STEM Proposal Lowell Cohort

1
STEM ProposalLowell Cohort

• Janice Bryant
• Stephanie Clark
• Marsha Downey
• Priscille LeBlanc

2
Vision Statement

• Encourage and motivate diverse student
  population to enter STEM fields.

3
Lowell Public School District Challenges

• A model for equity and educational excellence in
  a city of immigrants
• Student population is approximately 44
  Caucasian, 29 Asian, 21 Hispanic, 6
  African/African-American
• 8 claim immigrant and refugee status, 67 of
  students receive free or reduced lunch, 27 are
  Limited English Proficient

4
STEM Specific Challenges

• No district-wide science initiatives
• Low 5th/8th grade science MCAS scores
• Technology Education and Family Consumer Science
  teachers eliminated
• Lack of teacher training in STEM areas
• Lack of communication among district science
  teachers

5
Capstone Project Goals

• Improve professional development of Lowell
  teachers in STEM areas.
• Incorporate technology and engineering into
  existing science curriculum
• Realign topics to increase student achievement in
  STEM areas.

6
Objectives

• Collect teacher feedback on STEM issues
• Integrate complete technology unit into existing
  science curriculum
• Design and implement STEM networking platforms
  for Lowell teachers
• Increase awareness of content courses

7
Five Year Plan

• First Year
• Meeting, sharing survey
• Phase I of Engineering Project
• Year Two \Year Three
• Phase II\Phase III of Engineering Project
• Alignment with high school curriculum
• Year Four
• Science Fair Career Day
• Year Five
• Analyze and evaluate collect data to inform
  direction of next phase of project

8
Conclusion

• Initial feedback indicate that
  engineering\technology need to become a vital
  part of the middle school general science
  curriculum to improve student success in STEM
  areas.