As I have been traveling around the state for the past three years preaching to schools about the excitement and importance of providing students with ample STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning opportunities, I feel as though I’ve missed an opportunity to lead meaningful change in this field. In her book, Teach Boldly: Using EdTech for Social Good, Jennifer Williams states that, “Unlike years ago, when classroom teachers were handed boxed curricula to follow lockstep in a linear process of instruction, today’s educator can plan an active role in designing, creating, and choosing edtech tools that support dynamic teaching and learning” (2019, p. 132). What I should have been doing was looking for ways to help educators see themselves as instructional designers working to create learning environments and learning opportunities for students with a focus on designing solutions to problems in order to help those around them.
Something I have brainstormed on in the past and may finally see come to fruition in the near future is creating a STEM curriculum that is focused on the idea of social change. As students come to school from different backgrounds and life experiences, one must recognize not all students have been taught what it means to be a caring and empathic individual (Bradshaw, 2018, p. 342). Developing a curriculum that addresses real-world problems and provides students the background knowledge and tools to learn and take on these skills and traits all while engaging them through the lens of STEM.
References
Bradshaw, A. C. (2018). Reconsidering the instructional design and technology timeline through a lens of social justice. TechTrends, 62, 336-344.
Williams, J. (2019). Teach Boldly: Using Edtech for Social Good. International Society for Technology in Education.
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