  | I was recently saddened to hear of the passing of two inspirational colleagues I taught with at the Aspen Community School (ACS) in Colorado. Chris Faison was an amazing Grade 1 and 2 teacher who inspired me in my first teaching position. Chris was famous for discovery-based learning projects with children and creation of skeletal giants at the community school. His students and learning centre built exhibits on mammoths, dinosaurs, and whales which we wrote about together in an article: Link. You can learn more about his legacy at the school's website: Link. Annie Teague also passed away this spring. She was an legendary educator and helped build the first Aspen Community School building which has since been replaced by the school's new building. Annie taught kindergarten at ACS for five decades (including my daughter) and, like Chris, followed children's interest through student centred learning and the discovery model. Her tribute can be found here: Link. Both of these truly inspirational educators will be missed and I offer my sympathies to their families, friends and all the students they touched at the Aspen Community School. |
|
0 Comments
 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.  Elementary Science 3.0 & Cosmic Conversations with Children Presentation at DSU in St. George, Utah11/20/2018
 Atlin, British Columbia While there is a significant body of research on the value of science education and STEM programs in larger towns and cities across North America, much less is known about the value of these programs in rural and remote towns and villages with populations less than two thousand residents. This is particularly true where the student populations in this community may range from a few individual students to no more than one hundred primary and secondary students. Given the likelihood that most rural and remote educators tend to be generalists and are often teaching in multiple grade settings with few opportunities for professional development and access to science museums/technology centres, supporting quality science education in the small town can be quite daunting. However, for educational researchers and curriculum developers like myself, there are ways to support our colleagues far out on the prairies, remote islands and far north across Canada. The rapid evolution of mobile communication and participant-based science app development like our research project at Deep Bay may provide educational tools for science outreach and increased participation by teachers and students in small towns. Mobile science activities be developed in partnership with rural and remote communities that blends the best elements of formal and informal science learning within the context of place based learning and the exchange of scientific knowledge and experiences of rural students with informal science educators at some of the nation’s best natural history museums and science technology centres. It is exciting to be part of this effort here in Canada and beyond.
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.
|
Archives
April 2023
Categories
|
