Victorian Curriculum F 10 Introduction to STEM in

Victorian Curriculum F– 10 Introduction to STEM in the Victorian Curriculum Michael Rosenbrock Specialist Teacher – STEM

Agenda • • Introductions What is STEM education? Where does STEM fit into the Victorian Curriculum? What does a STEM unit of work look like? What ideas can I draw inspiration from? How can we plan to successfully implement STEM? Feedback

What is STEM education?

What is STEM? • STEM the acronym = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics • Careers in STEM disciplines are predicted to be big job growth areas over coming decades, but fewer students are choosing to study these fields. • Engagement with and understanding of STEM is increasingly important in modern society We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science’ – Carl Sagan

What is STEM in education? • Definitions vary, including: • Any program involving one of the STEM fields • Programs that integrate two or more of the fields together • Highly integrated, student driven, inquiry focussed projects that draw on all areas • Giving our students an opportunity to find their passion and encourage them to develop 21 st century skills • It can be helpful to conceptualise STEM education as a continuum, with increasing levels of integration and student independence characterising higher levels

What are the features of highlevel STEM education? • Foundations – underlying knowledge, skills, processes and habits are explicitly taught • Transdisciplinary – incorporates two or more fields • Authentic – working with problems and ideas that are relevant to the lives students lead in modern society • Future skills – developing communication, collaboration, critical and creative thinking skills • Inquiry – project based, inquiry focussed programs that are increasingly student driven • Process – processes explicitly taught and applied to develop, create, test and refine products to meet a specific objective

Where does STEM fit into the Victorian Curriculum?

STEM in the Victorian Curriculum The Victorian Curriculum F-10 is: • • derived from the Australian Curriculum comprised of eight learning areas and four capabilities, with each learning area/capability having their own content descriptions and achievement standards. STEM is directly related to the learning areas of: Science, Technologies, and Mathematics

Victorian Curriculum Website http: //victoriancurriculum. vcaa. vic. edu. au/

Victorian Curriculum website http: //victoriancurriculum. vcaa. vic. edu. au/ Select Learning area or Capability

Victorian Curriculum website http: //victoriancurriculum. vcaa. vic. edu. au/ Access curriculum and resources Link to the curriculum Useful resources

Getting to know the curriculum Achievement standards Statements that describe what students are typically able to understand, and are the basis of student reporting on achievement. Content Descriptions Specific and discrete information identifying what teachers are expected to teach and students expected to learn. Elaborations Non mandated, advisory examples that provide guidance on how the curriculum may be transformed into a learning opportunity. • Curriculum rather than a syllabus – schools develop their own learning program for their context • Developed as a continuum of learning – read across levels to understand student progression

Victorian Curriculum: Science Understanding • Science as a Human Endeavour • Biological • Chemical • Earth and Space • Physical Sciences Science Inquiry Skills • Questioning and Predicting • Planning and Conducting • Recording and Processing • Analysing and Evaluating • Communicating

Victorian Curriculum: Technologies Design and Technologies and Society Technologies Contexts • • Engineering principles and systems Food and fibre production Food specialisations Materials and technology specialisations Creating Designed Solutions • Investigating • Generating • Producing • Evaluating • Planning and Managing

Victorian Curriculum: Technologies Digital Technologies • • • Digital Systems Data and information Creating digital solutions

Victorian Curriculum: Mathematics Number and Algebra • Number and place value • Money and financial mathematics • Fractions and decimals • Patterns and algebra Measurement and Geometry • Units of measurement • Shape • Location and transformation Statistics and Probability • Chance • Data representation and interpretation

Where is Engineering? • Science (especially Physical and Chemical Science) • Technology (both Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies) • Mathematics (mostly Measurement and Geometry in primary, but also Algebra, Statistics and Probability and in secondary) • Provides an authentic context for these curriculum areas • Allows students to develop creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving skills.

What does a STEM unit of work look like?

Rube Goldberg unit example • Effective STEM learning depends on context, however, examples can be informative • A Rube Goldberg machine is an unnecessarily complex devices that achieve simple tasks, often involving domino falls, rolling balls, ramps, tubes, levers and wheels. • This unit was developed based on work undertaken at Year 10 level at Wodonga Senior Secondary College https: //youtu. be/Gg 9 R 9 Rn. PWv. M

Curriculum focus • Topic: Rube Goldberg machines • Students learn about the physics of forces and energy and apply this knowledge to design, build and test a Rube Goldberg machine. • Levels: 9 and 10 • Curriculum explicitly taught and assessed: • • Science Understanding: Physical sciences Science Inquiry Skills: Communicating Technologies Contexts: Engineering principles and systems Creating Designed Solutions: Investigating, Generating, Producing, Evaluating

Options for varying focus • Many STEM units can be varied to alter the curriculum specifically addressed. • Alternatives that could be included in this unit: • Mathematics: Statistics and probability, Measurement and geometry, Number and algebra • Science: Science Inquiry Skills • Critical and Creative Thinking: Meta-Cognition • Personal and Social Capability: Social Awareness and Management • There is a temptation in STEM to overreach and cover myriad areas of the curriculum. It is crucial to only include that which is explicitly taught and assessed.

The challenge • There is a very clear and specific objective that the machine must achieve • Additional detail is required to spell out constraints, rules, criteria for assessment and methods of working

Resources • Careful management of available resources is crucial to the practical success of STEM units • Expensive resources and high tech equipment are not necessary for most STEM projects – consider using waste products, recycling and upcycling • Storage between classes also requires consideration

Constraints • Effective constraints allow creativity but also keep the scope manageable for the time and resources of a school setting

Timeframes • Clearly defined, ambitious time frames help to keep STEM projects focussed, rigorous and well paced • This project has a very specific time frame, with set objectives for each lesson Objectives Time (min) Curriculum links Ask and Imagine–introduction, forming groups, brainstorming 60 Science: Questioning and predicting Design and Technologies: Investigating Discover and Plan–explicit teaching of knowledge and skills, planning, designing 60 Science: Recording and processing and Planning and conducting Design and Technologies: Generating and Planning and managing Create–building and initial tests 60 Science: Planning and conducting Design and Technologies: Producing Evaluate and Improve–refinement and final test 60 Science: Analysing and evaluating Design and Technologies: Evaluating Communicate– preparation and delivery of presentation 120 Science: Communicating

Structuring student tasks • Clear and defined structures support students and teachers

Assessment • The assessment drives student learning and is crucial for ensuring that curriculum outcomes for inquiry projects are addressed with rigour • Clear assessment criteria or rubrics support students to achieve the desired outcomes

Assessment • The assessment drives student learning and is crucial for ensuring that curriculum outcomes for inquiry projects are addressed with rigour • Highly structured communication protocols, such as Pecha. Kucha can assist to focus efforts

What ideas can I draw inspiration from?

Inspiration and STEM • Developing a STEM unit requires a combination of the curriculum with inspiration that suits your context • STEM ideas can often be adapted across levels, and can be paired with other curriculum areas. Look broadly for ideas • Students also bring their interests and passions. Consider how these can be incorporated whilst also meeting curriculum outcomes. • Here a few examples to start with

Unconventional electric circuit creations • Made from: • Squishy: salt or sugar playdough • Paper: conductive tape on paper • Soft: conductive thread • Can use 3 V coin batteries and LEDs • Many opportunities for creative circuit applications SQUISHY PAPER • Curriculum links include: SOFT • • Physical sciences Creating designed solutions Engineering principles and systems Measurement and geometry

Creating a game q Examples include: • Mini golf • Pinball machines q Constraints can be used to guide and define focus of student effort q Curriculum links include: • • • Physical sciences (forces) Creating designed solutions Measurement and geometry (properties of circles, angles)

Rockets • Examples include: • Water rockets • Film canister rockets • Curriculum links include: • • • Physical sciences (forces, energy) Chemical sciences (chemical change) Creating designed solutions Science inquiry skills Measurement and geometry (area of quadrilaterals, angles)

Biological science inspirations Minibeast hotel Nesting boxes

Biological science inspirations Other ideas • • • Garden bed Worm farm Sensory trail Frog bog Living wall Living structures Composting system Hydroponics Aquaponics Food and fibre garden

Earth and space science inspirations Rain gardens Other ideas • Mapping nature • Soil studies • Managing erosion

Creating a piece of technology • Examples include: • • Bow and arrow Trebuchet or catapult Compass Sun dial • Curriculum links include: • • • Physical sciences Creating designed solutions Measurement and geometry

Building structures • Examples include: • • Towers Bridges • Curriculum links include: • • • Physical sciences Materials and technology specifications Measurement and geometry

Creating machines • Examples include: • • • Balancing Marble run Rube Goldberg https: //youtu. be/Gg 9 R 9 Rn. PWv. M • Curriculum links include: • • • Physical sciences Engineering principles and systems Measurement and geometry

Digital Technologies • Examples include: • • • Input devices (Makey) Robots (Sphere, Ozbots, dash and dot) Programmable kits and components (Hummingbird, Arduino)

Other inspirations Solar hot water Zombie survival kit Solar oven Musical instruments Storing energy Surviving on Mars Water filtration Design an animal Low energy house Create a hologram

How can we plan to successfully implement STEM?

Key planning considerations • Choose a starting point where can you find the support and resources to start (or expand) STEM in your school • Identify topic or project using inspiration that suits your school context and is aligned with the curriculum outcomes • Make space in your program, identifying where, when and with whom the project can be run • Develop the learning sequence, clearly incorporating: explicit teaching of required knowledge and skills; assessment; and timelines • Implement and review, refining as you go and taking time to evaluate at the end

Evaluating your current situation • The best way to implement STEM will depend on your context • Conducting a SWOT analysis may be a useful starting point • Consider • • • Timetable Expertise Time Physical space Teaching and learning resources School (or faculty) culture Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Learning from failure • The experience of failure is central to learning, this is especially true in STEM. • But we still need to plan, have processes, hold expectations of rigour, and put in place supports. ‘Failure is instructive. The person, who really thinks, learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes’ • - John Dewey

Explicit teaching • Explicit teaching is crucial to support students to succeed in STEM projects • This applies not only to content knowledge, but also processes and skills necessary for success

Evidence and assessment • Consider how evidence can be gathered and assessment can be undertaken to address the curriculum outcomes chosen • If you can’t gather evidence or assess an outcome in some effective way, then the unit of work isn’t covering that outcome

Recapping the agenda • • Introductions What is STEM education? Where does STEM fit into the Victorian Curriculum? What does a STEM unit of work look like? What ideas can I draw inspiration from? How can we plan to successfully implement STEM? Feedback

Further resources • Secondary school STEM case studies by ACARA http: //www. acara. edu. au/docs/default-source/defaultdocument-library/29062016 -stem-connections-report. pdf • STEM Programme Index by the Chief Scientist https: //www. teachermagazine. com. au/files/SPI 2016. pdf • STEM blog http: //stem. global 2. vic. edu. au • Vic. STEM http: //www. education. vic. gov. au/about/programs/learningd ev/vicstem/Pages/default. aspx • Digi. Pubs http: //www. digipubs. vic. edu. au/

Where to now? What can you take away from today and implement in your class tomorrow? What further questions do you have? How valuable was this session for you? Please leave your responses via the comments box.

Thanks! compton. leanne@edumail. vic. gov. au 9032 1698 Leanne Compton Curriculum Manager, Design and. Technologies