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Provide a general description of the learning experiences in which the STEAM students were most successful. Additionally, generally describe the learning experiences that need improvement for greater student success.
Provide a general description of the learning experiences in which the STEAM students were most successful. Additionally, generally describe the learning experiences that need improvement for greater student success.
The mission of Munford Elementary is to provide an engaging, rigorous curriculum empowering all students to be college and career ready. The school’s vision is to see all students develop into leaders as they set and accomplish goals that will prepare them to achieve success. Munford Elementary School is a Title I school which uses supplemental funds for improvement of all educational aspects with an emphasis on parental involvement. The school is committed to helping students reach excellence. Students set academic goals and personal goals at the beginning of each nine weeks. Students track their progress towards goals in a leadership notebook. Parents are invited to the school for student-led conferences where students explain their own growth and data. As students persevere to achieve their goals, teachers emphasize having a growth mindset.
Students participate in a program throughout the school year called #GoGreenWithSTEAM. Through STEAM activities, students in every classroom learn about the environment and how they can make an impact in conserving Earth's resources. Through the #GoGreenwithSTEAM project, first graders studied the Red Emperor Tulip in their Journey North Test Gardens. They joined students from across the Northern Hemisphere to help monitor seasonal changes in a scientific way. In the fall, the students documented the following in their science journals: the planting of the bulbs, temperature changes, and the changes happening through the seasons in Munford. In the spring, when the plants emerged and bloomed, the first graders tested gardeners’ reports and recorded the data in their journals. On the Journey North website, the students saw first hand the relationship between the climate, geography, and how the greening of spring is revealed. During this STEAM project, the students learned how local climate affects where, when, and how plants grow. Students learned about sustaining the Earth and how the timing of plant growth can be used as an indicator of climate change.
PreK and kindergarten students participated in #GoGreenwithSTEAM by hosting a community salad party. Forget the traditional pizza parties and birthday parties. These students were salad enthusiasts! With the help of high school students, teachers used this project to encourage students to eat healthier and learn how to grow their own food. Last fall, the students worked in the outdoor classrooms and gardens on campus to grow their lettuce. Students had to weed the raised beds, plant lettuce, water the plants, and weed the beds a final time before it was time to harvest. After the harvest, parents and the community were invited to bring in dressing, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, and bacon bits. With the lettuce grown by the students and the toppings brought in by visitors, the students had a fantastic salad party. In addition to students learning where lettuce comes from, students learned about how to grow plants and what plants need from their environment to live. After this STEAM project, kindergarten students could not wait to tell their teachers stories about how they were growing gardens at their homes and eating healthier.
Fifth grade students participated in #GoGreenwithSTEAM by creating a historical arboretum to share with other students and the community. The students raised over $2500 which helped fund a walking track on the campus where historical trees are planted. The students researched the trees and their historical significance and created brochures and pamphlets to give to the community who were invited to the walking trail to learn about the project from the students. There are currently six trees on the walking trail including a Loblolly Pine from Helen Keller’s birthplace, a Sycamore from George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and a Red Maple from Henry David Thoreau’s The Walden Woods Project. Students also learned how they could help sustain the environment by planting trees.
Fourth grade students participated in #GoGreenwithSTEAM by learning all about natural disasters, how to prevent them, and how to be prepared for them. Students created structures that could withstand earthquakes and hurricane-force winds. Students were challenged to create and design helicopters that could be used to rescue people during a flood.
These are only a few examples of the many STEAM activities students at Munford Elementary were immersed in during their #GoGreenwithSTEAM projects. All of these STEAM and environmental education projects came together on May 4th, 2018, during the annual Get Outdoors Day Festival. There were stations set up by several community partners such as the US Forest Service, Alabama Forestry Commission, 4-H, the Town of Munford, and Cheaha State Park. There were also stations set up where students shared information about clubs and their environmental STEAM projects. Every student at Munford Elementary rotated through stations with their teacher to learn about these innovative projects. Over 1400 people participated in the 2018 Get Outdoors Day. It was an excellent venue for students to showcase their learning to an audience where it could make an impact!
During the 2016-2017 school year, Munford Elementary School was named a MyOn Spotlight School and was featured in several articles where student growth was spotlighted including ASCD SmartBrief, EdTech SmartBrief, and STEM SmartBrief. The MyOn Spotlight article focused on students’ Lexile growth in reading. In 2016, Munford Elementary implemented a one-to-one technology initiative. All students received a laptop to use at school. Students in third through fifth grade were given twenty-four-hour access to their devices. Innovative teaching practices and the one-to-one technology initiative continue to be a priority at the high poverty school.
In July of 2018, Munford Elementary was named an Alabama Bicentennial School and received a $2000 grant to initiate projects that would teach students about Alabama’s history. Munford Elementary continues to seek resources to provide opportunities that will empower the students to strive for excellence. Most recently, in January of 2019, Munford Elementary was named a CLAS School of Distinction for the innovative project, #GoGreenWithSTEAM!
As a staff, we are aware that there is room for continual improvement in the seamless integration of STEAM across all content areas. Talladega County Schools, in collaboration with AMSTI, created STEAM cohorts for different content areas; this year the cohort focused on English Language Arts and history, which should improve STEAM integration into those core subject areas. During the 2018 -2019 school year, our school focus has been increasing student accountability to better increase student engagement. One way we are meeting this focus is by improving impactful technology use both for educators and students. Students are also taking ownership of their learning activities through the use of learning menus and rubrics. Teachers are working to implement lessons which are on a higher level of the SAMR model as student pursue inquiry-based learning that connects to meaningful activities. The professional development at the school during the 2018-2019 has been focused on helping teachers integrate STEAM into all content areas. When teachers are collaborating together, great things happen and instruction improves.
Learning through embedded P.D. and STEAM PBLs continues in 2022. Kindergarten students and teachers, along with Munford Middle and Munford High School FFA students learned about how corn is grown and harvested in Alabama. STEAM family night was hosted in October 2022 with a record turn out, as students, parents, and community partners all participated in a variety of STEAM activities. In addition, STEAM Career Day held at Munford Elementary School in February 2022 and again in October 2022 demonstrated to students about future careers and job opportunities that build on STEAM skills every day.
Provide examples of how the STEAM educators and facilitators implement and sustain the core tenets of an effective and age-appropriate STEAM curriculum.
Provide examples of how the STEAM educators and facilitators implement and sustain the core tenets of an effective and age-appropriate STEAM curriculum.
We are a STEAM school. While we are fortunate to have a STEAM lab, a STEAM leadership team, and a Makerspace room, these are not the reasons we are a STEAM school. Our students are immersed in an environment that includes Problem-based Learning, the Engineering Design Process, and problem solving strategies throughout their daily classroom curriculum and instruction. During the 2015–2016 school year, plans were made to begin including STEAM daily into our curriculum. In addition, we created our STEAM lab, and the school devoted a classroom instruction unit to provide a STEAM teacher. All classes have weekly experiences in the STEAM lab or Makerspace room for enrichment for students and embedded STEAM Professional Development for teachers. Most recently, in 2018, we increased our STEAM focus by offering several PD sessions on integrating the Engineering Design Process into multiple subject areas. In addition, Mrs. Clifton became the new STEAM teacher, and the process of STEAM PD and teacher collaboration was continued.
The implementation of integrated STEAM strategies provides our students the opportunity to stay ahead of the recent trend towards performance-based assessments and skills-based reporting. It also serves as a connection between the traditional classroom and the digital classroom. As a result of technology, what students learn, as well as how and when they learn, are changing.
Teachers regularly reflect on the assessment of STEAM skills and content. Teachers work collaboratively to create rubrics for STEAM instruction and products. STEAM is fully embedded into our curriculum as a vehicle for content instruction. Our curriculum adapts to include student ideas and voice while still addressing content standards.
Our students are most successful in STEAM through the integration of STEAM concepts into multiple content areas. There is STEAM instruction in every grade level at Munford Elementary, from Pre-K through 5th grade, that includes conservation and sustainability issues that engage students with relevant and real-world connections. These include community service projects that give students appreciation and empathy to participate effectively in the community and beyond.
Munford Elementary School is fortunate to have a full-time technology integration specialist on staff, as well as a full-time STEAM teacher. These two individuals are committed to helping teachers at Munford Elementary utilize technology in purposeful ways. In June of 2018, the school’s principal and technology integration specialist spent seven days at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, participating in technology training led by the Dynamic Learning Project. The focus of the training was to improve educational equity by empowering teachers to leverage technology in impactful ways. A guiding principle of the Dynamic Learning Project is that all students deserve equal and abundant access to technology and opportunities to use that technology in impactful ways. Training will continue to be provided to all certified staff at Munford Elementary through the partnership with the Dynamic Learning Project. All teachers will participate in coaching cycles with the technology integration specialist ,as well as, the STEAM teacher during the 2018-2019 school year.
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