What is the STE...M Gap?

 For the last 15 years, I have been striving to improve the students ability to transition between the algebraic concepts they learn from me and the applications that they are expected to understand in their Science classes.  I would bury myself into the applications, creating week long labs to show the connections. I would encourage math and science teachers to reflect on curriculum alignment, striving for  incorporating each others' approaches.

Last year, a whole new approach was opened up to me through my awesome experience as a Siemens STEM Fellow, spending a week with Siemens and Discovery Education, learning how to integrate STEM education while tapping into students' ability to analyze, create and  publish Projects that will help Strudents and teachers close the STE...M Gap.

I hope through this blog, we can continue the conversation.


 Here is what my students have started to develop:

 https://stemagicwi.wikispaces.com/

Students created 21st century STEM projects, with the goal of helping close the STE....M Gap. They found calculations from science and engineering classes, and connected the algebraic foundations, creating a bridge between the mathematical theory/ algorithm and the scientific application.
The goal is for the wiki to become a tool that both science and math teachers can use to help close this gap and create a bridge between the subjects, while teaching students how to prepare for 21st century learning and living.

Science teachers can use these short presentations to help introduce scientific calculations and applications of math and algebra.

Math teachers can use these presentations at the end of a learning sequence to show the students how they will be applying these skills to analyze scientific behaviors and outcomes, beyond what the math text offers for the applications.

By using student made presentations, your students will be engaged and they will more clearly understand the relationships between the science & engineering applications and the algebraic foundation, improving thier fluency between the academics.

We look forward to your comments regarding improvement / encouragement  in closing the STE...M Gap!