school, it won't be that much of a problem. I know that there is still more room for improvement. As you can see, STEM isn't just a class for learning; it's a class for visualizing and creating."