CLJ 4.

2012 (DRAFT)

EE-S.T.E.M: Integrated Projects for Navigating My World In the East End of Houston near Navigation Boulevard--where 67% of eighth grade students are classified as limited English proficient--both eighth grade student interest profiles and formative data suggest that students prefer science instruction that draws on their technology interests, applies to their career preferences or engagingly integrates science with visual, kinesthetic or design-based activities. Many sixth grade students living near Navigation Boulevard are candidates for a new open enrollment, pre-AP program to be housed next to our school in the AAMA Multipurpose Center. One program objective is to vertically and horizontally build the academic readiness of the communitys pre-AP neophytes so that they may meet program expectations. To link the textures of Navigation-area neighborhoods more fully with the academic needs and personal interests of our students, I developed 16 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) problem-based learning (PBL) projects known as East End (EE)-STEM Navigating My World. EE-STEM divides into 4 overarching science themes that target big ideas--aligned with both eighth and ninth grade science student expectations: 1) Matter and Energy (i.e. How do the properties and systems of atoms and elements affect my world each day? How can I use models to compare and contrast these properties and systems (or to predict their changes)? 2) Force, Motion and Physics (How do the properties of force, work, speed and velocity move my world each day?); 3) Earth and Space Science (How do properties & patterns in earth, space and place affect my world each day? And, how can I use tech and design models (Geographic Information Systems or GIS) to see forms, functions and properties in my neighborhoods terrain (or to predict their changes?); and 4) Organisms and Interdependence (How do human systems, ecosystems and organisms affect my world each day?). Four mini-modules contained within the four categories connect key 8th grade science concepts directly with key community landmarks. These are known as the EESTEM Sweet Sixteen: Matter and Energy Projects (1. Fruitful Energy: How Fruit and Meat Matter for La Familia (Chemical Reactions)); (2. East End Rx: Chemical Formulas); (3. Oak Farms Organic: Identifying Organic Compounds, Atomic Structure in Dairy Processing) and (4. Energy Flow: Food Pyramids and Physical & Chemical Changes in Digestion). Force, Motion and Energy Projects were: (1. Acosta in Motion (Area Auto Mechanics): Work, Balanced versus Unbalanced Force; Potential versus Kinetic Energy; 2. Share the Road (East End Cycling: Newtons Laws of force, speed, velocity and acceleration); 3. Jensen Switch (functions in Rail travel & crossings): laws for actionreaction, Vehicle Restraints and Forces in Changing Object Speed and Direction); and 4. Train of Tomorrow (High Speed Rail): Newtons laws, acceleration and new transport physics. 2. Through EE-STEM, area neighborhoods partner with our science study--

CLJ 4.2012 (DRAFT)

both as subject and causal agent. EE-STEM more fully affirms the significance of both to each students successful pre-AP science learning. Significance of EE-STEM: The science learning context for our students (and its purposes from the perspective of parents) is influenced both by what students bring with them to school and by what our school provides. Problem-based science instruction becomes more effective and its concepts easier to retain when I first know, understand and apply my students backgrounds and prior knowledge to their real world understandingsto consistently create a climate of respect and expectation that also opens the door to further science learning opportunities beyond the classroom. a. Community Cultures and Citizens become Portals for Classroom and Career-Based Science Exploration: While each of the 16 modules is STEM-integrated, by applying science content areas to local cultural and physical terrains, EE-STEM also showcases assets unique to the Navigation community. For example, one Earth & Space Science project, Watershed & Chabelita, focuses on a distinctive, Navigation-area family restaurant having served students, their parents and their grandparents for decades. Selecting La Chabelita as both venue and subject of our watershed analyses also strengthens students constructive associations of school with home and neighborhood, with senses of self and space, with food and celebrations and with other communityaffirming values or beliefs. Likewise, EE-STEM project findings helped some students gain opportunities to develop career connections with science professionals working nearby (e.g. East End Rx invites students to draw upon applied resources and chemistry knowledge of East Endarea Pharmacists; Oak Farms Organic generates student interest in the chemical aspects of pasteurization and dairy processing in operations by the Oak Farms Process Engineering team). b. Home-School Interactions are Enhanced: Including area landmarks into inquiry-based science learning encourages parents to collaborate with our science learning processes, to share artifacts and information to explore further from a scientific perspective, and to enhance science learning connections by deepening their contextual meaning. How EE-STEM impacts student learning: a. Instructional Practices Become More Student-Centered by Including Community and by Valuing Parent Knowledge Bases: By including Navigation-area landmarks into SE-aligned inquiry-based science learning, use of interactive instructional practices can work more seamlessly. First, students tend to gravitate towards more brainstorming (both in whole class and in small group). Second, more students tend to participate in think-pair-share activities and remain on task for longer time periods (critically weighing ideas, partnering and sharing answers with others). Moreover, student groups tend to generate inventive science-aligned ideas more generously. Fourth, more student science journal entries seem more authentic and inquiry-oriented. Fifth,

CLJ 4.2012 (DRAFT)

jigsaw and expert group discussions become more engaging and conclude with more open-ended questioning. Finally, student-created graphic organizer use tends to increase-which leads to more brainstorming on science connections and to peer sharing that facilitates further collaborative project-based learning in student-centered and community-centered ways. b. Assessment Becomes More Adaptive to Differentiated Student Background Knowledge and allows for more active meta-cognitive connections between student prior knowledge and science content that facilitates students retaining more information for mastery. EE-STEM projects systematically integrate applications of earth, life and physical science with landmarks of our students and parents daily lives in and around nearby East End communities. Within this applied context, use of CALLA (Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach) Cognitive Strategies, Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) and Social Affective Strategies tends to be measurably more effective in science: Students can show significant increases between pre-test and post-test science vocabulary and content area diagnostics. Student work product and rates of participation can suggest greater receptivity to Cognitive Strategies and Social Affective Strategies: EESTEM PBL projects facilitate greater content-related cooperation: 1) peers can work together to solve problems and to pool information; and 2) inquire of and respond to each other for clarification (peers provide additional enriching context for scientific analyses and do so with greater confidence).

--Camille Jones

CLJ 4.2012 (DRAFT)