Building a K-12 STEM Lab

A Step-by-Step Guide for School Leaders and Tech Coaches

Deborah Nagler, Martha Osei-Yaw

• Publisher: International Society for Technology in Education
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781564846983
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Standards

Gain insights and clear guidelines for developing the robust partnerships and processes you need to build a successful STEM lab in your school. Few resources are available for district and school leaders looking to establish successful STEM labs. Frequently, efforts do not gain traction because they lack a systemic approach and the support of a broad spectrum of stakeholders within the school community. Unlike other books, Building a K-12 STEM Lab addresses this challenge from the perspective of the leader, identifying opportunities for capacity building and ensuring equal access and equity for all students.This book will:

• Address key issues in building a STEM Lab, including budgetary constraints, space limitations, technology design and resources, and inclusivity.
• Provide step-by-step guidelines designed to meet the diverse needs of a wide range of educational environments.
• Include vignettes describing the experiences of a variety of schools – public, private, rural, urban – at different levels – elementary, middle school, and high school – that have successfully established STEM labs in their schools.

The comprehensive and flexible approach outlined in this book will help school and district leaders develop productive community partnerships in support of STEM education within the STEM lab and throughout the school. Audience: K-12 school and district leaders, tech coaches

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IDEA + PASSION + OPPORTUNITY

It’s about having the persistence to keep at this work and to trust that—if you believe in what you are doing—you will be able to find allies and keep on building.

—TIKVAH WIENER, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, THE IDEA SCHOOL, TENAFLY, NEW JERSEY

DRIVING QUESTIONS

Does it matter where the idea for a STEM Lab came from?

What is a STEM Leadership mindset?

What is the formula for success in establishing a STEM Lab?

TOP DOWN OR BOTTOM UP: DOES IT MATTER?

In some cases the idea to build a STEM Lab is part of a state, regional, or district mandate. In others, it is the result of organic programmatic growth within the school. There are still others who look to add a STEM Lab because it is the latest trend. Does the origin of the idea make a difference? Yes and no. It is always easier to implement change with the blessings and the budgetary support of the powers that be; it is not always a guarantee of success. Colleagues have shared unfortunate tales of moldering STEM Labs with equipment still in the original packaging or tucked away, unused in closets. The most important thing is not the origin of the idea, but its ownership. As Dr. Norma Fernandez, Director of the Discovery Division of Jersey City, New Jersey, describes it, you need to build consensus and to make sure that building leaders and faculty are fully engaged and committed. Aim for commitment rather than simply settling for compliance.

Many different types of stakeholders need to be involved in the process of building a STEM Lab. The teachers, however, are of particular importance. Although the idea for a STEM Lab may begin with the school, district leader, or leadership team, success is not possible without the support and dedication of the teachers who bring the STEM education and the STEM Lab to life.

STEM LEADERSHIP AS A MINDSET

Changing an entrenched system, with traditional expectations about classroom learning, is not easy. STEM leadership begins with a commitment to building a culture of transformative STEM teaching and learning, while providing opportunities and access for all students. For many schools STEM education, with its interdisciplinary, project-based methodology, represents a significant challenge because it introduces new tools, content, and methods of instruction. Transformative change requires transformational leadership. According to Northouse (2013), transformational leaders are individuals who have “a strong set of internal values and ideals” and are “effective at motivating followers” (p. 191). In other words, commitment and charisma are valuable tools for the leader who is facilitating change in what may be a resistant environment.

In the example of the A.D. Sullivan School, STEM transformation did not come about all at once. The impetus for growth came when Martha learned about the Latinas in STEM Foundation and attended one of their conferences at Stevens Institute of Technology. This foundation hosts conferences nationwide in an effort to educate girls in underserved communities and to encourage parents to support the educational growth of their children. Martha was inspired by what she observed and decided that it would be exciting to replicate the STEM 101 conference in the A.D. Sullivan School.

In March 2016, the school hosted its own STEM 101 conference with the sponsorship of the Latinas in STEM Foundation and with support from members of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) at Stevens Institute of Technology. This first of its kind event in Jersey City brought together nearly 200 participants, including representatives from local colleges and universities along with students, parents, teachers, volunteers, and local community members. The energy and excitement generated by this event encouraged Martha to begin looking for other STEM learning opportunities and potential partnerships for the school. Ultimately, this led to the idea of building a STEM Lab.

In the summer of 2016, the A.D. Sullivan School leadership team—which included the principal, the assistant principal, key faculty members, and the district science supervisor—met to discuss the possibility of a STEM Lab. Martha pushed hard for a designated space because she felt that it would extend STEM learning capacity within the school, provide opportunities to gather resources and tools to support STEM learning, and help her to enlist more STEM advocates by keeping a positive focus on STEM activity. The group developed a plan based on the needs of the students, curriculum, budget, resources, professional development, and logistics. In the fall of 2016, one of the classrooms was cleared, cleaned, and transformed into a STEM Lab. In the beginning, the school repurposed existing tables and chairs. Shortly after the lab was established, a local entrepreneur partnered with A.D. Sullivan in further development of the STEM Lab by providing 3D printers, a specially designed worktable, and an aquaponics setup. Professional development for the teachers and a multi-session 3D design and printing project for the students were also included in the package. At this point, use of the lab gradually increased as teachers trained on the use of the equipment and began incorporating STEM Lab use into their curricula and into after-school activities.

As the experience of the A.D. Sullivan school suggests, building a successful STEM Lab is a learning process for the school leaders, the faculty, and the students. The school leader and/or technology coach models the growth mindset, while encouraging others to learn. The teachers mirror this process with the students. It is interesting to note that the technological requirements of the STEM Lab are often a trigger for a somewhat more horizontal learning relationship between the student and the teacher. Chani Lichtiger, the STEM Coordinator at Yavneh Academy observes: “I have seen a shift where technology is concerned. More and more teachers are okay saying to the students: ‘I don’t know how to do this and I am going to learn with you.’ There are even times when the students bring me advanced projects and they become my teachers.”

ISTE STANDARD

CONNECTED LEARNER

Leaders model and promote continuous professional learning for themselves and others. Education leaders:

5d. Develop the skills needed to lead and navigate change, advance systems and promote a mindset of continuous improvement for how technology can improve learning.

Building a successful and effective STEM Lab is a challenge for all of the school’s stakeholders. It is important for school leaders and technology coaches to model a growth mindset, showing their willingness to learn, while encouraging others to do so as well.

THE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Reflecting upon the process that led to the successful launch of the A.D. Sullivan STEM Lab, we decided that it can be summarized with a simple formula: Idea + Passion + Opportunity. Transformation begins with an idea: a visit to another school, attendance at a workshop, or reading articles about innovative STEM Labs. These experiences germinate until the idea emerges. The idea—considered, refined, and articulated—becomes the vision, and then the vision becomes the basis for the plan of action.

Next you need to find your passion. What is it that makes the idea exciting and inspirational? What will motivate you to sustain the effort that is required? Persistence is not enough. What is needed is passion. Passion is contagious and will inspire others. As Martha describes it: “The school leader sets the tone. I shared my excitement over every STEM accomplishment in the school. The faculty and students followed my lead.”

The final piece of the formula is opportunity. “Opportunities” include partners, sources for funding, and different kinds of resources. With an open eye and a bit of effort, you can find opportunities everywhere. Dave Janosz sums up his experience by suggesting: “The best strategy that I found is to plug yourself into the business and industry networks. It’s really up to you as an educator to make your own connections and to realize the value that [partners] can bring to your program.” Contests, grants, and partnerships are examples of the kinds of opportunities that can energize your students and grow your STEM Lab (Figure 1.1).

FIGURE 1.1 Robot prototypes in the A.D. Sullivan STEM Lab.

STEM LAB STORY

THE IDEA SCHOOL, TENAFLY, NEW JERSEY

The name of the school featured in this vignette so irresistibly echoes the algorithm for a successful STEM Lab that it suggests we had no choice but to use it. Actually, the name was serendipitous. The motivation for this choice was the fact that The Idea School represents a very exciting educational approach with regard to STEM Labs. Instead of retrofitting an established school with ensconced methodologies to fit the needs of digital age education, The Idea School opened as a private high school in September 2018 and has embraced innovation from the ground up. The Idea School, which might be called an ideal school from a STEM perspective, is a project-based learning program focusing on interdisciplinary learning, design thinking, and the use of a carefully designed STEAM Lab, which they call a makerspace.

For Tikvah Wiener, the founder and head of The Idea School, the journey toward founding The Idea School began with a job as an English teacher. She moved from the classroom to a position in the school’s administration, but she eventually left for the opportunity to work in a school dedicated to “project-based learning on a larger, curricular level.” Tikvah began blogging about project-based learning and sharing her ideas and experiences with other educators. Shortly thereafter, she received a grant to fund the “Idea Schools Network,” a program offering workshops in project-based learning. Subsequently, that program morphed into the Idea Institute, a platform for professional development in design thinking and STEAM education, as well as project-based learning.

Tikvah’s passion for project-based and full-interdisciplinary learning inspired her to consider building a high school from scratch. She traveled to San Diego to visit High Tech High, a project-based learning high school founded by Larry Rosenstock in 2000. She has since returned to High Tech High numerous times for additional observation of their program and has participated in the High Tech High yearlong program in Graduate Education. In all, Rosenstock has been her mentor in the process of envisioning and developing The Idea School.

Tikvah gives several reasons for her decision to design the Idea School based on the model of High Tech High. The first is that High Tech High has completely set aside the factory model of education in favor of project-based learning. The students are engaged “in deep and meaningful learning,” connecting what they study to the real world, and are encouraged to be “producers of content, products, and projects, and not mindless consumers” (The Idea School, 2018, para. 3). In addition, Tikvah shares Rosenstock’s view that the project-based learning is a process of connecting head, hand, and heart. As such, it unifies the individual’s thoughts with his/her actions and emotional connection to the activity of learning.

Tikvah’s goal is to cultivate this ethos in The Idea School’s STEAM-centric program, in which the students are encouraged to explore technology use not for its own sake, but as a means of improving people’s lives. She explains: “In a unit on pursuing justice, we ask the students to ...