Planning with a Goal – Moving Beyond Tinkering with Cue
Obtaining new technology, like Cue, to use in the classroom can be exciting! It can be tempting to spend a day with the students just tinkering with the technology. [...]
How to Prepare for Your First STEM Conference
Last month, I attended my first STEM conference and wasn’t sure what to expect. Everyone that I talked to warned me that the annual International Society for Technology in [...]
Bringing Digital Fabrication into the STEM Classroom
So many educators have heard the term “21st Century Skills” and lately, it seems the term is being redefined. What used to be word processing, introductory coding, and searching [...]
Looking for Leaks in the STEM Pipeline
If you teach STEM, you’ve heard about the STEM pipeline. It’s a term that’s been used since the 1970's in the United States. It is still commonly used to [...]
Inclusion in the STEM Classroom
Recently, my two sons had their first swim meet. One won first in backstroke and the other got second in freestyle. Although they both did well, it was something [...]
100 STEM Competitions for Students
Have you ever wondered how your students really benefit from watching baking soda and vinegar erupt from their makeshift volcano at the science fair? Besides the eruption of “oohs” [...]
Coding with Drones: Engaging Tools for Teaching
Introducing students to computer science can feel like a steep climb—especially with the abstract nature of coding concepts and the exacting syntax of traditional programming languages. These barriers often [...]
Breaking Down the Buzzwords: Modeling and Phenomenon-Based Learning
In education, especially STEM education, teachers often find themselves face-to-face with jargon. In the first part of my “Breaking Down the Buzzwords” series, I explored inquiry and project-based learning. [...]
Teaching Programming – The Robot That Does It for You!
When I first considered implementing coding in my classroom, my students wanted to learn how to code, but I had no idea how to teach this skill to them. [...]
Robotics, Coding, and the Pursuit of Computer Science
I hold the following truths to be self-evident: All 21st-century learners are endowed with certain classroom rights. The universal access to robotics, coding, and the pursuit of Computer Science [...]
