Balancing STEM

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fetcrobotsbSTEM, STEM, STEM, robots, robots, robots.

I was walking through the FETC exhibit hall looking at what the vendors had to offer and I had a strange thought. I wondered if many of the educators taking in the same sights felt left out. So much of the focus was on coding, robots, and science. What about reading and writing, the humanities, and the social sciences. Perhaps those who might recognize the narrow focus were not in attendance.

Yes, I understand some have noticed that STEAM is also a word and try to use this as a logic to include the arts. Kind of a strange approach, but if that is all you have you give it a try. It is clear where the companies believe the money is at this point. The message the vendors have embraced becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that appeals to parents and perhaps more importantly, politicians. Perhaps educators should be satisfied that politicians see any reason to invest in education. Here we go with another trickle down model.

Yes, I understand some have noticed that STEAM is also a word and try to use this as a logic to include the arts. Kind of a strange and weak argument, but if that is all you have you give it a try. It is clear where the companies believe the money is. The message they bring becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that somehow has appealed to parents and perhaps more importantly, politicians. Perhaps educators should be satisfied that politicians see any reason to invest in education. Here we go with another trickle down model.

I wonder just what problem the emphasis on STEM is supposed to solve. Some see this as an economic issue with science and technology allowing the nation to gain some kind of economic advantage and providing the solutions to some significant problems. I agree, but I just do not see the universal emphasis on STEM for all students providing an efficient benefit. Realistically, most students will not move into STEM careers. If advancing science or technology is the goal, STEM for all is likely less important than offering options for more capable and interested students.

Another argument suggests that technology is part of so many areas of life we need more programs and all need to better understand how technology works. When it comes to the suggestion that coding providing insight into technology-enabled challenges I believe this to be a weak argument. For example, computer literacy is a very different thing from programming. Those promoting computer science make this argument all of the time. It should be recognized that the argument works both ways. Programming is a vocational skill. Many problems associated with technology (e.g., privacy) or even areas of application are really more issues of computer literacy than programming experience.

K12 education is, in reality, a zero sum game.  Increasing a focus on STEM means subtracting time and resources from other subjects. Many of our most serious problems are economic, behavioral, and/or political in nature. The social sciences and humanities folks presently lack strong advocates and can offer fewer sparkly toys to impress parents and politicians. Too bad!

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FETC – the outside aisle

Whenever we attend a tech conference, we have taken to identifying a winner of what we call the “outside aisle” award. The award is given to a smaller company (or at least one we have not heard of before) that has a very interesting product. The way vendor space is allocated the smaller “booths” tend to be arranged around the outside of the vendor arena.

outsideaislefetc16This year’s winner is the Ozobot (Smart Toy Robot) – the small devices on the iPad.

These are programmable robots that can receive instructions in two ways a) from colored lines (the color of the line conveys the instruction) or b) from the Blockly app.

Information about OzoBlocky.

Pricing (also available from Amazon)

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Getting students into computer science

We are attending FETC and the keynote for today was Reshma Saujani the founder of Girls Who Code. Most edtech types are likely well aware of the gender differential in computer science degrees, enrollment in university computer science courses, AP programming courses, etc. Girls Who Code is an attempt to address this equity issue. Much of Reshma’s presentation addressed culture as a major factor in the gender differential.

Here is one thing I know Computer Science advocates note as an important issue and a second factor I think is an emerging and serious problem.

The Computer Science issue – very few states count a secondary-level computer science course toward a math or science graduation requirement. So even when schools (say larger schools) offer a course in programming many students have less of an incentive to take the course.

The Grabe observation (you will see it is related to the issue above) – it seems that more and more students at all level are being discouraged from exploration. The idea is to be efficient and move on. College costs are high and this discourages college students from taking “extra courses” and colleges are pressured to reduce the credits for a degree. More importantly, many high schools are allowing and encouraging students to take “dual enrollment” or other early college courses. So rather than explore and experiment (say be taking a programming course), a high school senior might find a way to take say Introduction to Psychology as such courses meet a general education requirement at nearly all colleges. It is about the money. All of this runs contrary to what we know about the developmental stage of college students (see Marcia’s work on Ego Identity) much less the maturity of high school students.

This may be one of those foolish things that seems logical to so many. Most college students change their majors. Many change multiple times. The notion that high school juniors know where their lives are going is misguided and assuming you are going to be lawyer, doctor, engineer or whatever is actually a bad bet when you are 16-17. It would actually make more sense to experiment and explore in high school when you are not paying by the credits. Even colleges used to require a diversity of course from multiple categories knowing that students should be exposed to topics they may not take if left to their own decision making. Pressure to do education on the cheap has led to a reversal of some of these assumptions. Get out and get a job while spending as little as possible now seems to be the guiding principle. I have spent time advising too many upper division college students who complain about credits they can’t use to think this is a good idea.

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The lure of the shiny and the new

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I attend several ed tech conferences a year and after a couple of decades I have come to some conclusions about the ed conference game.

Educators are attracted to shiny new things? I fall into this group. By new things, I actually mean new gadgets, new instructional philosophies and new instructional strategies. Professional presenters develop an ever changing schtick – making, coding, storytelling – in order to satisfy this demand.

I also attend at least one educational research conference a year. Certainly, there are trends in the topics that seem most dominant, but things move more slowly from year to year and ideas are openly challenged. The community as a whole looks at proposals and asks do they work, what does work mean, why does it work, what are the boundary conditions that define effectiveness, etc.

Don’t interpret this as criticism of any given shiny new thing, but learning is not magic. What are the first principles? How do learning experiences impact cognition? How do experiences modify motivation? I would argue the history of educational trends would argue against limiting our perspective to what tends to impress us at any given point in time. The transition from one shiny thing to the next comes with overhead. It takes time and it takes money to make transitions from one thing to the next. There will always will be those who both feed and take advantage of this constant overhead. They show educators the new things, explain how the new things are applied, and accept payment in return. These individuals should not be our only educational heroes.

I wish conferences offered some combination of proposed practical tactics and critical examination. I wonder how this could be accomplished? What if one of the key notes was given by a relevant educational researcher? Researchers and practitioners now seem to not only work in different worlds, but seek out conferences that further distance these two communities.

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Outside Aisle

I have a tradition applied at each tech conference I attend of finding something in the vender area that I think deserves greater exposure. To qualify, a product must come from what I consider a little known vender. I have taken to calling this quest “wandering the outside aisles” because the smaller booths are positioned in these locations.

The FETC selection for 2015 comes from Keytech, Inc. and are devices for adding touch technology to existing screens. So these relatively inexpensive devices can be positioned over monitors/screens of any size or even over a white space targeted by a projector. The touch surface then allows interaction with the display. An interesting option allows multiple users to act upon the surface at the same time – think several elementary students drawing simultaneously.

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Traveler

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Mark at the “Home of Superman” rest stop.

We are on the road for 6 weeks and I assumed there must be some app or service to automatically track the trip and allow images and comments to be added along the route. Finding something to fit this purpose was more difficult than I had anticipated. There are plenty of apps for planning a trip, but I found few options for documenting a trip. We also tend to make decisions as we go so I wanted something that would be flexible.

The app I am using (Android only) is called The Traveler. The app is a project of Ball State University. I think this is pretty cool. I have encountered a few glitches with the app (see the image that follows – there should be an image icon rather than the way point marker), but I can live with this.

travelermap

We have had to drive hard to get to Orlando for the FETC conference. 1600 miles in three days does not leave a lot of time for photography.

The social component of the service is pretty interesting. You can follow our progress online. I intend to add many more images during the conference and then in the weeks that follow. This app would seem a way to offer students an interesting virtual tour.

 

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Best maker session at FETC

We are headed off to Florida for FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) this weekend. It will be a good break from the weather in North Dakota.

I am certain that “maker” sessions will be popular at FETC. My suggestion for the best session available to you will not be held at the convention center. If you have the time, visit EPCOT and pay the extra charge to participate in the “Behind the Seeds Tour”. The tour provides a behind the scenes look at the “Living with the land” exhibit. There are multiple greenhouses and on-going research programs.

I have long felt that school gardens and habitat projects have a great deal to contribute in terms of hands on learning. The tour provides a look at some of my favorite topics – hydroponics, small space gardening, drip irrigation, construction of growing containers. The guide we had explained how they repurpose PVC pipe and styrofoam containers to grow fruits and vegetables. I remember there being handouts and make sure to bring your camera. There is a charge but I remember it being quite reasonable for the duration of the experience.

Here are a couple photos from a past visit.

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