INTEGRATING STEM BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

This week long summer graduate course involved Florida middle school teachers expanding their math and science literacy through project-based learning and active investigations. Teachers in our region working at title 1 school’s expressed concerns about the upcoming shift to earth science topics in middle school. As a result, we developed this course as a supplement to the Project ASAP Grant funded by the Helios Foundation, which is a collaborative STEM graduate certificate program at USF.

Conducting inquiry outside the classroom requires exploring a dynamic set of environments. We took students to LEGOLAND theme park, the beach at Honeymoon Island State Park, and Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County. At LEGOLAND teachers explored physical science and conducted their own research about the physics of rollercoasters. They used heart monitors, accelerometers, and a variety of smart phone apps to collect data.

The Honeymoon Island trip involved math and science integration including measuring angles and learning about beach profiling, exploring abundance data through shell collecting, calculating wind speed by studying wave frequency, and demonstrated mathematics applications by conducting sand grain analysis.

At Circle B Reserve students interacted with nature in a variety of ways. The land is owned by the South West Florida Water Management District which encourages teachers to participate and collect water samples and to log their data with a worldwide water monitoring organization. We gave teachers free water testing kits from SWFWMD to use with their students and corresponding activities to collect water samples. Teachers also explored the abundant diversity among the species of birds, insects, reptiles, and plants with the help of published guidebooks.

These trips served as a model for experiential learning outside the classroom. Each teacher was challenged with creating student-centered activities that also support the NGSS, Sunshine State, and Common Core Standards. The course also provided teachers with ample earth science and mathematics teaching materials, as well as online resources for their classes supporting the fall curriculum.