NSF Awards: 1758317
In this NSF-funded Track 3 Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship program, K-12 STEM Teacher Leaders share how they were able to support hands-on STEM learning for diverse learners despite the incredible stress and demands of teaching in high-need schools during the ongoing pandemic. Fellows serve high-needs districts in the NY metro area, hit hard by the pandemic. They sought opportunities for students to connect with one another to start to heal the damage done from pandemic isolation. To keep students engaged, support social-emotional learning and drive STEM understanding and skills, Fellows created opportunities for collaboration and creativity for both in-school and at-home learning. Students returned to school without being ready for new content, forgetting study skills, and in some cases, needing to relearn how to behave and interact in the school setting. Fellows leveraged hands-on STEM activities to make social-emotional learning connections in STEM experiences, some drawing in families and others helping students to learn how to connect with one another in person again. Projects engaged students in the classroom with content to get students talking and learning together, in person again. Many of the Fellows’ projects involved other teachers and classrooms, helping to make a difference in more children’s lives and help return vibrancy to their schools. The Teacher Leaders’ efforts demonstrated their commitment to supporting students’ development and STEM learning.
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
1st-3rd Grade Teacher
The Pandemic was a new experience for all of us to navigate and keep our students engaged in the learning process. This three minute presentation highlights the many successes across the grade levels. It also shows the importance of hooking students at an early age so to continue the momentum into high school and beyond. Every learner brings a uniqueness to each experience and the importance of continuing the conversation cannot be stressed enough.
Kristen Napolitano
Catherine Quinlan
Love it!! Love that you also incorporate writing along with the various kinds of experiences. I can definitely see students being very engaged using these various challenges. Great way to support teachers and parents at home.
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Kristen Napolitano
Kristen Napolitano
Postdoctoral researcher
Thank you for the support!!
Kristen Napolitano
Postdoctoral researcher
Hello! I am researcher on this project and have the privilege of getting to know our Fellows through their instructional materials, classroom observations, and leadership projects. This year, I watched as Fellows took on old and new challenges in their classrooms and districts as they navigated another year of the pandemic while pursuing innovative STEM ideas in their schools and communities. Our research team’s focus was on how these master teachers lead their schools in their own ways from pushing for STEM integration, facilitating a community STEM program, and hosting a STEM career fair. We hope to dive deeper into examining how these master teachers developed their STEM self-efficacy through these culturally and locally relevant school-wide endeavors.
Deena Gould
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Deena Gould
You really showcase how to respond to the social emotional needs of students and teachers while also engaging in relevant and challenging STEM learning. I also love how you supported teachers to connect and bridge STEM to home and integrate literacy / writing. Great that you supported both elementary and secondary STEM master teachers! Elementary school teachers can be exemplary STEM master teachers too!
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Kristen Napolitano
Kristen Napolitano
Postdoctoral researcher
Thank you! Yes, the Fellows have done a lot of work in vertical teams to build each others' STEM self-efficacy. All of the Fellow benefit from this collaborative work. Our elementary school Fellows are especially well versed in integration because it is a part of their daily practice-- we have all learned a great deal from them!
Deena Gould
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Paige Evans
I really like the idea of the take home STEM kits. How many did they make? Thank you for sharing this wonderful work!
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Kiowa Garcia
8th Grade Living Environment Teacher
Hi! Thank you for your question!
My name is Kiowa Garcia, one of the STEM Master Teacher Fellows. To support the 7th grade curriculum, we also sent out STEM Kits for two engineering projects. Although it took a lot of work and collaboration from many other teachers, we managed to prepare individualized kits for 85 students. It was well worth it. The pandemic made it extremely difficult for us to provide the much needed project-based inquiry science our students loved, so we decided to send it home to them. This increased engagement and participation during online instruction, and made science come to life for our learners!
Wendy Smith
Research Professor
Thanks for sharing your engaging project and successes during the pandemic. Did your Noyce Fellows share projects with each other (to adapt for their own classrooms) or did they each create projects independently? Has your project engaged administrators (those who evaluate teachers) on what effective STEM teaching and learning can look like? In what ways are your Fellows planning to adapt or continue these projects in the future, possibly leading to more teachers enacting similar projects?
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Anny Vanegas
Elementary Teacher
Hello, I am one of the Fellows in this program. One of the best aspects of the Fellowship is the opportunity to share with our Fellows. We are able to share our ideas, current projects, and troubles. This has been very valuable. Currently, I am working on the FLORES project. My team consists of other non-fellow teachers in my school who are interested in STEM. There is a kindergarten teacher, a first grade teacher, and an ENL teacher. Other Fellows in my district have already implemented this project. It has been wonderful being able to collaborate with them, they have been very helpful to the implementation of FLORES in my school. Other teachers have noticed the work being done and have demonstrated interest to participate next year!
Deena Gould
Kristen Napolitano
David Lockett
Data Science Outreach and Grants Development
There are many connections between the STEM challenges we do in our classrooms and social-emotional learning strategies. Thank you for showcasing project success during the pandemic. Using STEM education to teach perseverance and collaboration prioritizes SEL. Has your project changed mindsets and identified the factors that may be influencing this change among master teachers?
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Kristen Napolitano
Postdoctoral researcher
Thank you for your comment and question! I am sure one of our Fellows can share their experience directly, but from a research angle, we have observed an increased STEM self-efficacy for many of the Fellows in this work. While many of the Fellows came into this program already familiar with and leaders in STEM teaching, they have expanded their use of STEM integration. The examples shared in the video are just a few of the ways that the Fellows considered innovative ways of incorporating STEM concepts into their other core content areas (such as, ELA or social studies).
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
Deena Gould
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
1st-3rd Grade Teacher
As a STEM Fellow in the program I can attest to the slow but steady interest in incorporating more STEM activities throughout the curriculum. Each project is chosen so to integrate many aspects of the grade level standards within the first, second and third grade. They are also chosen based on the interests of the group. My students are excited ablut and actually ask for STEM activities everyday. Other educators have begun to inquire how best to include projects within their rooms. Change is slow but it is slowly coming. Students problem solve and hold accountable talk conversations supporting the work of one another.
Terri Agravat
Teacher/STEM Specialist
Thank you for your question. I am an elementary STEAM teacher and one of the Fellows in this program. When I first started the program, I was more tentative when incorporating integrated, hands-on challenges and investigations. I wondered how I would manage the student groups, their questions, the many materials, etc. After going through this program and having the support of my professors and the other Fellows, I am far more comfortable with this work. It is amazing to see the students working collaboratively again after more than a year of remote learning. They are strengthening their problem solving, communication, and perseverance skills daily. By the end of the year, students are able to develop and run their own investigations with minimal support from the teacher.
Kiowa Garcia
Brooke Coley
Great presentation. So inspiring. I love the idea how students learned a wide range of concepts and skills -from talking to an astronaut to honoring women in STEM for women's history month to take home STEM kits. I would like to know more in detail about the areas that you identified should be taught and how you developed the strategies to foster them- a little bit more about the writing program Thank you!
Deena Gould
Kristen Napolitano
Maureen Corrigan-Connell
1st-3rd Grade Teacher
As one of the STEM Fellows I can speak to my projects which always include a writing component. I teach a multi-age classroom in a Montessori Public School grades1, 2, 3. My students and I come up with the ideas based on their interests. We share books on topics and write responses to the stories. Then groups are fromed to include all grades in each group and the students pick. I vary the process each time allowing the students to all have a chance and there is a nice blend of varying strengths and levels. The projects include planning sheets and at the end self assessments to suggest what could be done differently next time. Several years back I wrote a writing around Lego work where students designed a Lego display and wrote a story based on the creation. This work was also done in group. Students are with me for three years and I enjoy watching the growth as well as seeing their interests change over time. The astronaut we joined was a graduate of the Yonkers Public Schools and had attended school in our building years ago before it was Montessori and then went to the high school around the block. Students were motivated to write and ask questions which we sent in before his broadcast so it was a wonderful experience.
Kiowa Garcia
Deena Gould
Kristen Napolitano
Jennifer Kidd
Inspiring to see your fellows' creativity in action and the many ways they found to engage kids socially and emotionally through STEM activities. We too had to think creatively to adapt during COVID. I think we need to take a minute to congratulate ourselves for the connections and opportunities we fostered during this incredibly stressful time: a little social and emotional gold star for us!
Kiowa Garcia
Kristen Napolitano
Jackelyn Lopez Roshwalb
Anjinette Piccirella
Middle School Teacher
Thank you so much for your comment!
Cynthia Callard
Executive Director and Faculty
I really appreciate the showcasing of fellows' and students' work in your video! These experiences and opportunities are so important to get students (and teachers!), interested and engaged in STEM learning, and can have far-reaching benefits. I know some of the fellows have mentioned working with others in their schools, and I am curious to know if your Noyce program has helped to support and develop fellows as leaders in their schools? Are there programmatic components that support the development of fellows' skills and identities as "teacher leaders" to work with their colleagues in new and different ways? Thank you for sharing your work!
Anjinette Piccirella
Middle School Teacher
Thank you so much for your comments and questions. As a team of Noyce fellows, we meet once a month to discuss our projects and are provided with an opportunity for others to bounce ideas around. In addition, our Mercy professors provide professional development on how to facilitate these projects into our school building/district. In terms of the turnkey into the school buildings, it looked different in each school district on whether it happens during the day or after school, participating teachers funded through a separate program etc. Each of the fellows makes a tremendous effort to reach as many people within their building/district that want to be part of engaging students in STEM learning.
Cynthia Callard
Jackelyn Lopez Roshwalb
Thank you for sharing these inspirational ways of engaging students in STEM! When seeing about the ideas that were implemented at home during remote learning, I wonder about what takeaways continued after students returned to in-person school. For example, did some teachers continue to have students engage in activities at home with their families even after transitioning back to school after virtual learning?
Kristen Napolitano
Postdoctoral researcher
Thank you for your comment and question! I hear from the Fellows many ways that they are maintaining some of the ideas that they implemented during the pandemic. I am sure they can provide specific examples here, but one of the elements that stands out most to me is the way that Fellows were able to continue pursuing collaborative STEM work that transitioned well even when the students returned to in person classes. At least two Fellows had students pair up to collaborate across contexts. In other words, if a student was in person, their partner would be attending class remotely so their work always bridged the two spaces. This surely helped when all students had to return to in person this past September.
Kiowa Garcia
8th Grade Living Environment Teacher
Thank you for your question!
Actually this year, I decided to have our students participate in our yearly Science and Engineering STEM fair differently this year. We usually have students create and present in school, but this year new constraints were added! Students had to create their poster boards digitally, engineer solutions to problems while at home, collaborate with peers using technology, and present their findings using flipgrid to their fellow classmates. Even the judges will be viewing their flipgrid presentations, which were done at home. The added constraints mimicked virtual learning, even though we have physically transitioned back to school. This week we choose the winners, and I am excited to get feedback from the students. As I reflect on this new way of hosting this yearly event, I am pleased to report that students were not reluctant to use technologies to present, and it was a great way to incorporate computer literacy into the activity.