In June a group of veteran teachers completing the Professional STEM Certificate Program at DSU participated in my course entitled STEM: Forces in Education. In addition to experimenting with different forces such as velocity, gravity, energy transfer and electricity/magnetism, I introduced the concept of STEM Squared (which Weebly does not allow me to write algebraically here). STEM Squared, as illustrated in the table below, extends (STEM)1 - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to include the following lesson design elements of (STEM)2 - Society, Transformative, Exceptionality, and Multicultural Inclusion. In (STEM)2, lesson planning and design includes direct connections to children's conceptions of the Society (place- and community-based learning). (STEM)2 also includes Transformative learning which explores children's conceptions and misconceptions of science/nature that the lesson is designed to transform. The final two elements of of (STEM)2 are Exceptionality and Multicultural inclusion lesson designing that seeks to address the complex issues of designing STEM lessons and curricula for Utah's diverse learners. The idea of (STEM)2 was well received by this group of veteran teachers completing our STEM certification program at DSU and is something I hope to explore in future courses and professional development opportunities for teachers in other parts of Canada and the United States.
