Contact Information:
Mr. Dempsey
E-Mail: dempseyj@franklinps.net
STEM CLASS
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS
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Dear Parents and Guardians,
I am providing some information about myself and STEM class to help you understand the structure of STEM class. I hope your find the information helpful and informative.
E-Mail: dempseyj@franklinps.net Phone: 508.541.6230 ext. 2844 Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to working with your child.
Sincerely,
Mr. Dempsey
Biography and Philosophy:
I am in my 14th year of teaching, my 6th year in Franklin. I have taught grades K-8 throughout my teaching career giving me a strong understanding of students’ academic and emotional development. I have served on District Science Curriculum Teams, District Emotional Health Task Force, and District Math Curriculum Teams. This year I will also be running the homework club on Mondays and Tuesdays and intramurals club on Thursdays.
I have a solid understanding of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and weave science and engineering concepts into lessons and activities. I design lessons and activities that focus on inquiry investigations where students ask questions and build understanding through hands-on investigations. I foster critical thinking and help students find connections between their life and the science and technology/engineering curriculum. Here are my course objectives:
➢ Develop an understanding of the Massachusetts Science, Technology and Engineering
Curriculum Frameworks in the areas of Technology/Engineering.
➢ Make connections between concepts presented in mathematics and science classes and
technology and engineering.
➢ Develop critical thinking skills by analyzing problems and developing solutions.
➢ Foster a collaborative working environment between among students and between students
and teacher.
Out of School Connections:
I am always looking for ways to connect student learning in school to the science and engineering fields outside of school. I would welcome any connections that parents may provide to help student learning. For example, my wife is a certified prosthetist and orthotist for Boston Prosthetics and Orthotics and will be coming in to present to students how the skills they are learning in class are directly related to her career. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you feel that you have a skill, interest, background, or career that may connect with STEM fields that you would like to share with students. I would love to work with Horace Mann families to enrich learning experiences for students.
6th Grade
Welcome to STEM class! Sixth grade students study the engineering design process. In studying the engineering design process students will identify a problem, research possible solutions, create designs of the solution, then build prototypes, and test and evaluate them to see if they have successfully solved their problem.
7th Grade
Seventh graders will be working individually and in groups to learn about systems and analyze systems to see how well they work together. They will begin with learning the universal systems model and then apply that to forces, structures, and vehicles.
8th Grade
Eighth graders will study the manufacturing process. This will include building and flying a tetrahedral kite, creating a package for an imaginary product, and finishing up the trimester creating a commercial to sell their product.