Week 4- What defines a high quality STEM learning environment?

Engage

Think about your personal history as a STEM learner.

My official journey began in January 2014 when I entered community college as a Biology major. However, I would argue that I’ve been a lifelong STEM learner. I’ve seen from the videos shared in Knowing and Learning class that infants and toddlers instinctively think mathematically and scientifically.

Join me as we take a journey back over my personal history as a STEM learner.

The Physics of Happiness

Here I am at four-months-old pondering the chemistry of the love between two biological specimens father and daughter. In all seriousness, I was quite the scientist at this age. I tested everything! My primary strategy involved putting everything I found into my mouth. This stage of my STEM development also included massive amounts of time observing my surroundings. I assimilated enormous amounts of information in a short amount of time. More than any other stage in my life thus far.

How do I get out of this thing?

At 9-months-old I tackled biological motion jobs such as this one pictured. It was an exercise in productive struggle. Other significant accomplishments from that age included learning to sit up unassisted, crawl, and eventually walk. My family told me that I walked early at eight months old. I tend to believe the stories as both of my children learned to walk at the same age. I read an interesting article on Science Daily Insight "Insight into how infants learn to walk" (Check out the linked story to learn more about how infants learn to walk.) The study looked at how babies, given the opportunity to experience “reflex walking,” recognized the same motion in videos opposed to infants that hadn’t “reflex walked” as evidenced by electrical activity in their brains. This information leads me to believe that my parents must have spent as much time allowing me to "reflex walk" as I did with my daughter and son.

Pensive Scholar Pondering the Physics of the Fountain Ponytail is it Applies to Biological Systems

Being a toddler is serious business! My math skills blossomed at that age. During that period, I could tell you that I was 2-years-old and that my sister was 1-years-old. I held up two fingers to indicate my age and one for my sister’s age. When my mother set out a few Cheerios on the table for me and a few plus even one more for my baby sister on her high-chair tray I spotted the difference and would look at my mother horrified as if she had welcomed back the prodigal son!

Budding Engineer

My first Lincoln Logs set! I spent hours engineering buildings and fences. I fussed over symmetry in form. This playset taught me about balance and structure and the relevance of angles. I ruined the beautiful cylindrical cardboard container in which they came when I decided I needed to know how much water it could hold. Earlier that day, my mother allowed me to bake bread with her and demonstrated how to read the 1 cup and 2 cup lines on the measuring cup. So, essentially, I blame her. Moving on…

Pre-flight Excitement

I remember it as if it was yesterday. This project represents my most significant engineering feat and at only seven-years-old! True, I was much more of an assistant than a creator, but according to my father, I was the best helper ever! My father also taught me how to measure length and width, create a 45-degree angle with a miter saw, and how to count out nails in groups of 5, 10, and 20.

See that ladder? I used that same ladder several months later in a physics experiment. My father painted the garage, and he left it propped up against the back end whenever he finished working. One day, we went inside to have lunch, and I watched my mother change the trash while dad and I scarfed down PBJs. It fascinated me how the bag filled with air. My dad saw my interest and explained that parachutes work the same way. Mistake dad. Big mistake.

When he went to the bathroom, and my mother tended to my new infant brother, I grabbed a trash bag from the box and headed out to the garage. When I approached the ladder, I realized that the bag would get in the way of my climbing. I stuffed it inside my shirt. I will admit I was nervous. I loved climbing, but I had never climbed that high. The ladder didn’t quite reach the top, but I was nimble. I straddled the peak and shook the bag out. (It’s a good thing children have a low center of gravity.) Then, I carefully stood up.

I felt scared and excited! I remember thinking, “I have to jump out far enough, so I don’t hit the ladder.” Things I didn’t understand: terminal velocity, mass impacts rate of descent, surface area matters. Full of excitement, I jumped! For a brief moment the bag filled with air. Exhilaration! Then, it collapsed. Panic! Be assured- I survived! I didn’t break a single bone, either.

The fall knocked the wind out of me. I couldn’t move. That is how my father found me. He wasn’t sure if I was alive or dead at first. “Christine! Oh, my God! Christine!” I still remember the sound of angst in his voice. It still breaks my heart to this day to think back on it. He begged God to let me be okay. (We were not a religious family.) He was afraid to touch me at first and told me not to move. He told me to blink, asked me if I could talk, and felt my neck. Slowly I regained the use of my faculties and started bawling. He picked me up and squeezed me close to him. He mentioned his impending death. The one surely to reign down upon him at the hands of my mother when she found out about my adventure. I quickly realized her punishment would surely include me. I cried more. We decided to not mention it to her.

I learned two vitally important things that day. First, was one of the most valuable lessons I learned about doing science and one to which I still hold fast, safety first. Second, mothers always find out.

More physics fun!

Bernoulli's principle helps explain that 1980s hairstyles can achieve lift because of the shape of their wings. Fact.

Future Electronics Technician

Ah, look how happy 18-year-old Christine is six months before leaving to become an electronics technician in the US Navy. I even still have the books we used in the program!

If You’re Not Part of the Solution, You’re Part of the Precipitate

Here I am in Chemistry lab during my first year of college at the spry young age of 46. My days, afternoons, nights, and weekends consisted of studying math and the sciences. My college career began at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania (say that three times fast!) where seeing non-traditional students like myself was not unusual. My lab table was nicknamed the AARP Team because all five of us were over 40-years-old. We loved the moniker! Our table was always the most prepared, the first ones finished, and had the most-complete lab reports. We set the bar. I’m proud to have been a member of the AARP Team!

Elbow Model #1

Elbow Model #2

Revised Elbow Model

My most recent STEM endeavor involved collaboratively modeling an elbow joint. This project involved considering angles, physiology, anatomy, and other engineering applications. This activity demonstrated how much further one could go if willing to make revisions and look at the problem from a different perspective. If I ever teach Anatomy and Physiology, this project will be included as one of my lessons.

My journey as a STEM learner has been a lifelong mission. I hope I get another 50 years!

Math class needs a makeover- Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer expounded the virtues of the productive struggle in tackling real-world challenges. He showed that by using a problem from the students' textbook and narrowing it down to one question, he could take a word problem (the nemesis!) and create a fun, engaging, and worthwhile learning project for his students. The example Mr. Meyer shared in the video involved asking the question how long will it take to fill the object? He cleverly designed the project to focus on filling the container very slowly with water. It took so long that eventually, the students asked, "How long is it going to take to fill?" This exasperated question indicated to him the pupils' full investment in solving the problem.

What I loved and took away from the video is the idea of choosing an example from their dreaded textbooks and creating an engaging question to accompany a hands-on project-based learning experience.

References

Lancaster University. "Insight into how infants learn to walk." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 December 2017

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171214101444.htm>