Increasing Science Instruction

To really inspire students to enter the field of science, I believe that they must experience science outside of the school day.  In previous years, I ran a program called “Club Invention” that was aimed at getting girls excited about STEM education.  We met weekly (for 16 weeks) after school from 3 to 4:30.  This program allowed the girls to work together to solve a science related problem.  They would have to design and build something and then test it to see if they met the presented problem.  For example, one class had to build a boat that could hold the most weight.  They worked with their team members to study the concept of buoyancy and then design a boat.  The girls were always excited about each task and could not wait to come back each week.  I even had two girls rearrange their schedule so they could miss their softball practices every Wednesday.  I was so amazed that they would rather be in school than playing the sport that they loved.  I hope one day they come back and tell me that the Club Invention program helped to inspire them to enter the field of STEM. 

The problem that our district faces is creating continuity across all grade levels.  The high school teachers expect labs to be done one way, while the middle school teachers do it another way.  We have even had students come back and say they do the same labs at the high school.  To me this is a HUGE problem because the work should be increasing in difficulty as they progress throughout the grades.  To solve this problem, we met and created a lab write up for all of the grade levels.  We also discussed which labs should be moved to the high school level and which should stay at the middle school level.  Since establishing these new guidelines, I feel as if our science curriculum has improved.    

My reaction to the article “What’s Our Sputnik?”

Although I was a little taken back by the author’s brutal honesty, I have to agree that I am also worried about the future of the United States.  I think one of the main problems with today’s society is the lack of motivation with the younger generations.  My students would rather spend their free time social networking than studying.  They also idolize people like Snookie and Paulie D and think that they are going to get rich from being a reality star.  Kids need to know that 99.9 percent of the world works hard for what they have. 

I think that a Sputnik-like event might spark attention and make science education in the forefront but I do not feel that the younger generations will be affected by this event.  We need to find ways to inspire students in the field of science.  This means that teachers must be 100 percent committed to their students.  They must find a way to make science enjoyable and capture the attention of all their students.  In order to accomplish this I think the government and state officials need to provide more money to the sciences.  Teachers need to be trained in the areas of STEM and inquiry science.