Futurist, David Thornburg, PhD, Keynote, "Prepare Students for Their Future and Not Our Past," Sanoma State University, October 27, 2011

SSU Faculty Center Presents: David Thornburg, PhD. - Internationally renowned expert on emerging technologies and their impact on learning. This award winning futurist, inventor, and author discussed trends in higher education, how students and learning styles are changing, and how to shape a meaningful educational experience. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Sonoma State University Faculty Center, the Professional Development Subcommittee, and the University Library.

"Prepare Students for Their Future and Not Our Past"

FRIENDS TALK STORY - Hope Cotner - STEM Transitions: A Model for Integrated Project-Based Learning

STEM Transitions: A Model for Integrated Project-Based Learning

Hope Cotner, Vice President, Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD)

As education and public policy discussions continue to focus on the importance of STEM subject mastery to global competitiveness, classroom teachers are looking for ways to make the often abstract concepts found in traditional STEM instructional materials more relevant to their students. They want to answer the question “When will I ever use this?” in meaningful ways that connect STEM content to real-life and demonstrate how STEM concepts are applied in the workplace.

STEM Transitions, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, aimed to provide instructors at the community college level the types of relevant examples students yearn for when learning math and science content. The year-long initiative resulted in the creation of more than 60 project-based learning modules that integrate math, science and technical content in six STEM-related career clusters. Through a cooperative agreement with the League for Innovation in the Community College, the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) collaborated with 40 community college faculty members to develop teaching resources offering both academic rigor and career-related skills in STEM fields.

Described as “integrated curriculum projects” because they blend math and science instruction within the context of disciplines such as health science, information technology, manufacturing, transportation/logistics, and agriculture/natural resources, the STEM Transitions projects are intended to motivate students to explore and pursue STEM-related careers in addition to demonstrating the relevance of STEM concepts to our everyday lives. Projects such as “Good Dirt, Bad Dirt: Soil Types and Erosion Potential” and “Antenna Shootout: Measuring RF Signal Strength” offer hands-on labs that build student’s knowledge while they’re having fun. Each project includes background material so it can be taught within a technical course or the related academic area. The self-contained teaching materials include all the necessary components for implementation, from equipment lists to student handouts, to assessments and web-based resource links. All of the projects revolve around industry scenarios, involve teamwork, and build critical thinking skills. The projects are available for free at http://www.stemtransitions.org. 

Since their completion, the STEM Transitions projects have been used in their original form at the community college level and adapted for use at the high school level. To provide uniformity and ease of use for instructors choosing to teach multiple projects, each one includes an overview, equipment list, industry-based scenario, multi-step activities, background material needed to teach the project, student handouts, assessment tools, extension options, and STEM career profiles related to the project’s activities. The structure of the projects themselves as well as the process used to create them has served as a curriculum development model for educators wanting to create their own integrated learning activities.

Following the completion of the STEM Transitions project, CORD staff synthesized the curriculum development process used during the project into a multi-step process that could be taught to teams of teachers desiring to develop projects of their own. While simplified here, the essential components of the process include the following:

When developing contextual, integrated projects, the CORD staff encourages faculty members to use a non-contrived, creative approach including some of the following considerations. Ask yourself, “Could we do this in real life or in the workplace?” Use real-world data and units of measure. Require students to gather field data or query real-time scientific databases available online and prepare them to analyze “messy” data such as non-integer results or multi-step processes. Take into consideration the wide variety of student learning styles found in today’s classrooms by using multiple modes to convey information. Provide opportunities for students to practice employability skills such as teamwork, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Applying the STEM Transitions Framework Across Grade Levels

The Western Wisconsin STEM Consortium, formed for purposes of a Math-Science Partnership Grant, was intrigued by the STEM Transitions model and felt it offered the type of innovation they were seeking to bring together teams of teachers from Kindergarten through 12^th grade to boost not only their math and science content knowledge but their ability to create curriculum resources that integrated the two subject areas with applications from the workplace.

The consortium provided professional development for 60 teachers from nine school districts in the western part of Wisconsin. During the project’s summer academy, teachers formed 10 multidisciplinary teams to develop an integrated STEM project. Each project addressed the mathematical topics of mean, median, mode, and range, and the science topics of organisms, populations, and ecosystems, in alignment with specific math and science standards.  

To jumpstart the creative process, teachers spent time at outdoor sites and local businesses, immersing themselves in the context of how math and science concepts are applied by scientists, researchers, and others working in business and industry. In their teams, teachers discussed how these experiences directly related to the standards they teach. The resulting integrated projects developed by the Wisconsin teams followed the STEM Transitions project format. Project titles ranged from “Loopy for Ladybugs,” a multi-step project created by a K-2^nd grade team that calls for students to construct a terrarium for ladybugs to facilitate their understanding of living things and their relationship to the environment, to “Something for Nothing? Repurposing Food Grade Oil into Biodiesel” created by a 9-12^th grade team to investigate the economic feasibility and ecological impact of converting recycled food grade oil for practical uses within the community. The results after project implementation were impressive: students loved being engaged in projects and the teachers had not only enhanced their math and science content knowledge but their ability to work in teams to create curriculum resources.

These examples demonstrate the value of the STEM Transitions framework in facilitating the development of integrated instructional content that is contextual, relevant to students, and academically rigorous.

FRIENDS TALK STORY - David Bond, Ed.D. - Thriving through Career Pathways, July 14, 2011

Thriving through Career Pathways

David Bond, Ed.D., Senior Vice President, Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) and Director, National Career Pathways Network (NCPN)

Challenging Times Call for Innovative Strategies

It would be an understatement to say that we live in challenging times. Recent events have shaken the foundations of our economic system. Today, as never before, Americans look to our nation’s businesses and industries to create innovative strategies for providing jobs and bolstering American competitiveness in the global marketplace.

To fulfill that task, business and industry must have access to an abundant pool of well-qualified workers, which in turn requires that our public school systems produce graduates who are ready for the challenges of college and the workplace. Unfortunately, that is not happening. Despite the efforts of countless dedicated teachers and administrators—not to mention billions of dollars spent on education reform—American public education continues to fall short of its potential. Consider the following:

• High school dropout rates are still high
• Many students do poorly in school because they are simply not interested
• Too few students find their high school experience academically challenging
• Secondary-to-postsecondary transition rates are too low; postsecondary dropout rates are too high
• Too many college students require remediation

Career Pathways Provide Education with a Purpose

There are many successful examples of an educational model that creates relevant, challenging learning environments and, if widely implemented, has the potential to significantly increase American employers’ access to high-quality, home-grown employees. We call this model career pathways.

A career pathway is a coherent sequence of rigorous academic and career courses that begins in high school and leads to an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree and beyond, and/or an industry-recognized certificate or license. Career pathways are developed, implemented, and maintained by partnerships involving educators, community leaders, and employers.

Strengthening the High-School-to-College Pipeline

While most of today’s jobs require education and training beyond high school, only 20 percent require at least four-year college degrees. Consequently, the institutions that are ideally positioned to provide the postsecondary education and training needed for most jobs are the country’s almost 1200 community and technical colleges. Career pathways in no way limit how far students should aspire to go in their educational and career pursuits since most career pathways are designed to ensure that by the end of two years of postsecondary education (the associate degree) students are qualified to meet the skill requirements of employers in many fields.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The programs vary in order to meet local needs. Most begin at the high school level, typically involving juniors and seniors but sometimes freshmen and sophomores as well. Some of the programs are described as “2+2+2,” that is, the last two years of high school coordinated with two years at the community or technical college level and further coordinated with the final two years of bachelor’s degree programs. Most are designed to meet specific regional employment needs. The following are some examples that reflect the variety of programs across the country:

• A program at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, focuses on the region’s high demand for “green technologies.” Lane’s Summer Youth Career Academy in Weatherization provides 40 hours of instruction and paid time on the job and leads to certification in residential energy analysis. Its associate degree program has tripled in size over the last few years and virtually all of its graduates have found jobs.  
• The Academy of Teaching, a partnership in Maryland between Anne Arundel Community College, Anne Arundel County Public Schools, the Anne Arundel Community College University Consortium, and others, is offered at nine of the county’s twelve comprehensive high schools. This academy was created as a “grow your own” strategy to help alleviate teacher shortages. Anne Arundel County Public Schools serves as both the secondary partner and the primary employer of teachers. The number of graduates has increased 230% in less than a decade.  
• A.J. Moore Academy, a magnet high school in the Waco (TX) Independent School District, serves a student body that has 84% ethnic minorities and the same percentage of economically disadvantaged. The school offers 6 career programs: Engineering, Environmental Technology, Finance, Health Professions, Hospitality and Tourism, and Information Technology. The school has a strong business advisory board and several teachers have adjunct teaching status at McLennan Community College and/or Texas State Technical College to enable dual credit. The school has received several state and national recognitions for its successes like its 98% graduation rate and 95% attendance rate.     

Adapting Career Pathways to the Needs of Career-Limited Adults

While most Career Pathways programs begin in high school, a few are specifically designed to meet the needs of career-limited adults. The fact is that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans have severely limited career opportunities because they lack basic academic and technical skills. From industry’s point of view, the problem is not a shortage of people with bachelor’s degrees. In many industries, associate degrees or technical certificates are desired credentials. But for many adults, returning to school to gain even those credentials presents formidable obstacles.

The good news is that the career pathways concept can be adapted to the unique needs of career-limited adults. This highly flexible model, termed adult career pathways (ACP), offers strategies for overcoming workforce barriers by bringing together industries, community services, government agencies, and community colleges to identify, enroll, and prepare career-limited adults for high-demand career opportunities. ACP programs specifically target the educational needs of demographic groups such as displaced workers, high school dropouts, high school graduates who have little or no college, returning veterans, foreign-born U.S. residents, ex-offenders, and other high-need groups.

ACP programs are designed to expedite transitions—from unemployment to employment, from underemployment to better employment, or (as in the case of displaced workers) from one industry to another. Some examples of thriving ACP programs are:

• The City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and its partners promote access and opportunities in biotechnology careers. One of the keys to the success of CCSF’s biotechnology program has been “Bridge to Biotech” where students acquire basic math, language, and laboratory skills through a combination of classroom work and worksite internships over two semesters. The retention rate for students who enter the CCSF biotechnology program from the Bridge program is 90 percent. It is funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program.   
• The health sciences program at Blackhawk Technical College in Southwest Wisconsin helps the area’s large number of recently displaced auto workers obtain entry-level credentials in healthcare. Partnering with the college are the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board and several healthcare institutions. This program for dislocated workers qualified for funds from the Workforce Investment Act and the Trade Adjustment Act.
• The Adult Career Pathways Program at Indian River State College, in Fort Pierce, Florida, allows adult students to choose a pathway from six programs. The academies provide one-on-one academic guidance and career counseling; rigorous, relevant, collaborative, and innovative classroom instruction; on-site enrichment; and service learning opportunities. The IRSC adult career pathways program is helping business and industry develop a capable local workforce. 

In addition to the six examples of traditional and adult career pathways programs mentioned here, eleven more examples of how local partnerships can vary widely while providing similar positive results are provided in Thriving in Challenging Times: Connecting Education to Economic Development through Career Pathways, a joint publication of CORD’s National Career Pathways Network and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce. The publication (including a “Career Pathways Checklist”) may be downloaded at https://www.ncpn.info/thriving-in-challenging-times.php.

David Bond may be reached at dbond@cord.org, and more information about CORD and NCPN may be found at the following websites, respectively: www.cord.org; www.ncpn.info.

FRIENDS TALK STORY - Ray Rose - Computational Thinking, the Underpinning of STEM Education in Schools, July 14, 2011

Computational Thinking, the Underpinning of STEM Education in Schools

Schools today are dealing with many pressures and Jim has eloquently made the point that there are many different programs that address the STEM /STEAM push.  But, we also need ways to address the basics of STEM/STEAM preparation for students within the existing programs of instruction.  We need to have ways to incorporate computational thinking as a goal in student learning.  Some aspects of computational thinking are simply a matter of looking at educational activities with a different perspective.

The Executive Summary from 21^st Century Education: Computational Thinking, Computational Science and High Performance Computing in K-12 Education that I recently co-authored puts this in perspective.

The 2010 National Educational Technology Plan says “…technology is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work… Whether the domain is English language arts, mathematics, sciences, social studies, history, art, or music, 21st-century competencies and such expertise as critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and multimedia communication should be woven into all content areas.”

The US has, since the late 1990s, been trying to describe what a 21^st Century education should look like. Futurists are trying to divine the skills that will be needed for jobs that do not yet exist, employing technologies that have not yet been invented. However, a careful look around can allow us to see many areas that have been virtually unnoticed by those who are focused on 21^st Century Skills.

Supercomputing – sometimes called high performance computing  – is not a new technology concept, but the supercomputers of 25 years ago were about as powerful as a cell phone is today, and likewise the supercomputers of today will be no better than a laptop of 10 to 15 years from now. As the world of the biggest and fastest computers has evolved and these computers have become increasingly available to industry, government and academia, they are being used in ways that influence everyday life, from the cars we drive, to the food in our cupboards, to the movies we enjoy.

Supercomputing is not an end in itself, but rather the technological foundation for large scale computational and data-enabled science and engineering, or computational science for short, a collection of techniques for using computing to examine phenomena that are too big, too small, too fast, too slow, too expensive or too dangerous to experiment on in the real world. While problems with small computing footprints can be examined on a laptop, the grand challenge problems most crucial for us to address have enormous computing footprints and thus are best solved via supercomputing.

As a result, in order to be competitive as a nation, we need to produce knowledge workers in far greater numbers who understand both what supercomputers can do, and also how to use them effectively to improve our understanding of the world around us and our day to day lives.

The thinking about large scale and advanced computing has evolved too. Today we realize that while not everyone will be using big computing in their jobs, they will need to understand the underlying concepts.

These concepts collectively are referred to as ‘computational thinking’, a means of describing problems, and how to solve them, so that their solutions can be found via computing.[1] Computational thinking includes: abstraction (generalizing problems to make related problems more straightforward to solve); recursion (applying the same solution method to smaller and smaller sub-problems, then recombining their individual solutions to create an overall solution); algorithms (step-by-step methods for solving problems); induction (basing the solution of a particular problem on the solutions of related problems already solved); scale (understanding the relationships between problems and solutions of widely varying sizes, and how the size of a problem affects both its solution and its relationships to other problems).

Our 21^st century citizens, entrepreneurs, leadership and workforce will be best positioned to solve emerging challenges and to exploit new opportunities if they have a strong understanding of computational thinking, how it applies to computational science, and how it can be implemented via high performance computing. These are true 21^st century competencies that will serve our nation well.

http://etcjournal.com/2011/04/01/white-paper-21st-century-education-computational-thinking-computational-science-and-high-performance-computing-in-k-12-education/

Sample  Middle Grade Programs that Build Computational Thinking

There are innovative programs developed to address computational thinking but which are framed around different topics.  Globaloria, (globaloria.org),developed by the World Wide Workshop Foundation, approaches this by having students learn game design in Adobe Flash and then develop socially relevant games.  Students learn to program in Flash, an industry-standard tool and the basics of a set of skills that prepare them for a career in game design.  Within the Globaloria program the key elements students are learning are computational thinking skills and how to control technology.  Globaloria is being used across West Virginia high schools and middle schools as an elective.  The East Austin College Prep Academy in Austin, Texas has taken a different approach. Globaloria is one of the core courses taught every day, just like English and Math.  The program is now used in the 6^th and 7^th grades, and as the students move up to the 8^th grade next year the students will have three years of experience in the program.

Another program that has taken on teaching game design to students beginning at the middle grades is the Scaleable Game Design Program from the Computer Science program at  the University of Colorado http://scalablegamedesign.cs.colorado.edu/wiki/Scalable_Game_Design_wiki.  The Scaleable Game Design Program uses a different tool for game design; AgentSheets (http://www.agentsheets.com/) is a unique software authoring environment where users of all ages can build games, interactive demonstrations, and modifiable simulations.  It is not however an application that is used in the game development industry.

There are many schools that teach students using instructional games, but these two are models where teaching game design is the motivation for students gaining knowledge across  a much wider range of content areas.  

Examples of existing resources 

Google has taken great interest in developing computational thinking in K-12 and has a substantial number of resources and information on the topic. Here are two places to start:

http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/index.html
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2010/10/exploring-computational-thinking.html

The Science Foundation Arizona runs the iPlant Collaborative: Empowering Computational Thinking in Arizona High Schools. More information can be found at:

http://www.sfaz.org/live/collection/stem-teachers/10725

A national resource for computational science education with resources for science and mathematics at the middle and high school levels can be found at:

http://www.shodor.org/

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[1] Paraphrased from Jeanette Wing, Jan Cuny and Larry Snyder. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~CompThink/resources/TheLinkWing.pdf