UMaine tends a growing STEM collaborative

The RiSE Center connects with Maine educators at all levels to advance innovative and engaging hands-on teaching and learning.

 

Transcript

Susan McKay:
When I think about STEM, I think about the separate disciplines within STEM — the science, technology, engineering and mathematics — but I also think about the skills that someone learns who’s learning STEM.

Kam Landry:
I really enjoy learning new ways, why things work. It’s very interesting to walk outside and see it rain and be like, “Oh. I know why that happens.”

Alexis Leeman:
Yeah, exactly.

Susan McKay:
STEM is a driver for innovation. It gets people thinking creatively. It’s a problem-solving cluster of disciplines. I think that makes it particularly important in our society now where the problems tend to be complex. They require multi-disciplinary perspectives.

Nathaniel Hufnagel:
I sort of agree with Caroline on that the bees don’t know, but I also think they must have some way to get a bit higher chance. Yes?

Caroline Allan:
Maybe that. I kind of agree with you, I kind of disagree with you. But the thing is I don’t think that bees are really smart enough to do that.

Jennifer Wright Gregg:
The first opportunity was available through the Talk Science, which was about six years ago now. I signed up because I thought that sounded really interesting. I fell in love with the style immediately.

I took a study group back to my own school and had tremendous buy-in. All of the teachers really liked the methods that we were discussing through the Productive Talk and the Talk Science.

Nathaniel Hufnagel:
I really like when we talk because I learn the most from talking, because it’s a group of people putting together ideas to make one big idea. Then people add on to that to make an even bigger idea. Then you sort of get what you’re talking about and understand more about the subject.

Jennifer Wright Gregg:
It’s been a culture change for us here at our school. We now have students participating in Productive Talk. Not just in science but in all content areas, and are very comfortable with that kind of discussion.

Laura Millay:
The RISE Center is a STEM education research center. We are interdisciplinary. It’s a center that brings together people from across disciplines who do education research, investigating teaching and learning at all levels.

Marina Van der Eb:
We work with both K–12 teachers and university faculty to make improvements on a day-to-day basis in terms of teaching practices and how can we make sure that students are learning what we want them to learn.

Susan McKay:
There’s always new stuff to learn. It’s that drive to learn it, pick it up, that I think our teachers have. And we can help them with that.

This is such a comprehensive university. It’s an amazing resource to the state. I think we’re really a convener and a connector for people in the state.

Jim Fratini:
And then when I got involved, that was like, “Whoa, hold on. I didn’t know that.”

And the professional development they were providing made me a better teacher. Not that I was teaching it wrong, but it gave me a deeper understanding of the concepts because I didn’t have physics in college. That wasn’t part of my track.

Now doing professional development by a physics professor gave me a better understanding.

Kamryn Morin:
It’s showed how energy really works in real life and how instead of just reading out of a textbook, we’re actually seeing energy actually pushing something and making it work.

Laura Millay:
Science is amazing because it really provides this window into the world. For some of us, it’s a lens to the world that really is exciting.

Then providing teachers and kids with tools so that they can actually systematically investigate those things and say, “OK. Let’s turn that into a researchable question. Let’s turn that into a question we can use science to answer.”

Jennifer Gilman:
The world of education is totally different than when I started. The kids are so technology oriented. What’s the next level? The next level is virtual reality. It’s just a whole different way to present ideas and concepts to students.

Cassie Stoddard:
It’s definitely better to see it in HandWaver because you can literally get into the sphere. You can see what’s happening.

Bobby Massey:
I’m a hands-on learner, myself. So that kind of stuff is applicable to how I’m able to learn the best.

Tyler Frye:
It’s hard to see on a piece of paper because paper is 2D, but once you get up in the virtual reality where everything is 3D, it’s just the space and just completely different understanding of it now.

Jennifer Gilman:
Their first language is through technology. So we need to appeal to that. If we’re still in our textbooks, we’re missing the boat.

Susan McKay:
The idea of community in a rural area, I think, has been so valuable to these teachers.

Teri Jergenson:
I got to talk to other teachers and discuss. It was the greatest thing ever.

I was like, “You tried that. That didn’t work. OK, that’s so great to know.” Or, “Oh, that’s a really great idea.” Or, “You wanna know what I did?” It never happens because I’m the only Earth science teacher here. So it was a really great experience.

Jim Fratini:
I call some of these people good friends now just because we spend so much time together working at the RiSE Center. And developing lessons together, and sharing lessons, and emailing, and FaceTime, and everything else to help support each other. Something that was not there before.

Jennifer Wright Gregg:
The power of when teachers get together and talk about things and have ideas. That’s the thing that affects the most change on a school. And when that happens, it’s pretty amazing.

Marina Van der Eb:
It’s just really fun watching the students get excited about what they’re doing. You go visit these classrooms and the students can’t wait to tell you about what they’re learning that day.

Oftentimes, the students are really running the show. They know what they’re doing next. They can tell you all about the lesson they just did that day. You just go and ask them and they talk to you like adults. It’s pretty neat to watch that happen.

Susan McKay:
The state needs students who have strong STEM backgrounds. And we’re only going to get there if we support teachers in those fields.

Alexis Leeman:
It is fun. It is not boring.

Kam Landry:
I don’t think there’s a dry moment. It shows how fun science can be. It’s not just one note. It’s more of an adventure.

Jennifer Wright Gregg:
I will do anything that the RiSE Center offers. I am a lifer for the RiSE Center. I’m sort of anxiously awaiting the next thing.