WHAT IS STEM SOS?

  What is STEM Education?

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines- science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in an interdisciplinary applied approach. Rather than teach the four disciplines as a suppurate or discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning parading based on real-world.

Why is STEM Education important?

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is important because it pervades every aspect of our lives. High-quality STEM experiences develop critical thinking skills, increase in science literacy and enable the next generation of innovators. Also, the STEM education helps to bridge the ethnic and gender gaps sometimes found in math and science fields. Initiatives have been established to increase the roles of women and minorities in STEM-related fields.

How can STEM shape the future?

STEM education focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. And for a long time, Art Schools, parents, teachers, researchers, and even politicians have long held STEM to be the goal for in an age of tithing school budgets. And we have heard for a long time that there won't be enough people with STEM skills necessary to fill the engineering and tech jobs believed to be coming in the next decade or so. But studies have shown that the technology industry will grow at an incredible rate, and we'll need workers who can code, designers who can problem solve, and innovators who understand what we need before we even need it. The solution of this gap between supply and demand is a greater emphasis on STEM education, starting in elementary and reaching all the way through a graduate level. Some experts say that that there is an actual glut in STEM workers, that companies are laying off more STEM experts than they're hiring and will continue to do so in the future.

Education

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a constructivist instructional approach where students are engaged in a meaningful inquiry of personal interest to them and where collaboration and personalized learning are emphasized. Research confirms that PBL is an effective and enjoyable way to learn and develop deeper learning competencies required for success in college, career, and civic life.

- Buck Institute

STEM SOS Model:

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a constructivist instructional approach where students are engaged in a meaningful inquiry of personal interest to them and where collaboration and personalized learning are emphasized. Research confirms that PBL is an effective and enjoyable way to learn and develop deeper learning competencies required for success in college, career, and civic life. -Buck Institute of Education

STEMSOS is a rigorous, interdisciplinary, standards-focused, and engaging STEM teaching an approach that is teacher-facilitated, student-centered and directed through sets of projects- and inquiry-based (P&IBL) projects. STEMSOS PBL approach is to maintain the focus on standards-based teaching while enriching and extending the learning of students through PBL projects. The goal is to promote not only collaborative skills and student ownership of learning but also to promote student success in state and national standards.

STEMSOS PBL Showcase is designed to promote and share exemplary student work in PBL projects that can serve as valuable learning and teaching tools for students, parents, teachers, and other educators.