Integrating STEM and Literacy

1. Integrating STEM and Literacy Doug Paulson, STEM Specialist Charon Tierney, ELA Specialist Eden Prairie, March 13th, 2012 “Leading for educational excellence and equity. Every day for every one.”

2. Distribution of Literary and Informational Passages by Grade in the 2009 NAEP Reading Framework Distribution of Communicative Purposes by Grade in the 2011 NAEP Writing Framework

3. Broadening Views of Reading Comprehension in a Digital Age education.state.mn.us The definition of literacy itself has “expanded from traditional notions of reading and writing to include the ability to learn, comprehend, and interact with technology in a meaningful way” (Selfe, 2001). A complete picture of reading comprehension in the 21st century includes the skills, strategies, dispositions, and practices required to comprehend and use a wide range of print, non-print, and digital texts for multiple purposes and with multiple audiences (IRA, 2009; NCTE, 2008). New literacies regularly change as their defining technologies change (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear & Leu, 2008).

4. Notebook set-up Cover (decorated) Table of contents (1 – 2 pages) Left sides – “outputs” (reflections) Right sides – “inputs” class activities, notes, etc. Vocabulary (last pages)

5. Interactive Science Notebooks Left Side - Output Right Side - Input The right-hand page is for information you are given in class. Examples Lecture notes Book notes, video notes Lab activities Class conclusions Handouts (taped in) The left-hand page shows your understanding of the information on the right-hand side Examples • Brainstorming • Concept maps • Flow charts • Summary notes • Self-reflections • Assignments

6. Left Side What literacy skills do your students need to be successful in your content area? Reading Writing

7. Activity – Oh well • Place a toilet paper tube (your well) in the center of a large cup • Hold the tube and put gravel around it, about 1’ – 2’ deep. • Place a few drops of food coloring on the gravel. This represents pollutants present in the soil. • Pour sand on top of the gravel about 1’ – 2’ deep. • Take a cup of water (rainwater) and slowly pour the water onto the sand until it just reaches the top. What happens inside the tube? • Brainstorm factors in this system

8. Reading Skills and Strategies Afflerbach, Pearson and Paris (2008) “It is important to promote both skills and strategic reading because students need to know how to read strategically” education.state.mn.us Skills: automatic reactions that result in decoding and fluency and occur without awareness Strategies: deliberate, goal-oriented attempts to control and modify constructions of meaning

9. Strategies Activities Taught in isolation Focused on content only Accidental connections to outcomes No connection to the known Little/no transfer to real life Vague expectations • Part of the learning process • Intentional connections to outcomes • Connects known to unknown • Replicable in authentic examples • Clear expectations and purpose education.state.mn.us

10. Measuring Readability and Text Complexity education.state.mn.us Reader and Task: reader variables and task variables specific to the interaction with text. Qualitative: levels of meaning, structure, language conventions, etc. Quantitative: readability measures and scores of text complexity.

11. Readers and Tasks education.state.mn.us Students’ ability to read complex text does not always develop in a linear fashion. Although the progression of Reading Standard 10 defines required grade-by-grade growth in students’ ability to read complex text, the development of this ability in individual students is unlikely to occur at an unbroken pace. Students need opportunities to stretch their reading abilities but also to experience the satisfaction and pleasure of easy, fluent reading within them, both of which the Standards allow for.

12. Focus on Vocabulary education.state.mn.us

13. education.state.mn.us

14. A Grave Mistake • Community Map • Data Set 1 - amount of contamination levels • Top right hand corner of the map is the highest elevation and the low spot is the lower left hand corner. • What direction will the ground water move? • Contamination data was collected via test at existing wells • Start at Southern border of the map • Plot contamination levels from bottom to top • As soon as you know the source of the arsenic, STOP

15. Summary education.state.mn.us • Discuss and write a summary response • Who is to blame? • What should your town do with this information? • What options should the offender be given? • The factory is a major employer of people in your community. Will that affect your discussions with the factory owners? How?

16. Cloze Reading education.state.mn.us Mayor, We have reviewed your _____. Our engineers and technicians have documented the ________ of arsenic that has come into and left the _______. It is clear that it is all _________ for. _______ and the ______ of the community is important to us. We will work with the city to ________ the arsenic _________.

17. Mayor, We have reviewed your report. Our engineers and technicians have documented the amount of arsenic that has come into and left the factory. It is clear that it is all accounted for. Safety and the health of the community is important to us. We will work with the city to identify the arsenic contamination.

18. What should be done? education.state.mn.us

19. education.state.mn.us Additional funds have been budget Commissioned a water quality testing agency to drill test wells Each group = a Water quality testing agency Determine a plan for drilling test wells Record your plan (Where do you plan to drill? What order do you plan to drill?) Send one representative to receive a new coordinate

20. Design Decisions

21. Elaborate – Presentation to City Council education.state.mn.us What is the cause of the contamination? What further tests would be recommended? What short term solutions might be recommended to provide drinking water? What long term solution would you recommend to clean the contamination?

22. Extending Learning • Inference • Build connections • Predict education.state.mn.us

23. What is engineering’s role in the future? While watching this video look for examples of content you currently teach and how it may be used to understand and solve these problems • http://www.engineeringchallenges.org

24. Dragonfly TV Clip http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/show/watercleanup.html

26. Doug.Paulson@state.mn.us, STEM Specialist • Charon.Tierney@state.mn.us, Language Arts Specialist • Kari.d.Ross@state.mn.us, Reading Specialist education.state.mn.us