My Imagine It project turned out to be more difficult than I imagined even after problematizing it. The main dilemma I had in implementing my Imagine It project was time. Although I had a timeline and vision, my school also had a timeline that interrupted my calendar often. I set aside one day a week to use for STEM challenges and PBL. Fridays were our STEM challenge days. Students anticipated participating every week, but several of the Fridays were postponed due to administration scheduling school-wide incentives on Fridays which is vital to the school culture. Although our challenges were extended longer than expected, the students had the opportunity to question, imagine, design, and improve every challenge.
Colleague Feedback
I enjoyed collaborating across content areas with colleagues to design integrated STEM challenges. I worked closely with the language arts instructor and our school’s STEM coordinator. Innovative ideas were developed throughout our meetings. We used backwards planning to create STEM lessons. We shared the instructional responsibility for each challenge by dividing the challenge into components, science, math, and language arts. Science and math were the foundations of their research topics. Students used language arts skills to present their scientific findings.
The language arts teacher was primarily responsible for assisting the students with the research component of each challenge. Students used iPads to conduct their research and communicated their findings in oral presentations and written essays. In my math class, students took what they learned from their research and collaborated in groups to create a visual presentation that included student created math word problems. The visual presentations were designed primarily using Google Drive. The STEM coordinator participated in the student design phrase. She co-taught with me during math to help students foster their creativity through questioning.
Student Feedback
Students took pleasure in participating in the weekly STEM challenges. They stayed in the same groups the entire year. They also kept the same roles for the entire year. Keeping them in the same group with the same roles allowed them to become proficient in their individual roles and increased productivity. Students completed peer and group reflections at the conclusion of each challenge. These reflections were used to improve their work performance for future projects. Peer feed is powerful.
Colleague Feedback
I enjoyed collaborating across content areas with colleagues to design integrated STEM challenges. I worked closely with the language arts instructor and our school’s STEM coordinator. Innovative ideas were developed throughout our meetings. We used backwards planning to create STEM lessons. We shared the instructional responsibility for each challenge by dividing the challenge into components, science, math, and language arts. Science and math were the foundations of their research topics. Students used language arts skills to present their scientific findings.
The language arts teacher was primarily responsible for assisting the students with the research component of each challenge. Students used iPads to conduct their research and communicated their findings in oral presentations and written essays. In my math class, students took what they learned from their research and collaborated in groups to create a visual presentation that included student created math word problems. The visual presentations were designed primarily using Google Drive. The STEM coordinator participated in the student design phrase. She co-taught with me during math to help students foster their creativity through questioning.
Student Feedback
Students took pleasure in participating in the weekly STEM challenges. They stayed in the same groups the entire year. They also kept the same roles for the entire year. Keeping them in the same group with the same roles allowed them to become proficient in their individual roles and increased productivity. Students completed peer and group reflections at the conclusion of each challenge. These reflections were used to improve their work performance for future projects. Peer feed is powerful.