STEM and the Common Core

INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING
Jessica Bianculli, M.Ed.
Director of Professional Development

Agenda
 How STEM connects to the instructional shifts embedded
in the Common Core State Standards.
 Effective ways to apply STEM competencies to impact
lesson planning and assessment with a focus on increasing
application of content knowledge.
 Strategies for implementing inquiry-based instruction with
an emphasis on critical thinking skills.

2

STEM – Common Core Connections
Science – Technology – Engineering – Math
 View the standards through a lens of inquiry-based
instruction
 Focus on cross-curricular connections, problem solving, &
disciplinary literacy
 Real-world application and analysis of content knowledge
 Student-centered learning environment

STEM – Common Core Connections
 The instructional shifts in Common Core ELA and Math are
calling for increased rigor.
 “Rigor is more than what you teach, it’s how you teach,
and how students show you they understand content.”
Barbara Blackburn, Ph.D
http://www.barbarablackburnonline.com/rigor/

 “Rigorous mathematics refers to a deep, authentic
command of mathematical concepts.”
Making the Shifts - Sandra Alberti
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/dec12/vol70/num04/Making-the-Shifts.aspx
4

Next Generation Science Standards:
Performance Expectations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Developing and Using Models
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

5

CCSS Standards for
Mathematical Practice

NGSS: Science Performance
Expectations

 Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
 Model with mathematics.
 Use appropriate tools
strategically.

1.

 Reason abstractly and
quantitatively.
 Look for and make use of
structure.
 Look for and express regularity in
repeated reasoning.
 Attend to precision.
 Construct viable arguments and
critique the reasoning of others.

1.
2.

2.
3.

3.
4.

5.

Asking Questions and Defining
Problems
Developing and Using Models
Planning and Carrying Out
Investigations
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Using Mathematics and
Computational Thinking
Constructing Explanations and
Designing Solutions
Engaging in Argument from
Evidence
Obtaining, Evaluating, and
Communicating Information
6

STEM in the “Real” World
 “The meaning of ‘knowing’ has shifted from being able to
remember and repeat to being able to find and use it.”
-National Research Council, 2007

 What does this mean for a typical “teacher-centered”
classroom?

7

STEM Education
A transformation from the typical teacher-centered
classroom to:
 Student-centered learning

Driven by:
 problem-solving
 discovery
 exploratory learning
 active engagement

CER Model

Designing Science Inquiry: Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation
Eric Brunsell
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/science-inquiry-claim-evidence-reasoning-eric-brunsell
9

5 Step Process
 What are you curious about? What do you want to know?
This is your driving question.
 What will you need to answer your question? Start
researching and experimenting!
This is your evidence.
 Analyze and reflect on your data. Are you on the right track?
This is your reasoning.
 Did you find the answer to your question?
If so, this is your claim.
 How will you communicate your findings?
This is your explanation.
10

Dan Meyer’s Water Tank

What Can You Do With This: Water Tank?
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=5990
11

Use the 5 Step Process
1. What do you want to
know?
2. What will you need to
answer your question?
3. Analyze and reflect on your
data. Are you on the right
track?
4. Did you find the answer to
your question?
5. How will you communicate
your findings?

12

Reflect
 What critical thinking skills are we helping students
develop?
 How can this process provide more rigor in our instruction?
 How can this process connect to other content areas?

13

CER Model

Designing Science Inquiry: Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation
Eric Brunsell
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/science-inquiry-claim-evidence-reasoning-eric-brunsell
14

What do you observe in this photograph?

15

What does this graffiti image mean?
What information do you need to answer this question?

16

Evidence and Reasoning to Support your Claim
Evidence
 “Banksy” is a United Kingdombased graffiti artist, political
activist, film director, and
painter.

Reasoning

 This graffiti was drawn on
Israel's West Bank barrier
 The barrier is a wall/fence
under construction by the State
of Israel

17

Based on evidence & reasoning, what is your claim?
What does this image mean?

18

Questions to Spur Inquiry
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

What do you think?
Why do you think that?
How do you know?
Can you tell me more?
What questions do you still have?

5 Powerful Questions Teaches Can Ask Students
October 31, 2013 - Rebecca Alber
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-powerful-questions-teachers-ask-students-rebecca-alber

19

Reflect
How could this model change…







The way we plan our lessons?
Organize our classroom?
The teacher’s role in the classroom?
The students’ role in the classroom?
Our view of “testing” for mastery of content/concepts?

20

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Revised
Creating
Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things
Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing

Evaluating
Justifying a decision or course of action
Checking, hypothesizing, critiquing, experimenting, judging

Analyzing
Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships
Comparing, organizing, deconstructing, interrogating, finding

Applying
Using information in another familiar situation
Implementing, carrying out, using, executing

Understanding
Explaining ideas or concepts

Interpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining

Remembering
Recalling information
Recognizing, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding

Tinkering
 “Tinkering is the way that real science happens, in all its
messy glory,” says Sylvia Martinez, co-author of the new
book, Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering
the Classroom
 Martinez is one of the leaders of the “makers’ movement,”
a nationwide effort to help kids discover the value of
getting their hands dirty and their minds engaged. The next
generation of scientists—and artists, and inventors, and
entrepreneurs—may depend on it.
How Do We Inspire Young Inventors?
Annie Murphy Paul | November 25, 2013
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/11/how-do-we-inspire-young-inventors
22

Tinkering and the 5 E’s Inquiry Cycle
 Each Open MAKE event
constitutes the culmination of a
whole month dedicated to
exploring a different theme,
centering activities, exhibits, and
artists around a new material.

Engage

Evaluate

Elaborate

Explore

http://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/blog

Explain

23

Audri's Monster Trap

He is 7 years old and wants to be a
theoretical physicist when he grows up
and has big plans to study robotics at
MIT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMboI4cOAuQ

Hypothesis:
10-20 Failures
1-2 Successes

24

STEM Competencies
Skills:

Abilities:

 Critical Thinking: ability to use
logic and reasoning

 Problem Sensitivity: The ability
to tell when something is wrong
or is likely to go wrong.

 Active Learning: Understanding
the implications of new
information for problemsolving and decision-making.

 Deductive Reasoning: The ability
to apply general rules to specific
problems.

 Complex Problem Solving:
develop and evaluate options
and implement solutions.

 Inductive Reasoning: The ability
to combine pieces of information
to form general rules or
conclusions

http://cew.georgetown.edu/stem/

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STEM and the Common Core

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