Blog Post 5 - What Should a Strong STEMS2 Unit Look Like?

Based on our reading, discuss the following:

1. What should a strong STEMS unit look like?
2. What experiences should students and teachers engaged in?
3. What qualities and characteristics should be present in all STEMS2 units?
4. How long is a unit and how does it allow space and time for experiential learning (field trips, etc.)?

According to Glatthorn (p. 18), a unit is a subset of a course of study and is organized as a set of related learning experiences offered as part of a course of study, usually lasting from one to 3 weeks.  It is also organized around a single overarching concepts.  As I reflect on how my STEMS2 unit should look like, I feel I should narrow my concept to something like "Sustainability Through Wauke Propagation" instead of a broader concept like "Sustainability Through Papa Hana No'eau."

http://kumuphilfallbreakhaawina.blogspot.com/2015/10/fall-break-physical-science-haawina.html

The planning phases of unit development should include practicing, reviewing, and applying knowledge (Glatthorn, p. 18).  In order for students to be able to incorporate these strategies, there needs to be time for students to be introduced to the new concepts, but should also have time to apply them through experiential learning.  These learning experiences may include field trips, labs, place-based activities, and project-based assignments.  In the Thinking About Curriculum reading, constructivism is a theory of learning based on the principle that learners construct meaning from what they experience; thus, learning is an active, mearning-making process (p. 5). As a result, I feel my STEMS2 unit should be about 3 weeks in order for my students to be able to learn, revisit, and apply the knowledge they are learning through a huaka'i or our place-based project.  

According to the Thinking About Curriculum reading, units should be problem-focused, requiring the student to solve open-ended contextualized problems and to enable the students to have access to research and other knowledge in solving problems (generative knowledge) (p. 5).  All STEMS2 units should pose a question or problem that allows students to conduct research through multiple sources (books, magazines, primary resources, experiences) that allow them to make reason for their solutions.

An important part of a unit should include opportunities for students to spend at least part of their time in group formats, such as cooperative learning and to have students demonstrate learning in an authentic manner (Thinking About Curriculum, p. 5).  All students should be able to work together in small groups in a STEMS2 unit where they are able to collaborate and bounce ideas off of each other and build on the knowledge they build together as a group.  I feel that a STEMS2 unit should have students demonstrate learning an an authentic manner through a deliverable like a final group presentation and/or a finished product that was created by the students that applied the new concepts that they learned in the unit such as a political letter, a blog, a website, a mele (song), an oli (chant), etc. that allows them multiple media to showcase what they learned instead of just a paper test.  According to the Thinking About Curriculum reading, technology should be seen as a way of supporting curriculum objectives rather than as an add-on (p. 7).

A STEMS2 unit should have integrated curriculum, which combiners content from two or more disciplines as a means of increasing student interest and student knowledge (Thinking About Curriculum, p. 6).  Since STEMS2 encompasses, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, social sciences, and sense of place, integration of multiple disciplines in a STEMS2 unit should be required.  The context of what the STEMS2 unit will look like will be developed from the creativity of the teacher, which should be meaningful and responsive to the culture of the students as an individual, as a class, and/or as a school. 
www.papahananoeau.weebly.com

Blog Post 4 - Incorporating STEMS2 Instruction at Hālau Kū Māna

When I hear of the struggles that many of you have to face at your schools just to get a field trip, to have your students get into the stream, or to bring your students outside, I feel very lucky that I have a structure at my school that allows me to practice what we discuss in our cohort regarding place-based and community-based instruction, and cultivating a sense of place.  

In my pre-algebra class, I had my students use Hawaiian measurements as the context of learning how to analyze data and create scatter plots.  They were able to measure different Hawaiian measurements and to be able to discuss relationships with their height and other Hawaiian measurements. 

In my trigonometry/precalculus class, I had them go into Makiki Stream on our campus to find the width of the stream at a particular location by applying what they learned on right triangle trigonometry.  By applying the math concepts that they learned outside in the stream and to make connections with the math content and the place they are at, I feel they retained the content better and felt that what they were learning was applicable and meaningful.

In my physical science class, I have incorporated a lot more STEMS2 ideas and multi-disciplinary science content, specifically environmental science and sustainability.  I have my students utilizing their iPad minis to take pictures of their hana and to and update the class webpage that they created as a class. 
www.papahananoeau.weebly.com  In this website, they explained what Papa Hana No'eau project was about and added pictures to explain the process of making i'e kuku, kapa, 'ohe kapala, and ko'i.  By using technology, they feel more ownership of their work because the webpage will be shown to their 'ohana on La 'Ohana this October 24th.  

In addition to more technology, I have my class reading The 6th Extinction and have a research project of the 5 mass extinctions that occurred in the history of the planet.  My mana'o behind this research project and reading is to have them aware of what a global mass extinction looks like and to have them visualize and connect to the past what a 6th extinction may look like in our lifetime if we do not become leaders in sustainability, resource management, and cultural practices of malama 'aina. 

The conversations that we have been having in our cohort have been very powerful and meaningful to my practice as a kumu and curriculum development.  I am a fairly new teacher, only one year as a licensed math and science teacher, yet my discussions with you all and our collaborative synergy give me confidence in my ability to create meaningful curriculum, apply them, make mistakes, improve on them, and to ultimately keep in mind that our students deserve an education that honors who they are and where they come from.