Collaboration Among Educators: An Essential Step in Unifying STEM Teaching Resources.

Abstract:

Increased requirement for Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math (STEM) literacy among US secondary school students has enhanced the need for high-quality teaching resources in the modern STEM classroom. Many relevant resources exist online that could be used to address this issue, but too often these resources are spread throughout the Internet, and have not necessarily been audited for content, alignment with state and national science standards, or current functionality. Because STEM subjects are increasingly difficult to teach, we set out to design a localized platform of year-long teaching ‘blueprints’ comprising units that cover a range of Earth science topics, researched and compiled by education professionals. The Diversity and Innovation for Geosciences (DIG) Texas Instructional Blueprint project has united teachers from diverse science backgrounds who act as Education Interns and work alongside geoscientists and curriculum experts at the University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas El Paso. Our DIG collective has employed a cross-disciplinary approach to vetting resources while compiling them in useful, logical sequences for classroom instruction. The DIG team has aligned each blueprint with the Texas Essential Skills and Knowledge (TEKS) standards for Earth and Space Science, the Earth Science Literacy Principles, and the Next Generation Science Standards. Emphasis for the summer 2015 project group was placed upon (1) alignment of the units with these three sets of science standards to allow for use within disparate classroom settings, (2) creating teacher aides including scaffolding notes for practical unit application, and potential real and virtual field trips for unit illustration, and (3) final vetting ensuring units follow a narrative that carries learners from basic principles to a full concept understanding.

Here, we present our progress and the essential workflow that has contributed to significant advancement in our goal of providing a unified STEM teaching resource.