Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are core elements for constructivist learning. They form the tools that students can use to interpret, modify, and respond to the world around them. Our job as educators is to introduce our students to these tools, help them understand their use, and allow our students to practice using them in real life. If there was a time for teachers to lecture and perform 100% of their time in class, it has clearly ended. I would argue that there was never a good time for that approach. The age of teachers as facilitators has arrived, with teachers offering bridges between childhood and adulthood in responsive, innovative ways. Those bridges, I believe, are made in the STEM fields. Project-based learning is an approach to classroom facilitation that allows students to pursue answers to authentic questions for a public audience. This process, since it employs real-life skills and a public audience, motivates students and allows them to dig deeper in content while they develop the skills they'll need in other aspects of their lives.
Innovation in life relies on problem solving. In order to solve problems, we must recognize a need and address it. In solving this problem, we call on the expertise of others, we employ creativity, and we share our solutions with others. This process happens at corporate levels but it also happens on our daily, micro-level. Our homes are organized to support the day-to-day routines of our families, with car keys close to the door and towels near the sink. Each decision we make is informed by the data we collect, assess, and the engineering we perform to develop a solution. Students, in school, are working through the problems of living; they are negotiating their family procedures, their friendships, and their academic content and processes. The content is freely available with the students' access to the internet, but the other things students learn in school are skills they need to practice and get feedback on as they practice.
The use of technology in STEM allows for innovation in teaching and in learning. The ability to look up instructions or information on any topic is powerful, and the skill of "googling" deserves to be taught so students can find information that is reliable and complete, and that they can find it efficiently. The use of technology allows STEM students to measure with precision, to collect and analyze data, and then to reconfigure their knowledge to share it with a broader audience. The "scientific method" that has been followed in education for years is re-engineered to become a spiral, where students are the constructors and the digital curators of their knowledge.
The pages in this project are related to creating technology-rich experiences for students in the context of Project-Based learning (PBL).
First, a brief review is conducted of the use of technology to facilitate, augment, and improve project based learning. This short annotated bibliography demonstrates the importance of engagement and collaboration in PBL, and how those aspects of learning can be supported through the use of media-rich technology.
Second, a list for teachers and students is provided that shows examples of technology tools, as well as an interactive graphic that includes more links.
Third, a lesson plan is posted for a technology-rich chemistry PBL unit, with live links to standards, rubrics, and the tools the students will use.
The last page is a learning management system for the unit, which includes directions in student-friendly language and embedded links for the different tasks they need to complete.