Executive Summary

Question One: Provide a general description of the learning experiences in which the STEM students were most successful. Additionally, generally describe the learning experiences that need improvement for greater student success.

At University Place we don't define student success solely based on test scores. While state assessments can help us measure and track academic progress, there are other, equally important metrics to consider when determining what has been "learned". When describing successful STEM learning experiences, especially at the elementary school level, the focus should be on the word "experience". Experience implies an active role in one's learning, a high level of engagement, and some type of opportunity to apply knowledge and grow from newfound understandings. It's no surprise then that the projects that our students were most successful with involved hands-on activities and the utilization of technology. They typically had a finished product or presentation element and provided community exposure in the form of a contest, exhibition, or gallery show. Successful projects combined content from multiple disciplines, and students were allowed to demonstrate their comprehension of a subject or problem in various ways. In all successful projects, there was a strong collaborative effort, both among students and teachers.

One of our favorite, and by any measure most successful, recent experiences was the Paul R. Jones project. This was a joint endeavor with the University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences wherein students were tasked to create a gallery show based on the collected works of Paul R. Jones. We chose a Civil Rights theme to guide the project and connect it to classroom content and state standards. As an engineering component, students designed and built a replica of Selma's infamous Edmund Pettis bridge. They studied the science of sound waves and then built musical "boom pipes" of varying pitch to accompany a vocal performance. Teams interviewed local participants of the Civil Rights movement and crafted video documentaries, and original artwork (oil on canvas) was created based on President O'Bama's iconic "Hope" campaign poster. All of these learning experiences were hands-on, involved multiple disciplines, covered numerous state standards, and culminated with the students hosting an exhibition of their work and live performance at a gallery in downtown Tuscaloosa. The project was such a success that the University of Alabama awarded UPES the Paul R. Jones grant again the very next year despite stiff competition from other schools.

Another great learning experience has been our involvement in a Canstruction event each year. Heavily reliant on math and engineering skills, Canstruction is a team competition that involves students designing and building a 3-D sculpture made of canned goods. This project begins with the typical classroom math instruction of calculating volume, estimating numbers, converting weights, and measurement of area and perimeter, but then asks students to apply those skills as they engineer a freestanding structure that is fashioned to resemble a real-life object. The engineering design process is put to use as collaborative teams test and explore the architectural tenets of balance, structural integrity, and aesthetics. Ultimately a community service project (the canned goods are donated to a local food shelter when the competition ends), content from social studies and art provide additional interdisciplinary connections that make the experience truly holistic. Final sculptures are displayed to the public, giving students a chance to interact with community members as they explain their work process and designs. University Place has earned top building awards in each of the past four events.

We are also very proud of our ongoing school garden project. This is a full-on "seed to stand" production as students learn everything from botany to nutrition, and the science of cooking to the financial planning and logistics of running a farm stand. Obviously, every aspect of having a school garden naturally lends itself to the application of a multitude of science skills. What we've discovered over the years however, is that it is also extraordinarily easy to use the garden for math (measurement, area, perimeter, money), technology (greenhouse and grow light maintenance, weather apparatuses) and even engineering (bed design and construction). The garden has a student and teacher participation level of one-hundred percent, and is the very definition of hands-on learning. When seasonally appropriate, we run a monthly farm stand and have started an after school tie-in, Junior Entrepreneurs, to provide students with practice in cash manipulation and computation.

While we know that all of our activities or projects that put technology directly into students' hands, such as coding or robotics, are invaluable STEM learning experiences, the challenge is in being able to supply sufficient amounts of that technology to ensure active participation at all times, for each student. The ability to collaborate is a much needed skill, but the real "learning" with technology takes place when one's fingers are on a keypad, trigger, or gas pedal. We take pride in the fact that our students have access to an electric car, and that they actually built it alongside engineers from UA, but there can be only one driver at a time. Our 3-D printer is capable of turning out incredible, amazing objects, but students tend to lose focus when their turn to design is buried in a long queue. Last year we built BMX bikes and obtained kits for remote control cars to promote collaboration in mathematics practice, but still had difficulties in ensuring that instructional time wasn't wasted while students waited for their turn at the helm. We have programmable robots appropriate for each grade level (even Pre-K) and the students are adept and wildly enthusiastic about using them, but it is not always easy to be a spectator or even a collaborator (especially in Pre-K) when children have grown accustomed to having a tablet or game in-hand, and being active participants in their learning.

We want to supply and support our STEM experiences with the requisite tools and resources so that collaborative teams are no larger than three or four students. We want to ensure that learning happens through doing, and through applying. As a Title I school, the funding necessary to make this a reality is not always possible. To help alleviate this problem we are constantly on the lookout for technology and science grants, and have won several to date. We also realize that much of what we need is free of charge and readily available on the internet. For the past few years we've used Hour of Code to introduce our students and our teachers to computer programming and the wonders of Code.Org. Now every single student has an account and we are in the process of sending teachers to coding professional development. Of course, the engineering design process is free, and it doesn't take much more than a keen sense of imagination to create design challenges or problem solving activities that students can complete with a paper towel roll, toothpicks, and some rubber bands.

Question Two: Provide examples of how the STEM educators and facilitators implement and sustain the core tenets of an effective and age-appropriate STEM curriculum.

We've found that implementing and sustaining an age-appropriate STEM curriculum involves three major components (the three "P's"): planning, progression, and professional development.

Planning starts at the top, and is derived from our overall school goals. Administration must set goals, for the school, for each grade level, and, in a larger sense, for every student. Goals form the larger framework, the sustainability aspect, for our planning piece or implementation. Goals must be articulated (e.g. 100 % of students will learn to code), supported (coding workshops for faculty, computer access for students) and monitored (Code.Org student and classroom usage profiles). Planning becomes our "how to", and is seen through the lens of the yearly goals we set. The key to successful planning is ensuring that faculty has dedicated, protected planning time and that everyone is involved. Collaboration is essential. At UPES, grade levels meet weekly to discuss and develop activities, lessons, and thematic units. As ideas are explored the teams solicit input from our librarian/media specialist, music and art teachers, and our PE coach. Not every lesson becomes entirely interdisciplinary, but by bringing all parties to the table the opportunities for cross-curricular instruction become more evident. UPES also houses the autism units for Tuscaloosa City Schools, and because we are dedicated to providing STEM learning experiences for all students, the inclusion of our special education department in the planning process is non-negotiable. As an added benefit we have learned that many of the teaching practices and strategies provided by our specialists are actually great educational tools for everyone. Units and activities that contain strong STEM components or tie-ins are memorialized and cataloged so that they might be utilized and expanded upon during the next semester or school year.

Creating an age-appropriate progression of STEM learning experiences is the second piece in our sustainability and implementation effort. A curricular STEM progression occurs as a byproduct of our goal setting and planning process, both of which entail horizontal and vertical considerations. A great example of a progressive system can be seen in our approach to computer coding and programming. Our very youngest students (Pre-K and kindergarten) get exposed to computer (linear, algebraic) thinking through the use of Cubetto, a small programmable robot that follows user directives to negotiate coordinates on a story map. Students manipulate Cubetto's simple control board with arrows, starts and stop signs. As students progress in age, their robotics progress along with them. "Dash" is a slightly more sophisticated piece of equipment, taking the basic skills of navigation and start/stop points, and adding the concepts of repeat or loop and sound effects. By the time our students hit the upper grades they are ready for "Mindstorms", a fully programmable driving robot that can complete complex tasks based on sensory components. Another resource we utilize is the coding site Code.Org, which is inherently progressive. It has a built in curriculum that allows our students (and our teachers) to develop their computer skills over time. Key terminology, algorithms, and commands are learned at the appropriate age and serve as foundations for the next level of problem solving and critical thinking that students will encounter. Our Lego lab is built on the same premise, and we have age-appropriate kits for each grade level. In Pre-K and kindergarten students learn the basics of engineering and collaboration as they learn to accurately follow blueprints to build structures and vehicles. These principles of architecture and design are utilized at each progression in a greater degree of difficulty. Upper grades build simple machines, robots and learn to create Lego stop-motion movies and comic books. Lastly, our school garden is another example of how we sustain and implement a progression of STEM learning experiences, and over the past few years we've developed (along with our partners Schoolyard Roots) an entire garden curriculum. The garden, greenhouse and grow labs are all "science-by-doing" experiences. We have specific grade level lessons for soil components, proper planting and watering techniques, the parts of a plant, insects, and the life cycle. Our youngest students begin the process with lessons on seeds and plant parts, and by the time they've reached fifth grade they are studying plant cells and running a cash-based farm stand.

The final "P" in our STEM effort is professional development. Our entire faculty, including administration, participates in STEM learning activities, workshops, and conferences. We are constantly on the lookout for new or innovative experiences that will support our staff. This past summer we partnered with Discovery Education to host a STEM Academy at our school wherein state and local educators, parents and stakeholders convened to network, discuss STEM topics, and engage in STEM-related activities (i.e. play with STEM toys and compete in fun design challenges). More recently we sent a teacher team and the assistant principal to the University of Alabama to partake in a Code.Org workshop, while still another group traveled to a STEAM by Design conference. The idea behind these type of experiences is of course to provide faculty with the most up to date and relevant instructional or teaching tools. But we also expect those teachers to come back to UPES and "turn around" their experience in the form of professional development for other faculty members. In this way we are able to sustain our STEM program by providing opportunities for teacher-learning that can directly translate into positive student outcomes. Off campus professional development deployment occurs on a rotational basis so that all teachers eventually get the benefit of hearing new ideas, engaging with new forms of technology and collaborating with like-minded educators. The fact that there is a turnaround aspect of the professional development often pushes our teachers to delve into topics, or the utilization of instruments, that are outside of their discipline (or outside of their comfort zone, for that matter). Our garden partner, Schoolyard Roots, also hosts professional development each summer and three times during the school year to provide teachers a constant level of support and ensure that new teachers become acclimated to garden lessons and curriculum as soon as possible. Additionally, we are an AMSTI school, meaning that all of our teachers regularly receive additional training in science and mathematics through the University of West Alabama.