STEAM camp is professional development for all stakeholders and participants.  Excitement, building of strong professional learning communities across campuses, along with modeling of 21st century learning and critical thinking are expressed outcomes and skill sets obtained and from STEAM training.  Teachers experience learning to let go of being the “expert” in the classroom to the instructional coach/facilitator in the classroom.  Often educators are fearful of the unknown aspects to problem solving.  Robotics allow for our K12 teachers to truly participate as a  21st century learner and teacher.  Critical thinking, planing, logistics, journal reflections, problem solving, questioning, and creating are all strongly emphasized throughout the experience.  Teachers participate in collaborative work settings, create using a variety of digital presentation platforms to be showcased to the world, research and apply unfamiliar scientific topics to all core disciplines to address a variety of levels, and publish reflections for the world to view.

To see an ongoing transcript of teacher collaboration and to join visit our back channel built June 4, 2012 for teacher training.  Teachers elected on their own June 12, 2012 to allow for students to contribute to the back channel.

To view teacher reflections and thoughts, please visit and join our collaborative group.  

Teachers are also reflecting on our Connection Grant Group.

The group also participated in the MMS Challenge learning activity developed by Sandra Wozniak, Tom Chambers, and Jennifer Miller.  Student productions in STEAM as a result of the challenge were showcased at ISTE12 last week.  To learn more about MMS Challenge, visit our Livebinder located in either collaborative group mentioned above.

STEAM Camp Instructional Job Aides Used June 2012 © Jennifer Miller

There is a world of knowledge out there for those that listen well. When we commit to really listen we discover details that make succeeding much faster and often, much easier. Listening is a skill, and like any skill we can improve it through practice.

via Why You Don’t Remember Names.

It is important to understand and pinpoint the needs of students and teachers in order to plan, deliver, and evaluate learning experiences.  In order for learning to occur, educators and instructional leaders must fully understand problems and focus on the quality of instruction rather then the quantity of instruction.  Lesson design must also accommodate 21st century learner needs, which is very different from previous conventional learning approaches, such as the objectivist model of learning.  As pointed out in Leidner and Jarvenpaa’s article , many instructional leaders view IT as an automated program and have yet to fully understand the importance of IT, which can be used as a “catalyst of change.”  Many instructional technologists will lead the world in the R/Evolution, which industry leaders and economists, such as Thomas Friedman, recognize is lacking in current approaches.  A shift from managerial leadership to that of an instructional leader, who models life-long learning, is needed.  IT will continue to push public K12 education to recognize that standardized and lecture based approaches are lacking. Collaboration, mobile learning, accessible video content, access to real time current events, and  virtual field trips will continue to push educators to think about cognitive processes.  Clear objectives and goals are essential for IT to take place.  However, clear guidelines on how to integrate appropriately are also a huge component to improved learning outcomes.  The R/Evolution presented on the youtube video reintegrates that media literacy and cognitive processes are changing.  Unfortunately,  many approaches to professional development ignores this new reality.  Life long learning, evaluation of approaches, positive communication, virtual collaboration, support, mobile accessibility, and encouragement is essential for growth.  

DISD STEAM camp is turning into a wonderful experience.  Daily our 18 teachers are learning new approaches after camp  to utilize both in their classroom next fall and in an extended learning trip to NASA later this weekend.  STEAM teachers are facilitating true 21st century learning experiences and giving low income students in our community opportunities to extend learning outside of DISD.  

Teachers have had little to no exposure to  the purpose of NASA’s MMS mission until they began training last week.  Each day we meet and teachers are exposed to a little more information and resources.  We have worked to bring in experts for both professional development and to help with the STEAM camp via Skype and social media.  As I begin thinking about the purpose and objective of our lesson and work through this course, I realize that approaches being used are very much at the top of Blooms Taxonomy of Learning and address all three learning styles:  Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor.

The objectives for this weekend and next week will be the following:

Students will research and analyze how NASA is using the scientific method during the development of MMS 2014 mission. Students will create informative hands on robotic and digital productions to showcase why the mission is important to the world and then evaluate student production in a student led community STEAM Science Fair showcase. All will be documented on websites and social media. We will showcase on an ISTE NASA panel in San Diego.  Teachers document training daily.  The approach that we are using is two folded.  Teachers are becoming empowered and learning how to facilitate and recognize that they do not have to be an “expert” to challenge students to think about the purpose of the MMS mission.  All activities are student led and teachers are learning with the students during the next few weeks.  I ask both students and teachers to reflect daily after training or camp for documentation purposes.  

To learn more about our STEAM camp, you are welcome to view our schedule, which is changing daily. 

I believe top educators motivate, engage, and challenge students to want to learn or become lifelong students.  As our nation attempts to keep the brightest minds to advance freedom of thoughts and ideas so that progress continues, it is imperative that we recognize as a society how important it is to hire and employ quality professionals and leaders who do not view the occupation as “job” but see it as an opportunity or “calling” to make a difference.    When looking at personal learning theories, I can see pieces of all theories as an important part of the overall make up of the 21st Century School.

Our job as educators is to facilitate learning and model learning.  In addition, educators need to expose students to a wide range of viewpoints and ideas.   Lectures and death by powerpoint is not engaging and often this is what a college student will encounter when attempting to “learn” how to be a 21st century teacher.  Instructions and small lectures may be needed, but this should not be our main focus.  For this reason, I have strong feelings regarding the objectivist model of learning.  The objectivist model of learning is boring and does not give students the experiences needed to really gain knowledge.

The constructivist model of learning is a more preferred approach because it centers on students and is student led.  Student follow the scientific method of approach and the teacher facilitates and allows the students to find knowledge on their own, with the teacher acting as a guide, which is a 21st century skill set.  Problem based learning and challenge based learning are both approaches that follow this model, and students find PBL and CBL very engaging and rewarding.  Students also enjoy collaborating and working in a team environment, either virtual teams for face to face.  The cooperative learning model is also essential for students to succeed in the global economy.  Students must be exposed to other cultural norms and societies and the socioculutural model allows for students to think about global connections and viewpoints.