Effecting Change at School and District Levels

The journey through my master’s program, has given me the confidence as well as the knowledge needed to become a science education leader in my school.  The resources we read this week about diversity within the STEM work force made me think about my role a lot. For me, I think that being the Head of the Science Department in my school, as a woman, is a good step to beating the odds.  Overall, at my school, there are three women in the STEM departments of Science, Math, and Technology.  However, we are definitely outnumbered by six men being our counterparts. 

By having the knowledge of STEM education, the creation of authentic assessments, project-based curriculum design, as well as the use of skill based instruction, I feel that I am well on my way to becoming a positive leader within my school.  However, as far as being a leader or influence beyond my school community, I am not sure how effective I have been.  Teaching at an International school in Eastern Europe, there is not a whole lot that I can do at a district level.  I have created several contacts here within Serbia for curriculum connections, but still need to improve in this area.  By travelling to several teacher workshops through the International Baccalaureate program I have met several colleagues who work at other International schools and have created a network of educators with whom I can share ideas.  This fall I had the opportunity to travel to Wellington, United Kingdom for a conference of Environmental Systems and Societies, where I met several colleagues who teach the same subject in various types of schools.  I felt very fortunate at the level of technology and science funding we receive for our curriculum at my school.  Many of the ideas that I shared with these colleagues, were technology and science related.  For example, using Blogger, Google Forms, Google Documents, Dropbox, and other collaborative media. The enthusiasm, and the questions they raised, made me feel like a science leader, but I felt saddened by the fact that such simple methods could not be implemented because of the lack of technology their students had access to.  Something as simple as a blog where students are making posts about current events they are reading, help them to become scientifically literate global citizens in the cyber world. 

Taken from Connecticut Innovations Blog (2011)

All in all, I feel like much of my efforts are directly influencing instruction within my school as far as mentoring my science colleagues, working with the Elementary school curriculum coordinator and the teachers there in order to embed more science in their curriculum, serving on the curriculum and leadership committee, as well as the Response to Intervention team.  However, I also think that much of my influence is indirect as well.  We are a highly transient community and the affect that I have on my students is carried with them to their next school, as well as conversations that I have with their parents.  I may not have directly affected the schools of the colleagues that I meet at conferences, but I do make an indirect effect.  My niece, who is a kindergarten teacher, came to stay with me here in Serbia and worked at my school for half a year.  She is also a graduate of Walden University, but for Literacy.  Through working with the inquiry-based curriculum of the Primary Years Program, and talking with me about teaching young students science, she has now spearheaded a movement to improve the science curriculum at her new school.  She now understands the importance of science and how it benefits student learning, especially when it is not only thematic, but has a deep underlying concept she wants them to understand.  I think through my discussions with her, and helping her develop her curriculum around a significant concept she was able to improve the interdisciplinary aspect of her grade 2 curriculum.  Therefore, another indirect influence I have had on another school. 

Challenges that I have faced when discussing with colleagues have been in getting them to break down their own barriers of thinking that science is “hard and difficult to teach” to such young children.  It is very difficult to influence Elementary teachers to allow students, especially grade 2 and up, to engage in their own science investigations.  Banchi & Bell (2008) state that "for many Elementary teachers, just understanding what inquiry is can be difficult, let alone designing activities that support high levels of inquiry (p. 26)."  Not only in science investigations, but also spending more time discussing science concepts and the work of scientists as well as the scientific method.  Facilities are a problem, as well as the materials they do not have.  However, I feel that the biggest thing holding the curriculum back is the hesitation that teachers have, in “letting go” and allowing students to inquire.  When I finish my Master’s program, I will have more time to focus on helping these teachers with their curriculum as well as provide them with support in inquiry.  I plan to go to the Elementary school and help them by teaching some lessons in inquiry with their students and hopefully having my students go and work with the younger ones. "Confident teachers produce confident students in science" (Connecticut Innovations, 2011). 

Even though I have mentioned a few ways that I may have been a leader in science education, I feel that I can do so much more.  Some ideas that I have are: visiting science classes in Serbian schools in the area, joining with a colleague at a private school here in Belgrade who teaches the same topic as I do to grade 11 students, present my knowledge of using technology in the science classroom at a Central Eastern European School Association (CEESA) conference, and become more involved in science education development within my home state of Maine.  I am on listservs, but perhaps getting involved while home in the summer, or talking with educators online may be a good way to begin making an impact there.  Already I have contacted a contest in Maine where my grade 11 students can take part in learning about the ocean and learning about the effects of human actions on the biodiversity of the area.

Overall, I believe that I am well on my way to making large inputs into the scientific educator community within my school, the Serbian schools, my International schools districts, and back home in Maine. Science should be a priority to everyone, because scientific understandings and technological skills are things that our students will need to seek solutions and solve the problems in THEIR future world.  

References                                                                                      Banchi, H., & Bell, R. (2008). The many levels of inquiry. Science and Children, 46 (2), 26-29.     Connecticut Innovations (February 10, 2011). Innovation: Learning from the past to inform the  future.
[BLOG POST].  Retrieved from:  http://www.ctinnovations.com/blog/?tag=science-education. Youtube (February 11, 2011). Ease the quiet storm trailer. [WEB].  Retrieved from:  
http://youtu.be/WA6jtil1Qrg

What's Our Sputnik?

Friedman (2010) really struck me when he stated "Let's get out of the way and let the moderate majorities there, if they really exist, face their own enemies on their own.  It is the only way they will move and we can be the wind at their backs, but not their sails."  This is something that I have been saying since the bombing of Serbia in 1999 when I was here living at that time.  So much money was wasted on the fight between Serbia and Kosovo by NATO, but nothing was accomplished there.

Spending money on our military to solve problems in other countries is only making us a more troubled and uneducated nation in itself.  By trying to "help" other nations, we are investing our hard earned, well-deserved money on someone else's land.  We need to invest in our own home and our people instead of trying to solve everyone's problems.  By spending like this, it takes away resources and focus from the development of our nation and our future goals, young leaders, and stimulating growth in education.  Can you imagine taking away the money as Friedman stated from the Pentagon and putting it back into our schools?  Imagine the things we could do in teaching our future innovators and problem solvers and world leaders...

What can educators do without funding from the government?  This is the question that comes to mind when I think about what we can do at a local, state or national level.  I believe educators themselves are trying to do as much as we can for our students, but we can only go so far with our hands tied behind our backs.  Funding for science programs are not consistent across the nation, and perhaps students who are going to private schools are better off than the rest of the population.  This is a mere small population.

We need to first come up with a program that would stimulate young people within and outside schools, get funding from local congressmen and create science initiatives.  What I would recommend is that we introduce a mandatory science coordinator from K-6 in order to present Elementary teachers with the support they need to implement science into their curriculum successfully.  This may help to release the pressure off teachers who are not familiar or comfortable teaching many of the main concepts that young children should understand.  Science should be a fun and rewarding experience for people of all ages.  I believe this support system would have a ripple effect in Education, students would feel more free to experiment, explore and not afraid of science, the teachers as well. This could in fact create a new situation where WE, the United States, produce the next Sputnik situation for others around the world.

I believe that the United States STEM educators are on the road to improvement, but we have a very large road block ahead of us because the US as a whole are not on the road to improvement.  We continue to spend large chunks of our national budget on fighting for other countries, on weapons, on military operations and training, instead of Education.  Other countries, like Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland), keep their budget for themselves, and invest into their education system.  Not only are they at the top for high school graduates, they are also at the top for literacy and scientific literacy compared to other countries.  For the time period of fighting other countries fights, our high school and college graduates have declined and other countries have pulled ahead.  "The U.S. once led the world in college graduates, but this number has flat-lined for Americans" (CNN, 2011).  Until we find the courage to pull back, and become a bit selfish with our money and time spent trying to put our noses into other countries political affairs, and depend on others to provide us with oil, then unfortunately, our education programs will continue to suffer, and the next Sputnik moment will never come.

References:

CNN.com (2010, November 3). How U.S. graduation rates compare with the rest of the world.  Retrieved from: globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/03/how-u-s-graduation-rates-compare-with-the-rest-of-the-world/

Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What's our sputnik? New York Times. Retrieved from:  http://search.proquest.com/docview/434270918?accountid=14872