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Reflection

Recently I completed the end of the year report for our Hillsboro Schools Foundation Grant. The process of writing the grant report game me a chance to reflect on how far we have come as a STEM school. The month of May can be a challenging time both mentally and emotionally. With the onset of state testing, there can be a sense of dread and fear. We feel the angst of "I didn't do enough to prepare them" or "I just need more time with them". Completing the report helped to ease some of this.
To gather information for the report, I interviewed the teachers whose classrooms directly benefited from the grant funds. Our 5th graders and 1st graders are 2nd year STEM students as they were part of the pilot classrooms last year. The 5th grade teachers noted that their students were able to work well in groups and also showed a high level perseverance with a challenging task. They transferred those skills into another group project, re-purposing items for the invention convention. The 1st graders have been able to make observations based upon their STEM module. These observations have helped to make connections to other content areas. In contrast our 6th graders who are 1st year STEM students have not show as much perseverance as the 5th graders. They are making connections to between their STEM content and other learning but they need more support from their teachers to do this.
Experience with STEM is not the only factor influencing the students, every group is different. Although the grade levels that have been able to incorporate more STEM learning have noticed a change in the students as the year has progressed. This gives me a lot of hope for what next year will bring as our STEM journey continues. These changes take time and experience which when you are in the work is hard to see. I am thankful that the grant process provided the opportunity to reflect and appreciate just how far we have come.

5th Grade Invention Convention

Trash to Treasure

Re-purposing Inventions

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