In one of my days substituting, I had the privilege of observing this class in action. They were working on a disaster relief project that would have real world uses. The class was set up with a few tables throughout the room with chairs all around. There were about 5 desktop computers as well as a cart of 10 laptop computers. The students were broken into groups of 4-5 and were all thoroughly engaged in their projects.
One group was working on an alarm to alert homeowners when their basement was starting to flood. This alarm was an alarm clock that had a water sensor attatched. Although the students have not had a formal class on building alarms, they were able to use videos and information tutorials online to create their device.
As technology contiues to grow, I hope to see more classrooms like this one. This class taught students to think outside the box and to access the plethora of information availible to them online to learn and create meaningful projects.
I think that this class is awesome. I never been to a school that offers a class like this but I am sure that in the future they will become more common. I think classes like this are very useful for students because it teaches students how to work in real life problems in a multi-subject area. This class includes science, technology, and math. I would love to observe a class like this and learn more about it .
ReplyDeleteI have never had the opportunity to experience a classroom like this although I wish I had. There are so many resources that are made readily available to us online and I think we take advantage of this since we rarely use these resources to the best of their ability. I definitely think that STEM should be seen in many more classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI love this! Its so important for kids to understand why we are teaching them the things we do. These classes can get kids to see how to connect the information they learn to each other and see its practical use. I wish more kids could take classes that are like this!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really interesting classroom setting. It seems those subjects complement each other well and have a lot of potential in the classroom. I would have loved to be part of a class like this. Collaboration between subjects is very valuable and students can learn a lot from each other in these scenarios.
ReplyDeleteThat is really awesome! A lot of times people think that just because kids are young they are not able to work to answer difficult problems. I have always wondered what it would be like to teach children variables at an early age. Instead of asking students questions like 5 - what is 2, replace what with x and see if they can understand. This STEM class you observed works like that, it doesn't assume that students won't enjoy working with difficult problems.
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