Using stem education to Promote 21

A Capstone Project

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

of Master of Arts in Teaching: Mathematics

Shawna Egli

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

College of Arts and Sciences

Graduate School

Minot State University

Minot, North Dakota
Summer 2011

This capstone project was submitted by

Graduate Committee:

Dr. Laurie Geller, Chairperson

Dr. Narayan Thapa

Dr. John Webster

Dean of Graduate School

Dr. Linda Cresap

Date of defense: Month day, year


Abstract

Type the abstract here. Do not indent. It should be one block paragraph. The abstract is a summary of your paper.

I would like to dedicate this study to all of the students who are trying to learn in today’s education system and especially to my son, Isaac Egli. I would like to thank all of the teachers and administrators who are trying to train 21^st century skills in a 20^th century system.

Gifted and talented teachers

LG
Table of Contents

Abstract iii

Acknowledgements iv

List of Tables viii

List of Figures ix

Chapter One: Introduction 1

Motivation for the Project 2

Background on the Problem 5

Statement of the Problem 6

Statement of Purpose 7

Research Questions/Hypotheses 8

Summary 8

Chapter Two: Review of Literature 10

United States Cultural Views on Mathematics 10

21^st Century Skills and the United States Education System 11

STEM Education 14

Teacher Training 18

Imagine for a Moment 20

Summary 22

Chapter Three: Research Design and Method 23

Setting 23

Intervention/Innovation 24

Design 26

Description of Methods 27

Expected Results 28

Timeline for the Study 29

Summary 30

Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results xx

Data Analysis xx

Interpretation of Results xx

Summary xx

Chapter Five: Conclusions, Action Plan, Reflections, and Recommendations xx

Conclusions xx

Action Plan xx

Reflections and Recommendations for Other Teachers xx

Summary xx

References 34

Appendices 39

Appendix A: Bungee Jumping Worksheets for 5th Grade Students 40

Appendix B: STEM Lesson Plan Rubric 43

Appendix C: Overview of STEM Institute Schedule 46

Appendix D: STEM Institute Handouts 61

Appendix E: Research Participant Invitation Letter 64

Appendix F: Research Participant Consent Letter 65

Appendix G: Focus Group Protocol 67

Appendix H: Personal Interview Discussion Protocol 75

1. Title of Table 1 xx

2. Title of Table 2 xx

3. Title of Table 3 xx

1. Caption or title of Figure 1 xx

2. Caption or title of Figure 2 xx

3. Caption or title of Figure 3 xx

I am currently a fulltime math and computer science professor at a four-year university in North Dakota. During the summer of 2010, I had the opportunity to create and conduct a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Institute for 17 kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers. During this six-day institute, teachers had the opportunity to explore the world of STEM education and learn to create learning environments that encourage students to be problem-solvers, innovators, and inventors. Teachers learned how to create a classroom culture of creativity, questioning, and exploring the unknown. They took field trips to STEM hot spots (local businesses that use STEM fields), and participated in a number of STEM activities that were directly related to the North Dakota science and math standards. They were also encouraged to play with some of the newest technology available in education. After having one year to apply this information, I want to determine how teachers who attended the six-day STEM Institute have applied the information they learned to their classrooms along with the successes and struggles they had while applying the information. I would like to know any new technologies or ideas teachers have incorporated into their lessons to promote 21^st century skills, which include problem solving and critical thinking, creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, and flexibility and adaptability (Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, 2002). Last, I would like to know what teachers are doing to encourage students’ interests in STEM fields.

Two years ago, I volunteered to conduct a “math lesson” for my son’s fourth-grade class. It was close to Christmas, and I thought it would be fun if each student could have a “mathematical present” to take home and play with during Christmas vacation. The lesson consisted of students creating and attempting to solve a wooden brainteaser made from a piece of wood, string, and two washers. An example and the solution to the brainteaser are at Jill Britton’s (2006) homepage. The lesson continued with each student getting a large piece of wrapping paper from which they had to create a box. Next, students decided how many wooden mind teasers would fit in the box. When the time was almost done I remember one student saying, “This is the most fun I have ever had in math,” and another student saying, “Yah, I wish math time was like this every day.”

Last year I created a math lesson based on the Barbie Bungee lesson (Zordak, 2000-2011) found on the Illuminations Web site that I offered to all fifth-grade classes in the southwest North Dakota area. In this lesson students became amusement park engineers, and their job was to create a new amusement park bungee jump ride. Students used a doll or action figure, which they brought from home, to predict how much bungee cord to use if the ride was to start from the top of a 400-feet bridge. They collected real data and used it to create a linear regression equation using a TI-84 graphing calculator. Students used this equation to predict how much bungee cord they would need for a ride that would start from X-feet bridge. The Action Figure/Barbie Bungee Jump student worksheets are in Appendix A. It was amazing to see how quickly the students picked up the skills of using the graphing calculator. They held them in their hands like game controllers, using the thumbs of both hands to push the buttons. Again, the student excitement and interest was contagious. I remember one student saying, “But everyone is going to get different answers because everyone’s action figure weighs different.” He was amazed it was okay for every student to get different answers. Some students asked if they could take the rubber bands home so they could do the experiment at home. Some said they were going to ask for graphing calculators for Christmas!

After school at the gas station I met a student, who had participated in the bungee jump activity, I asked her how she liked math class today. Her response was, “Math class? We didn’t have math class, instead you came and visited.” I said, “That was math.” She responded with a voice that clearly indicated she thought I was confused “No it wasn’t, we didn’t sit and work math problems.” It was at that moment that I realized how different our views of math were. Her “Math World” revolved around her “math” experiences, which from her response I imagined was restricted to a four-walled classroom where she was confined to her desk, slouched over a math book that contained 20 problems that she had to have completed by tomorrow.

Today my son, who is presently in the sixth grade, came home from school with the announcement that his entire class was acting out and the punishment was to complete 100 math problems. What is wrong with the way society, including teachers, perceives, values, and teaches mathematics? Why are students encouraged to look at math class as a place where they complete math problems from a book while sitting at a desk, instead of a place where they get to create, learn, and investigate information through numbers? Is it possible that math class could be a learning environment that fosters students’ excitement about the field of mathematics instead of a learning environment that views math as punishment?

After my experiences teaching in different elementary classrooms, I wanted to visit them all. I wanted to spread my enthusiasm about learning and exploring mathematics to as many children as I could. It soon became clear to me that, as one teacher, I was limited in time, which in effect limited the amount of impact I could have on students. It became apparent that if I could instill the excitement of learning math in elementary teachers, they could then pass that excitement onto their students. I began to look for a program that would support this mission.

While researching I discovered something called STEM that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. STEM education encourages innovation by combining two or more STEM subject areas when teaching, instead of the traditional way of teaching math as a silo subject (Council on Competitiveness, 2005). It creates real life learning opportunities for students. It promotes a learning environment for students to, not only learn 21^st century skills, but also have the opportunity to create new skills (Narum, 2008). I believed training teachers in STEM education practices would help change the way teachers currently teach math.

Coincidently, shortly after beginning my research on STEM education, the college where I work received a federally funded STEM Career Preparation: Building the Foundation P-16 Grant. I temporarily volunteered to be the STEM coordinator until one was hired. The STEM grant opened up the opportunity to train teachers. Another professor and I created and conducted the STEM Institute to help heighten the awareness and knowledge about STEM education.

The United States is not preparing enough students and teachers in the areas of STEM (Kuenzi, Matthews & Mangan, 2006). Coble and Michael (2005) agreed, “The current U.S. education system does not have a strong record of producing students who are well prepared for math and science careers” (p. 3). Authors of Rising Above the Gathering Storm agreed that United States students are falling behind in global competiveness and stated, “There is widespread concern about our K-12 science and mathematics education system” (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21^st Century, 2007, p. 30). Report after report the findings are similar.

All of the above statements are due to a number of factors: 1) a culture that does not recognize the importance of education especially in math and science (PCAST, 2010); 2) inadequate funding to support the continuous training 21^st century teachers need to stay current in their fields and latest educational innovations (Members of the 2005 “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” Committee, 2010); and 3) the lack of qualified teachers who know how to teach STEM content and inspire students in STEM fields (PCAST).

Statement of the Problem

Today’s education system is behind in preparing students for the new, emerging world of the 21^st century. “By 12^th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations” along with the U.S. having one of “the highest high school dropout rates" (Gates, 2005, p. 3).

According to the 2010 ACT Average State Math Scores (ACT, 2010), North Dakota’s ranking was 29 out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. North Dakota had an average ACT math score of 21.4. This score is below the 22.0 score that ACT stated is the minimum score students need to be ready for college mathematics. North Dakota’s score indicates that a majority of North Dakota students are ill-equipped, not only to go to college, but to succeed in today’s world (ACT, 2010). According to ACT, the main reason for unprepared students is the low academic level of achievement those students attain by the eighth grade, which emphasizes the important role elementary and middle schools have in preparing students for life after high school (ACT, 2008).

Statement of Purpose

I want to determine how teachers who attended the six-day STEM Institute have applied the information they learned to their classrooms along with the successes and struggles they had while applying the information. I would like to know any new technologies or ideas teachers have incorporated into their lessons to promote 21^st century skills. Last, I would like to know what they are doing to encourage students’ interests in STEM fields.

I plan to conduct a focus group with the teachers who participated in the STEM Institute Summer of 2010. Those teachers who can not attend the focus group will participate in a personal interview. I will use the teachers’ responses from the focus group and personal interviews to determine which STEM concepts the teachers used in their classrooms, which STEM concepts were more challenging to incorporate into their classrooms and which were easier, any new technologies or ideas they have used, and what they are doing to encourage students’ interests in STEM fields.
Research Questions/Hypotheses

The overarching question I have is the following: After participating in a six-day STEM Institute workshop, what success and struggles did teachers have while applying STEM content and pedagogy, particularly in math, when they teach? What new technologies or ideas have teachers incorporated into their lessons to promote problem solving and critical thinking, creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, and flexibility and adaptability (i.e., 21^st century skills) (Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, 2002)? Last, what are these teachers doing to encourage students’ interests in STEM fields?

The United States needs to make a commitment to improve its education system so that it prepares students to succeed in the 21^st century. According to The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills (2002), today’s students live in a technology-driven and media-driven world giving them the ability to access an abundance of instantaneous information, to constantly communicate and collaborate with friends, and to know more about the current world than their teachers do. “A simple question to ask is, ‘How has the world of a child changed in the last 150 years?’ And the answer is, ‘It’s hard to imagine any way in which it hasn’t changed’” (The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, p. 6). [Children are] “immersed in a media environment of all kinds of stuff that was unheard of 150 years ago, and yet if you look at school today versus 100 years ago, they are more similar than dissimilar” (The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, p. 6). It is time to bring education in the United States into the 21^st century.

In order to guarantee a society of 21^st century skilled students, the United States needs to change the way it perceives and values mathematics, and the way it perceives, values, and structures education. STEM education is one solution to help foster the changes needed. Training America’s teachers in STEM pedagogy to teach core subjects like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can help prepare students with the skills they need for tomorrow’s future workforce. The purpose of this study is to determine how teachers who attended the six-day STEM Institute have applied the information they learned to their classrooms along with the successes and struggles they had while applying the information, any new technologies or ideas they have incorporated into their lessons to promote 21^st century skills, and what they are doing to encourage students’ interests in STEM fields. In this chapter, I took a closer look at mathematics and the United States, 21^st century skills and the United States education system, STEM education, teacher training, and last, how education could be different in America.

The United States is falling behind in mathematics, but as a nation, some people seem to be okay with that. U.S. society seems to take pride in “never understanding” or “never liking” mathematics (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21^st Century, 2007, p. 95). The U.S. has created a culture where some youth are not inspired to learn mathematics and science; society often fails to emphasize the importance of education and learning in itself (PCAST, 2010). Each year 1.3 million American students drop out of high school and do not get a diploma. The average American schoolchild watches four hours of television a day, during which they view 54 commercials whose content is directed by companies encouraging the youth of America to spend and buy some type of toy, food, or current pop culture gizmo (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2006). This emphasis, in turn, has created a society of consumers.

In general, U.S. citizens are “not very literate in mathematics” (Phillips, 2007, p. 4). In fact, “78% of adults cannot explain how to compute the interest paid on a loan, 71% cannot calculate miles per gallon on a trip, and 58% cannot calculate a 10% tip for a lunch bill” (Phillips, p. 4).

21^st Century Skills and the United States Education System

According to Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” (source unknown). The 21^st century is a time of exponential growth, a time of constant change. According to the Council on Competitiveness (2005):

[Innovations are] diffusing at ever-increasing rates. It took 55 years for the automobile to spread to a quarter of the country, 35 years for the telephone, 22 years for the radio, 16 years for the PC, 13 years for the cell phone, and only seven years for the Internet. (p. 37)

It is a time of “anywhere, anytime” learning, communicating, and networking, made available using mobile technologies. Information that once was only available in books located in libraries around the world is now available for reading in the palms of people’s hands (Shuler, 2009).

Unfortunately, the U.S. education system has been in a state of little growth. Today children’s school time is spent much the same way their grandparents spent it: sitting behind desks and completing lessons that revolve around a textbook where at the end resides an answer key (Wallis, Steptoe, & Miranda, 2006). One may ask where the mobile technologies that allow this “anywhere, anytime” learning are. Most U.S. schools do not allow cell phones in the classroom, and teachers view them as a distraction, having no place in school (Shuler, 2009). Bill Gates (2005) stated the following about America’s schools:

America’s high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded – though a case could be make for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean that our high schools – even when they’re working exactly as designed – cannot teach our kids what they need to know today. Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. It’s the wrong tool for the times. Our high schools were designed fifty years ago to meet the needs of another age. Until we design them to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting – even ruining – the lives of millions of Americans every year. (pp. 1-2)

How does education in the U.S. need to change in order to help students prepare for the 21^st century? According to the White House Press Office (2009), President Barack Obama said:

I’m calling on our nation’s governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21^st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity. (para. 21)

Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman and CEO of IBM Corporation, said while speaking at the National Innovation Initiative Summit that “innovation is the single most important factor that will determine our success in the 21^st century” (Council on Competitiveness, 2005, p. 18). He stated that the innovation process “is multidisciplinary,” “it is collaborative,” it occurs within “an innovation ecosystem,” and “it is user-based” (p. 18).

In the document, Tapping America’s Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative, created by 15 U.S. business organizations, Business Roundtable (2005) stated, “To maintain our country’s competitiveness in the 21^st century, we must cultivate the skilled scientists and engineers needed to create tomorrow’s innovations” (p. 1). They recommended finding ways to motivate students to study and enter the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, along with upgrading current K-12 math and science teaching (Business Roundtable).

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST, 2010) reported, “STEM education will determine whether the United States will remain a leader among nations and whether we will be able to solve immense challenges in such areas of energy, health, environmental protection, and national security” (p. 1). This report stated that the United States needs to improve its education system by focusing on preparing and inspiring students for STEM careers (PCAST, 2010).

STEM Education

So what exactly is STEM education? As mention earlier in this report, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM education is a learning environment that centers on students exploring, inventing, discovering, and using real world problems and situations (PCAST, 2010). It encourages innovation by combining subject areas, which helps students make new connections between disciplines and sometimes helps create entirely new ones (Council on Competitiveness, 2005).

The purpose of STEM education is to generate the next scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians who will create new inventions and help lead the development of new 21^st century industries (PCAST, 2010). STEM education inspires students to choose STEM careers like aerospace, architectural, biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, and network engineers along with biological, chemical, CAD, construction management, mapping, simulator maintenance, and survey technicians. It encourages students to pursue occupations as a computer programmer, ecologist, environmental scientist, geologist, mathematician, meteorologist, statistician, zoologist, and a math, science, or technology teacher (North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education, 2007). It helps creates new multi-disciplinary occupational fields “such as nanobiology, network science or bioinformatics” (Council on Competitiveness, 2005, p. 42).

Pfeiffer, Overstreet, and Park (2010) conducted a study where 16 state-supported academic-year residential high schools participated in a 91-item survey to find out how they “incorporate STEM-related content and learning opportunities into their curriculum” (p. 27) Twelve of the 16 schools self-identified as STEM schools. All 16 residential schools reported that students spent an average of 6 hours a week in a research lab whereas U.S. public high school students did not. This study also found that these schools offered more advanced classes in science and math than public schools, which gave students in the residential schools more experiences with STEM careers. According to Pfeiffer et al., some advanced classes included the following:

Cell biology; anatomy and physiology; ecology; human infectious diseases; astronomy; advanced waves, electricity, and magnetism; analytical chemistry; electronics; astrobiology; genetics; zoology; enzyme mechanisms; ornithology; organic chemistry; calculus-based physics; endocrinology; thermal physics; theoretical physics; botany; laser and holography; mechanical engineering; astrophysics and cosmology; quantum and relativity. (pp. 28-29)

Anatomy is the only class from the list that the local public high school offered, but it did offer advanced classes that related directly to North Dakota’s agricultural economy of applied animal science, applied plant and soil science, and equine science (Berry, 2011). Unfortunately, this study did not examine teachers’ instructional methods (Pfeiffer et al.).

Having STEM experiences at a young age greatly increased the STEM accomplishments a person has later on in life, reported a 25-year longitudinal study by Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, and Steiger (2010). The first part of the study contained three cohorts: a 1972-1974 cohort consisting of 518 boys and 258 girls; a 1976-1978 cohort with 341 boys and 126 girls; and a 1980-1983 cohort of 203 boys and 21 girls. The participants were restricted to adolescents who had an SAT-Math score ≥ 500 to “ensure that all participants had great promise for STEM accomplishments” (Wai et al., p. 862). Each cohort was split into two groups. One group received a high-STEM-dose, which included special classes/training, inventions, projects, competitions, research, writing opportunities, and academics club all revolving around STEM. The other group received a low-STEM-dose, or did not receive the “special” STEM opportunities. At approximately the age of 33, participants from each cohort were interviewed via Internet, mail, or phone, and the information supplied from the interviews was confirmed by an Internet search, to determine STEM accomplishments. The accomplishments criteria included: “STEM PhDs, STEM publications, STEM tenure, STEM patents, and STEM occupations” (Wai et al., p. 863). This study found that “the number of precollegiate STEM education opportunities beyond the norm that mathematical talented adolescents experience is related to subsequent STEM accomplishments achieved over 20 years later” (Wai et al., p. 865). In other words, the more STEM experiences a person had prior to college, the more likely it was that person would have significant STEM accomplishments later in life.

In the second part of Wai et al.’s (2010) study, they took a retrospective look at student motivation and its relationship to STEM accomplishments. The final cohort for this group consisted of 368 men and 346 women who were U.S. graduate students in “exceptional STEM programs” (Wai et al., p. 867). The study emphasized that students in these programs were ‘highly motivated and successful in achieving in STEM” (Wai et al., p. 867). Participants answered a survey at approximately age 25 and then again at approximately age 33, which helped measure their STEM accomplishments. Like the first part of this study, the responses were verified using Web searches. The criterion for a STEM accomplishment was the same as in the first part of the study. The second part of the study agreed with the first part in that students who were in the high-dose groups consistently had greater STEM accomplishments than those students who were in the low-dose groups. The report concluded, “Like exceptional performances in athletics and music, rare accomplishments in STEM appear to emanate from rich talent development opportunities experienced early in life” (Wai et al., p. 870).

To make STEM education a priority, the United States needs to increase and improve teaching training. “If I want my students to be making global connections then I’m going to give the tools to my teachers first” (COSN, 2008, 2:23-2:27).