​In November, my university students participated in a STEM night at Coral Cliff Elementary School. These future teachers did a fantastic job with hands-on educational displays and activities ranging from the Arctic, desert ecology, electricity, earthquakes, and understanding different types of waves. In addition to student activities, we constructed a full sized Stegosaurus (a Faison's Giant - see the previous blog on Chris Faison) using cardboard and PVC. The event would not have been possible without the coordination of the wonderful principal and staff at Coral Cliff and the Dinosaur Dinosaur Discovery Site (a local museum in St. George). I want to thank all of my students and colleagues for helping make this STEM night possible.

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. 

I presented my doctoral dissertation at the University of Victoria on June 26th in the MacLaurin Building. The doctoral defence represents the final stage of a very long journey for many candidates including myself. The past month of preparation and practice presentations to colleagues at Vancouver Island University and friends at home paid off. I was able to trim my final presentation down to the required length and answer gruelling session of questions by the members of my committee. Of course many candidates like myself may be nervous while waiting outside the defence chamber with family and friends. When calling me back the facilitator congratulated me though, at the time, the news was still surreal. However, once in the room there were warm congratulations by committee members and the reality had finally set in that I had achieved a lifelong dream. Of course, there would be some revisions to complete, but my flag was firmly planted on mountain. What philosophical and professional adventures would come next? I wonder. 

I want to congratulate one of my graduate students on completing her Master's thesis in educational leadership. Danielle's completed thesis entitled The Benefits of Outdoor Education: The Pros and Cons of Teaching in an Outdoor Space as Observed by French Immersion Teachers and Experienced by Their Students. Danielle's thesis explores an important topic in education as it relates to the French immersion curriculum in Canada.

Danielle embraces a multicultural approach to outdoor education and the specific research related to French immersion schools is an important contribution to the field though, as the author notes in her final chapter, more research is needed (particularly in how children experience outdoor education in these schools). 

I would encourage Danielle to continue exploring this area of education and share her work with other scholars and researchers at outdoor and environmental education conferences in the future. It was a privilege to work with her this year.

Next month I will be working with researchers and students from the Faculties of Education and Science to develop educational software for our Vancouver Island University research grant at Deep Bay. Feel free to check out the site I created as the event coordinator: 2018 VIU Code-a-thon for Learning. 

It has a been a very busy winter writing up the revisions of what will hopefully be my final draft. Now that it is in and awaiting review, I have to find other things to occupy my time. In addition to my dissertation, I have been working on designing new educational software for informal science settings. More ideas are arrive everyday though I am still in search of the perfect community of professional curriculum designers and coders. I will find them. Stay tuned.