This document provides an overview of bringing STEM education to kindergarten. It discusses various models of STEM education and the Owatonna model, which focuses on building STEM literacy and fluency through hands-on experiences. Data is presented showing student interest and performance in STEM fields varies by ethnicity and gender. The presentation emphasizes integrating STEM subjects and embedding STEM in all subjects. It provides examples of how questioning can be used effectively in STEM instruction to develop critical thinking and guide student learning. Attendees then participate in a practice activity where they generate questions at different learning stations to work on categorizing questions and making them more effective.

1. Bringing STEM
to
Kindergarten
Thomas Meagher, PhD
STEM Coordinator
Owatonna Public Schools,
ISD 761 Owatonna, MN
Mission: With STEM
we work together to
solve any problem,
overcome any
challenge and reach
every height!

2. What we’ll do today:
 Overview of various models of STEM
education.
 Owatonna Model of STEM Education.
 Building STEM literacy & fluency through
STEM experiences.
 Practice with STEM stations.
 Role of effective questioning in STEM
teaching & learning.

3. STEM Education in Minnesota
 Results of ACT analysis of the student interest and
performance in STEM fields on 2013 ACT exams.
 Differences in student interest and academic
performance shows more divergence when examined
by ethnicity. Results of their study did not explore if
students had previous schooling in STEM instruction.

4. 2013 ACT Data Results for STEM
 Interest in STEM is high, 48.3% of all students taking ACT
have interest in STEM majors or careers.
 Achievement levels in math and science are highest
when students have expressed interest in STEM areas.
 More females reported interest in STEM than males.
 Academic achievement gap is more pronounced
among ethnically diverse students interested in STEM
fields.
 The College Board identifies a goal for ethnically diverse
student performance for college preparedness that:
“Essentially, stronger and earlier support structures and
interventions related to career and educational planning
and academic preparedness are needed to see real
differences in these still troubling numbers.” [ACT scores]

5. Minnesota College Readiness as
Measured by ACT Exam 2013

6. MN ACT Data by ethnicity & gender

7. What does STEM teaching &
learning look like?
 Science, technology, engineering and math can
be taught, but are separate subjects.
Science
Engineering Math
Technology

8. STEM subjects are
integrated.
Science
Engineering Math
Technology
STEM

9. STEM is embedded in all subjects
Science
Engineering
Math
Technology
Curriculum

10. What STEM means in ISD 761
 Teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, &
Math is shifting from traditional instruction to
integrated design process where students solve
problems and engineering challenges in all STEM
classrooms.
 Lessons are integrated and students experience
STEM seamlessly among all subject areas.
 Students recognize that the main goals of lessons
build with each other and relate to real world
learning.
 Lessons are designed and
implemented to build:
“STEM literacy & STEM fluency”

11. STEM integration & implementation
 Students engage in inquiry, focused on
their own questions, generated from
indoor and outdoor experiences.
 All students use journals to record
observations, measurements, ideas, and
information.
 Learning through STEM means students
work in teams solving problems and
learning together constructively.
 For grades 6-8, environmental education
standards are emphasized in lesson
design with an emphasis on sustainability
and sense of place.

12. Developing a learning model
 We agree with the emphasis for STEM literacy &
fluency, however we also believe STEM
experience is essential to develop literacy and
skills in fluency.
 Students are engaged in active investigations,
inquiry and engineering challenges as common
experiences.
 We want students to publish their work and
share it with others “Show-it”. This allows
for multiple forms of student dialogue and
publication.
 When all these ideas are combined
STEM learning model emerges:

13. A learning model for Owatonna STEM Schools

14. STEM learning model integrates with
other teaching & learning models.
 ELL: Using STEM experience for language development
 Environmental Education “ESTEM”: Builds STEM learning
on a foundation of environmental principles examining
how society, culture and ecosystems interact.
 Special Education: Integrating STEM into IEP
and inclusion learning creates opportunities for differentiation.
 Perpich Foundation Grant: Integration of Arts into STEM
 NEXUS: Using STEM to address social & racial
achievement gaps in student learning.
 PAGE: Addressing gender equity through
STEM education.

15. Use of Questioning in Instruction
 Strengthening memory and recall
 Helping students see relationships
 Guiding students towards deeper understanding
 Redirecting from misconception
 Emphasizing conceptual change
 Directing students to develop personal inquiry
based questions
 Others examples not listed here?

16. Questioning in teaching for
Access and Equity for all students
 Recognizing all students within a group and addressing
each during the course of a lesson
 Keeping discussion always focused on learning and
encouraging the integration of multiple subject areas
 Allow student direction with learning and questioning.
 Recognizing the status of students within groups and
addressing issues of inequity
 Eye contact
 Question direction
 Seeking input from all learners
 Using your voice effectively
 Body positioning

17. Summary of Effective Questioning &
Guiding Student Learning
 Types of questions
 Closed, open-ended, probing, challenging
 Levels of complexity based on Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Knowledge
 Understanding
 Applying
 Analyzing
 Evaluating
 Creating
 Importance of critical thinking
 Depth of Knowledge clarification
 Sequential questioning to build confidence and
understanding

18. Effective Questioning Lesson
 STEM learning stations with a focus on teaching
about physical and life science, Math, literacy and
art.
 As a teacher at each station what questions would
you ask to guide student learning?
 Record 3 questions on question strips.
 Move to the next station and record 3 more
questions, unique from those previously recorded
from another group.
 Continue moving from station to station until each
team has visited each station.
 We’ll collect all the question strips when the teams
are finished.

19. How to organize learning
through ORID questioning
 A system of questioning that builds upon each
level.
 Guiding students from concrete observations to
higher level cognitive decision making.
 Questions encourage students to find personal
meaning for what they’re learning.
 ORID facilitates student learning to relationships
among content areas.

20. Acronym for ORID questions
 Objective (Observational)
 Questions that focus attention on what can be
observed or noticed, utilizing multiple senses.
 Reflective
 Questions that encourage students to find personal
meaning or affective perspectives.
 Interpretive
 Questions that guide students to find meaning,
patterns or relationships among topics (e.g. STEM)
 Decisional
 Questions that help students to find value and
applicability to what they are learning. Helps
students find their own answers to “Why do I have to
learn this?”

22. Questioning practice
 Multiple learning stations with a focus on students
working in teams or groups.
 As a teacher at each station what questions would
you ask to guide student learning?
 Record 3 questions on question strips.
 Move to the next station and record 3 more
questions, unique from those previously recorded
from another group.
 Continue moving from station to station until each
team has visited each station.
 We’ll collect all the question strips when the teams
are finished.

23. Practice analysis
 Categorize the questions into groups as you see
relationships among the questions.
 Write and description for each of the categories of
questions the team created and share out with the rest
of the class.
 Read the descriptions of how questions are
categorized based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, Webb’s
Depth of Knowledge or ORID.
 Reorganize your questions based on this new
information your team received.
 What changes do you notice? (O)
 How were questions rearranged? (O)
 How could the wording of any of the questions be edited
to make the them more effective? (R)
 How could these questions be used to develop further
lessons with inquiry? (I)
 How could this activity be used with students to develop
inquiry investigations? (D)

24. Questions?