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Students work together in teams, accomplishing their mission. With standards in mind, the scenario was built, materials ordered, and custom-made items, such as the surface of Mars as a roll-out field were designed and ordered. “The cost to make and develop a scenario like this is simply not feasible or practical for one school or even a district. But through the power of the ecosystem and the collaboration across school districts, the magic began,” she said, growing from one school district to more and then to Boys and Girls Clubs. MORE THAN COMPUTER SCIENCE While much of STEM2 Hub’s highly visible work has included computer science, organizers recognize that STEM, in general, is broad and encompasses important disciplines and they try to integrate responsive programs. For instance, STEM2 Hub has partnered with the Biomimicry Institute to provide training to 40 middle school and high school science teachers. “By infusing principles of biomimicry into their content, students learn to look to nature to find solutions to problems that exist in the environment, and look to science for solutions to advance medical solutions for health problems,” she said.
“As buy in continued to build, excitement around the region grew. We knew that this work was going to make a huge difference to our children. We developed a bold implementation plan with a heavy focus on professional development that would help us to build capacity,” she said. Addressing the needs of preservice teachers to learn more of these skills before college graduation, The STEP Lab continues to be a work in process, and the partnership continues to grow. As of May, 2019, the College of Education awarded the first 10 educators with the newly developed Computer Science Educator Cord, indicating that they are graduating ready to introduce computer science and robotics to students in their classrooms. Preservice teacher preparation will be critical to a sustainable effort to expand access to computer science, Schofield remarked. Its implementation plan shifted from elementary media centers to middle school science courses – a shift in thinking that has opened new doors for the project. AFTER SCHOOL AND OUT-OF- SCHOOL TIME PARTNERS PLAY CRITICAL ROLE Partners from the out-of-school and afterschool space are involved with STEM2 Hub in numerous ways, in addition to their participation at the center. “We also work with informal educators for meaningful systemwide impact. An example of this is our partnership with our local science museum, the MOSH. Field trips are not always practical due to travel time and the cost of bussing for areas of our region that are rural,” she said To close that gap and bring equitable access to experiences for students, STEM2 Hub invested in developing an outreach program. The first year of the outreach, STEM2 Hub worked with existing MOSH programs that could be taken on the road. “This was well received, and wonderful, but we wanted to do something more. Something that infused computer science, and was transdisciplinary in nature. We thought about what might be interesting to students. Then we got an idea... Mars! We put our heads together to create something new. Red Rover Robotics!” Schofield explained that the floors of cafeterias and gymnasiums are transformed into the surface of Mars. Students simulate a “crash landing” with their robot, and then are set free to explore, record data, and learn.
“PRESERVICE TEACHER PREPARATION
WILL BE CRITICAL TO A SUSTAINABLE EFFORT TO EXPAND ACCESS TO COMPUTER SCIENCE.” - Kathleen Schofield
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
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