Washington Science Teachers Association Workshop for teachers on STEM.

The outline of a workshop and accompanying Powerpoint deck designed by Lolo Sherwood and John McNamara for the NSF NextGen-STEM-sponsored Pacific Lutheran University STEM Workshop that was to be held in July 2021.  Participants  engage in a physical science investigation of light then find connections to vision and nerve transmission. They practice using the three dimensional aspect of NGSS to utilize math and engineering to solve real world problems.  They use data to design models of how the eye receives and processes light to create vision in life sciences.  The initial prompts/phenomena come from a variety of social and geographic settings; such that participants must use engineering design and computational thinking to create solutions  for people who lack access to first world optometry.

One may think that this is 'too much' or that 'we don't do that in my class'; however, this set of examples uses tested curricular and lesson/bundle approaches to show "All Standards for All Students".  The three dimensions of NGSS and the interconnectivity of STEM can be taught in a few introductory lessons with a true progression and integration of STEM learning through several grades, with connection to 5e framework: engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate.

WSTA PLU STEM Summit Outline (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 27kB Aug17 21)

It is Just One Wheel_WSTA_PLU_2021.pptx (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 4.7MB Aug17 21)

Suggested Citation

Lolo Sherwood and John McNamara, Washington Science Teachers Association Professional Development 2021. https://serc.carleton.edu/stemteacherprep/resources/245457.html