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Cobb County STEM
On December 12 a small team of teachers and administration visited Coleman Middle School in Duluth GA. Coleman Middle School is Gwinnett County’s first Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math School.
The goal of this visit was to experience a STEAM certified middle school up close and see how they apply the STEAM model to middle school students.
The curriculum is driven by four PBL's that they complete during the year.
When we visited the 8th-grade students were presenting their bridges they designed and built for their PBL.
They had to build a model of a walking bridge that would be built to cross a busy road in Duluth that several pedestrials had been hit while crossing.
The students did a nice job introducing their team and explaining their bridge model. Some groups incorporated a parabola, while other had to use the Pythagorean Theorem in their design and build.
When I asked several groups what the most challenging part of the project was, they said it was working with the team, and redesigning the bridge when it failed.
The goal of Coleman MS is " to build 21st-century learners who are able to think critically, communicate, collaborate, and be creative with problem-based learning opportunities."
The goal of each PBL is to challenge the students to think creatively, learn from their mistakes, communicate, and work with other students in order to solve the problem and complete the task on time.
When asked, the students said they enjoyed all of the hands-on activities and the creativity of designing something. I was impressed with how the PBL required the students to develop their interpersonal skills and to learn how to work on a team.
In our debriefing meeting, I heard many times that the PBL drives the instruction.
Another difference I saw was in the connection department. Coleman offers a dance class, music technology, visual art, science enrichment, and engineering as connection classes, along with some of the traditional offerings.
STEM Innovation 12/13 KSU
Teachers from all over Cobb county attended a STEM meeting at KSU. We started our day with two keynote speakers.
One keynote speaker was Rob Garcia from the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He described how Cobb needs students who can add to the workforce.
When Mr. Garcia asked what business leaders hope schools in Cobb can instill in their students they replied,
"Real world context for academic concepts, and as technology continues to innovate, so does the classroom."
Mr. Garcia felt the STEM model was aligned with these goals.
He also discussed how the state of Georgia has a HOPE career grant which will pay for training in these critical areas,
Air Conditioning Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
Automotive Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
Commercial Truck Driving (CTD) (Certificate)
Computer Numerical Controls (CNC) Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
Computer Programming (Certificate and Diploma)
Cybersecurity (Certificate and Diploma)
Design and Media Production Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
Diesel Equipment Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
Early Childhood Care & Education (Certificate and Diploma)
Industrial Maintenance and Electrical Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
Logistics and Supply Chain Management (Certificate)
Networking Specialist (Certificate and Diploma)
Nursing Assistant (CNA) (Certificate)
Practical Nursing (Diploma)
Web Application Development (Diploma)
Welding and Joining Technology (Certificate and Diploma)
For more information follow this link.
HOPE
I then attended several choice sessions that introduced new technology that was free to teachers.
The first site is called EVERFI
EVERFI is " network of 20,000+ schools, EVERFI delivers digital resources that help teachers equip students with critical skills. Thanks to hundreds of partners who share our mission, we deliver these critical skills to K-12 schools and students free of charge."
This short video explains how it can help your classroom.
Another program that I learned about was spiral. It is a combination of Quizziz, Edmodo, BrainPOP, and Kahoot. Spiral can help you transform your classroom into an interactive learning space. Spiral is very easy to use, and I feel I can start using the program in my class tomorrow. I create videos almost every night to help my students and I think I enhance these videos with spiral.
Check out the videos below to see if Spiral can help your class..
Finally, Holly Frilot who helps with media centers in Cobb reminded us of the awesome resources available at Cobb digital.
Here is a link to a page she created with a sample of great programs we can all use as teachers in Cobb.
STEM LME
You may have to log into Cobb Digital to use the links.
Harpin's Biblio-techa
