CATEGORY: STEM (+) STEM to STEAM, STREAM or STEM: Adding to the relevancy of learning

Creating Inclusive Environment in STEM

Dr. Shagufta Raja, Dr. David Pugalee & Ms. Lorena Hatcher

Center for STEM Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

WHICH ONE IS YOUR CLASSROOM

CLASSROOMS HAVE NOT CHANGED MUCH SINCE 1856

CHALLENGES FACED BY 21ST CENTURY STUDENTS

• Conceptual understanding of principles related to STEM • Ability to flexibly move among representations

• Strengthening the understanding of basic information, notations and concepts • Inferring, justifying and generalizing results • Making connections, reverse thinking, applying in

a relevant real life perspective

BRIDGING THE GAP IN STEM EDUCATION

Disconnect between students’ educational experience and social/home technology experience is a result of Lack of :

•  1. Teacher preparation and reluctance to change • 2. Efficacy of technology infusion • 3. Teachers’ apprehension of their students’ ability of integrating technology in classroom instructions • 4. Teachers and administrators lack of efforts to

collaborate

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

• A crucial part of laying the foundation for the conceptual understanding is based on justifying, generalizing, making connections, reverse thinking, applying, and extending the focus for core objectives (Dietiker, et al., 2005).

•  “The goals of inclusive education are two fold: for students with disabilities to be full members of their schools and classroom groups, and for these students to make appropriate progress toward achieving academic and functional competence”.

(Rachel.E. J.& Martha E.S,. Modifying schoolwork in inclusive, classrooms, Page 215-223 | published online: 16 AME 2010)

• No child left behind act (2001) and IDEA act (2004) set the stage for mainstreaming students in regular classrooms (concept of inclusive classroom)

• All teachers not trained to handle exceptional children and students with disabilities or special needs

• Addition of Special Ed Teacher to an inclusive classroom helpful for the classroom teacher meeting the needs of mainstreamed students

Tanya Moorhead and Kelly Grillo, Teaching developmental children, Council for exceptional children, Vol.45, No. 4, pp 50-57

Background Research (cont)

ESSENTIALS FOR INCLUSIVE STEM CLASSROOMS

•  Interactive Curriculum

•  Educational goals relevant to students’ needs

•  Teacher training for exceptional children

•  Rigor in STEM instructional environment

•  Academic support system and resources for group/hands on activities

•  Access to internet resources for all students

METHOD

• Qualitative case study

•  Survey results from CSTEM MSEN Pre-College students, teachers and parents

PARTICIPANTS

Who did we interviewed? 1. (a) CSTEM MSEN Pre-College students (Charlotte

Mecklenburg Cabarrus county, Private, Charter, Gaston and Union county schools and Kannapolis Early College, )

(b) Hawthorne Medical Academy High School

2. CSTEM MSEN Pre-College teachers

3. CSTEM MSEN Pre-College parents

SAMPLE SURVEY QUESTIONS •  Students:

• What you do to cope with academic challenges

• Do you use any kind of educational website resources for your learning of concepts taught in class ?

• Teachers:

• Are you currently using the internet to help students in their different subjects? If not, why not?

• Do you currently use any communication platform/tool for communicating with your students

DISCUSSIONS/ RESULTS

• Creating inclusive environment for STEM education increases students’ engagement and promotes concept development

• Inclusive environment helps identify the origin and perpetuation of gender gap and other issues

• E-learning and co-teaching strategies used for instructions add to the scope of interactive learning environment

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM

Negative Indicators Positive Indicators

•  One student responds

•  Two or three students discuss content

•  Teacher asks students if they understand, and they answer with a simple yes or no; there is no probing.

•  All students respond

•  All students discuss content in small groups

•  All students write a response in a journal or exit slip

SAMPLE SURVEY QUESTION

2.Whatdoyoudowhenyouhavedifficultyunderstandingtheconceptspresentedbyyourteacherortextbook?

ENGAGEMENT IN E-RESOURCES

Internet Activity Number of students out of 68 participants

Khan Academy 21

Quizlet software 17

USA Test Prep 7

You Tube 5

Kumon activities 4

None/ Go to tutor 13

OTHER SURVEY OUTCOMES • Majority of the students prefer internet resources for

independent study

• Students prefer content in the form of educational videos & educational games

• Teachers’ suggestions influence the choice of internet resource used by students

• Parents prefer online tutoring services

CONCLUSIONS

The education system, curriculum developers and policy makers must play a role to:

• Help creating inclusive classroom environment with relevance to content knowledge, contextual learning in and outside school & curriculum boundaries

• Help teachers pedagogical content knowledge to be transferred to students in the form of activities, e-learning experiences, co-teaching, reflection on personal experiences and broaden their learning experience instead of just skills practices.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Incorporating technology can bridge the gap for the construction of inclusive and interactive instructional model

• Co-teaching in inclusive classrooms is effective for creating environment conducive to learning and adding relevance to meaningful educational experience

ADVANTAGES OF CREATING INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM IN STEM

Acknowledge and respect diversity in

•  Culture

•  Language

•  Community

•  Urban and non urban societies

•  All students backgrounds

3D ACTIVITY SAMPLE GROUP ACTIVITY

• Picking a current topic for discussion related to your area and let students research • Example: Prevalence of several cardiovascular disease risk factors (hypertension, obesity, etc.. Is known to differ by socio-

economic status. People with lower socio-economic status are generally more likely to e.g. Obesity and hypertensive • Assigning text for reading (using e- resources) • Reviewing and discussing outcomes with students

in small groups • Using assessment rubric to see relevance to

learning objectives

Grademoz. L (2001) Teaching holistically to achieve deep, creating College Teaching, 49(2), 44-50