STEMS2 Plan B Project.. What to do?!

Throughout this entire week I have been weighing the pros and cons of the different types of projects that I wanted to do. The choices were to either do portions of an entire Hawaiian Based Physics Curriculum or a Place-Based STEM Capstone. The pros and cons were very balanced but I seemed more passionate about the Hawaiian Based Physics Curriculum because I thought that it would be so much funner and I love physics. Then I started thinking that the STEM Capstone would allow me to be more flexible with what I wanted to do. Juggling between the two ideas, I created another that I will now add to my Plan B Project Proposal.

I am planning to do a Hawaiian Based Integrated Science Curriculum, which involves part of the Physics and Capstone idea that I was juggling between. But this is just a teaser =) Once my proposal is finalized and I am 100%, then I will share more. 

What I do want to talk about is what I recently did with my Physics students. It was more STEM related but it could be translated into something place-based or cultural based because it deals with collisions and impact forces, what around us doesn't have that?! Anyway, I did the classic Egg Drop with my students. This project took about three weeks but we went over so many things. 

We started with the Engineering Design Process and I made a lot of constraints that really made the students have to actually draw out their design and label everything with dimensions. Prior to this, I taught the students about conservation of energy, momentum, and impulse. I told them to really think about these concepts and how mass, time, speed, etc, affects the impact that the egg will feel once it hits the ground. 

We had two drop days, the first drop day was to just test their original prototypes so that they have time to learn and improve their capsules. This is the first time that I allowed it and it became very beneficial. In one of my periods, only one capsule survived each of our three drops. When the actual drop day came around, 7 survived! The final drop day required the students to take data for their calculations. The end calculation would be to solve for the impact force that their egg capsules felt. The final drop day was very exciting for the students and below I provide videos and pictures of their excitement.

For the math, they did all their calculations (they needed to solve for the velocity once it hit he ground using the conservation of energy, momentum, impulse, the weight of their casules **different from mass**, and the impact force). Using all of their calculations, we used Google Sheets to graph the data as a class to compare how each variable affects the impact force for each of the students' capsules. Their final grade depends on their complete and typed laboratory reports that was shared between the partners, I'm assuming through Google Docs, they had the freedom to decide.

This lesson had so much STEM in it and I was so happy to see how they though that it was awesome. They had to do so much calculations, math, science, technology, everything! But they all liked it, so I'm happy =) Enjoy the pics and videos! This is also a semi-preview of what my Plan B Project will include.

A STEMS2 Unit Should...

A STEMS2 unit should allow the students to see the integration between Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Social Sciences, and Sense of Place. I feel that right now, people teach all of these things separately but I feel that the purpose of making an acronym is so that we know that these things should be treated differently but they work very well together. The point that I’m trying to make here is that instead of one day having the students learn about science or one day have the students learn about math, but make an entire unit or lesson that involves applying each of the different categories as a whole. If we do this, I feel that our students would be more engaged because many of these topics involve the students to be hands-on, do problem solving, make use of modern and non-modern day technology, and even use or apply what they have learned towards their environment and society.

The experiences that the students should engage in should definitely be related to real-life experiences that they’ll encounter. However, this may be difficult because we can’t have field trips to everybody’s homes every day because we not only need to fulfill our STEMS2 goals, but also our standards of the curriculum that we’re involving STEMS2 in. Therefore, I feel that we should have a balance of engaging the students outside of the classroom and within the classroom so that they are engaged with actual surroundings that they’ll encounter. They will not be stuck in a classroom for the rest of their lives… unless they become a teacher =P

It is difficult for me to give a time limit for how long this unit should be because I feel that the best units or lessons are the ones that the students will carry on and experience for the rest of their lives. If we can give them the skills that they’ll use and remember in our STEMS2 class, then it’ll be the best unit ever. It is unfortunate though that as for me, I’m limited on the curriculum that’s already made for my class, so I not only need to focus on STEMS2, but just physics experiences that they need to encounter. I love having to incorporate or think of the ideas that keep popping into my head about applying STEMS2 into a physics point of view though.

Therefore, to summarize the key parts simply, I feel that our STEMS2 unit should:

Emphasize the integration and connection between Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Social Sciences (societal issues), and Sense of Place (taking care of the environment and others)

Make a connection with the standards in the classes that we’ll be teaching in

Use multiple ways to assess the students both inside and outside of the classroom

“Learning Journeys” that relate to the students’ life and sense of place

There’s probably more, but these are definitely the ones that are jumping out at me. Hope you enjoyed the read!

Emotional Behavior Disorder, Nurture or Nature?

Hi all!

For this free-write, I wanted to show you guys a video that I made during my sophomore year in college (I rode bike everyday back then if you notice some physical changes :) I also had braces for a verryyy long time). This video is made as it is fiction, but it is actually based on a true story, a true story of what my brother and I kind of grew up with.

The actors/actresses:

Jeremy Rogers (the brother with EBD) - Derek Ford (my boyfriend)

Jessie Rogers (the sister of brother with EBD) - Tessie Lumabao (me)

Mr. Teru Kono (teacher of student with EBD) - Lalepa Koga (my Hawaiian instructor at UH Manoa)

The reason why I want to show you guys this video that I made awhile ago is to get a feel for what many of our students may struggle with at home, this is also for our SPED students, or non-SPED students, that act out in class and the video gives some suggestions of how to help those students.

I guess in a way I'm showing you my sense of space when I was younger, in a way. Hope you enjoy it!

Click on the link below and make sure that your restricted access/safe mode on YouTube is off.

https://youtu.be/-MSC3_YJI6A

Multiple Senses of Place and Teaching

Prior to reading any articles or listening to others about what Sense of Place was, I had my own ideas of it. My idea of having a Sense of Place is to have a natural sense for something where one is able to create and predict the actions of the place based off of his/her own experiences and even gut feelings. It would involve us using our five senses, our na'au, and how often we interact with the place that would make us more sensible to it. However, from our readings and other's experiences with this definition, I feel that it is still my own idea, in addition to so much more because everybody's own sense or senses of place is different.

Gruenwald puts his definition of Sense of Place into five categories, Perceptual, Sociological, Idealogical, Political, and Ecological. I feel that these categories do add up to a sense of place because each place is defined individually by each person's perceptions from their experiences, their awareness of society's agreed upon beliefs and ideas of the place, the politics and capital involved with the place, and a person's interactions within the environment of the place. The sentence that you just read is pretty much my definition of Gruenwald's Sense of Place categories. I meshed it all into once sentence because I feel that it is difficult, I would like to say impossible, to only have one idea about a Place. All these things that he talks about shouldn't be separated, but it's all the parts that contribute to a person having a sense of place. So, what matters, to me, is to have an open-mind to everybody's individual sense of place for everything that they respect and are passionately involved with and a way to do that I could see myself doing that is to not individualize, separate, or assume a person's sense of place.

Something was brought up in an online session that I had with the STEMS2 cohort that I can't get out of my head. It was a comment that the military students don't have a sense of place. I was a little bothered by this comment because by making this assumption, we are not being open-minded to the military students' sense of place. From our readings, we should have learned by now that everybody has a sense of place. I feel that our goal as educators is to do our best to educate ALL of our students and one of the best ways to do that is to get all of them involved. Involved could be involved with the school, the community, the society, anything really, but most importantly, involved with their own learning within the classroom.

Yes, students that have recently moved to Hawaii don't have a sense of the culture in Hawaii, but they could have their own sense of place here in Hawaii. Many of my students in Waipahu immigrated here from the Philippines. Heck, half of my family immigrated from the Philippines. My dad moved here when he was four and got adopted by his aunty, while his birth parents and siblings stayed in the Philippines. It wasn't until I was 8 years old and 25 years later for my dad that they moved to Hawaii and have stayed ever since. They did not know the culture, they did not know the area, but they knew their perceptions and ideas of Hawaii as well as the politics of America. For a while, it was actually difficult for me to have a sense of their place as well as they did for mines. They would talk in Ilocano to each other but whenever they'd talk to my family it'd be English. This made me feel left out and it was difficult for me to want to even BE Ilocano, I admit, was somewhat ashamed because they'd always talk Ilocano wherever we went. Looking back now, whenever we went to the beach, they would always feel left out because they never knew how to swim. From realizing our differences in our sense of place, we taught each other the things that we were missing. My dad taught them how to swim and they taught me a little bit of Ilocano as well as how to cook some of the most delicious food. From this experience, I know that I have grown to better have a sense for myself.

I am rambling about my experience because I would like to relate my experience to how it should be within our classroom. If we learn about the different senses of place of our students, then we can build connections and relationships with them that'll enable them to learn in a more positive environment. My students don't even know what the Hawaiian word, " 'ae " means, but they do know how to change a diaper or speak in many other languages that we are even unaware of. Sorry, wanted to say change a diaper because that is the type of environment that many of them do have to live in. Anyways, I feel that if we include our students' senses of place within the classroom then we will have culturally responsive instruction and this will teach the students respect (through modeling) as well as even change their negative perspectives of school and our classrooms. Many of the students coming into my class think that Science is hard and that they don't like it, but when I relate it to things that they do know or are passionate about, then they too become open-minded to learning what I have to offer.

Portrait of Waipahu High School

Hey guys! Here's the link to my portrait, enjoy this video. Took me a while but like my Portrait of Place, I like it :)

https://youtu.be/B38THS9D3qw

Beginning Stages of STEMS2

From what I have learned about making an effective learning environment, the students need to be able to work well together, trust, and to be blunt, like each other. In order for me to get this started, I have taken the Marshmallow Challenge and used it in each of my classes. I used the challenge with minor "tweeks" of not allowing the students to use tape, they would use string and 2 more marshmallows instead, because I had a feeling that a few students may have already done this challenge. From this challenge I got to see some of the students' strengths, weaknesses, like who in my class I could view as leaders and who in the class needs to work on their speaking and teamwork skills. This challenge can be seen as something perfect for Engineers, but it is perfect for any individual that wants to build their teamwork and social skills, which are great skills to have in any job or future goals/plans that the students have. From this, I have noticed the students that worked together in the challenge are more friendlier. Therefore, I plan to create different teamwork challenges throughout the school year so that they each get to experience working with different types of people and personalities, further strengthening their social skills.

Besides teamwork, my science and engineer classes require the students to build their observations skills. Kilo was the perfect word that came to mind. According to wehewehe.org (Hawaiian dictionary, check it out.. click on it.. type a word in.. it's awesome and accurate), the type of kilo that I'm referring to is observing in great detail. Scientists and engineers use this skill to help them with asking questions, solving problems as well as discovering and creating new things. To introduce my Kilo assignment to the students, I asked them if they knew what the word meant. The students that spoke up mentioned kilogram, kilometer, etc. Probably because we just went over the metric system together. I backed up and asked them what language did they think it was. They guessed that the language was Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, French... not Hawaiian! Not one of them guessed Hawaiian. I asked the students where they were from, forgetting to realize that majority of them were born from the Phillippines. So I rephrased my question, where do you live? The response: "America!" The thought "oh dear" went through my head and finally with more pushing they said they lived in Hawaii and I told them that the word originates from the Hawaiian language. The fact that they are not involved with the Hawaiian culture was very surprising to me because I knew a lot about it as I was growing up in Kauai. 

It is sad for me to find that the students live in Hawaii but have no idea of the culture and the language, or even have the thought of "Hawaiian" in their head. The reason for this could be that a lot of the students are immigrant, so they probably know their birth culture really well and haven't had anybody introduce them to the Hawaiian culture yet, gladly, that is what I am here to do. Overcoming my sadness and realizing the reality, I explained the assignment. Whenever kilo is on the agenda, we are all going to go outside for 15 minutes to observe my object/purpose/task for the day. For my Integrated Science class, we are going through our Photosynthesis unit. We went outside and they chose one plant to take observations on. It was a great experience for me. I saw the students touch the plants, getting really close to them, looking for every single detail. I told them to use their senses, except for taste of course, and they did. When finished with kilo, some of them found it difficult because they realized how many details there are in just one little object. As for my Physics class, we went to one of the highest points on campus to observe all the different types of energy that they saw. Since there was so much, I tried to have them focus on one type of energy or else we could have been out there the entire class period.

I explained the importance of kilo from a science and engineering perspective. However, I haven't explain to the students the power of kilo in the Hawaiian perspective, yet. I plan to very soon but not exactly sure how to approach it yet or intertwine it within my curriculum. The students seemed excited when I told them that we'll involve more culture within their learning and they also helped me think of some field trips that we could do for physics. I can't wait to continue with the school year and plan my units based off of STEMS2.

Beginning Struggles with the Integration

This year I am teaching Physics, Integrated Science, and Introduction to Engineering. I'm thinking, these courses are perfect for integrating STEMS2! Physics is a science class but with a lot of math application and integrated science is the integration of all the basic sciences and engineering could be so well related to other subjects. However, finding the connections and how to add the integration of STEMS2 has been the easy part, but finding the time for my additions is the struggle.

From teaching Physics in my previous years, it was difficult for me to fully get into each of my topics because my students struggled a lot when it came to their basic math, mostly things from Algebra 1. As a result of this, I found myself not only teaching the students physics but reteaching them math, which I don't mind, but have found myself needing to do that again. By doing this I have been really able to reach the STEM integration into my class, but am a little worried about the S2 part because we, and probably other schools, have this thing called "Data Teams". In "Data Teams", we are supposed to use common assessments with our fellow physics teachers for every unit. However, it is difficult to have a common assessment towards STEMS2 that would cater to the needs of my fellow physics teachers and administration. I am also worried about this because physics is an upperclassmen class and my students are so unfamiliar with this integration that they will struggle at first, but I'm sure they'll love it in the end.

As for Integrated Science (our freshmen science class), each quarter is devoted towards a different science. Nevertheless, I have found it a lot easier to integrate STEMS2 into this class. I have actually already had the students create a journal where they would not only work on their labs, but also practice using their kilo (observation) skills. We go outside at least once every two weeks to practice their kilo for about 15 minutes. The students have really enjoyed it and found that just observing one single object can be difficult. As soon as they get better, I will have them observe more, but as of right now they are focusing on one plant. This matches perfectly with the class because in order for them to have great science lab reports, they need to really have mastered the power of observation, they can gain so much knowledge from it.

My Intro to Engineering class is where I am most excited to have them participate in STEMS2 this year because it's perfect! The only struggle that I can foresee is that I co-teach the class with someone who is difficult when it comes to see other's points of view. He is kind of the type to think that his way is the best. I am the main teacher of the class and he's very open to me teaching however I want, but he does like to change up things without notice and that will be a little difficult for me to keep my plans straight. 

Just like anything new and different comes struggles, but I'm confident that we can get through them and that it'll all pay off in the end. :)