Defining STEM Education

In today’s episode. We’re considering what STEM means from different perspectives. You'll hear interviews with Claire Bunker, MiSTEM Network Director, East Central Michigan Region, and Amy Hindbaugh-Marr, STEAM Teacher in Ithaca, Michigan. These two interviews share stories, experiences, and practice advise that will help you think about STEM in your community.

Links:
MiSTEM Pipeline and Background
Code.org- Michigan
Ozobots
Chief Science Officers (CSO)



Intro Music by: David Biedenbender
Other Music:
 Zen_Man 
MuzaproductionMondayHopes
REDproductions 
ZakharValaha 
WinkingFoxMusic 
Lesfm
NaturesEye

Find us on social media:
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Facebook: cmich_cese

Transcript

0:33

STEM, STEAM, STEM star, STEM ecosystem, STEM pipeline, STEM education, steam standards, inquiry, student led learner, guide on the side. Have a hit on an education buzzword that is shown up in your email yet? In today's episode, we're considering what these buzzwords mean from different perspectives. Our own center has STEM in the name so defining it has been part of our team's work since the center opened eight years ago. One of the cool things about my job is that I get to meet a lot of teachers and get into quite a few schools here in Michigan. And I can tell you that for every teacher I've met, who's using one of those words STEM, STEAM, STEAMM with two M's. They're using it in a way that's unique to their school and their learners and their circumstances. And we've often been asked to define stem and we usually disappoint people when we say that it's just not that easy. So instead of listing definitions here for you today, we're sharing some stories. First, you'll hear from Amy

Unknown: 1:26

So I'm Amy Hindbaugh-Marr, and I'm the kindergarten through sixth grade steam teacher in Ithaca.

Ashley O'Neil: 1:34

And we're also sharing an interview with Claire Bunker,

Claire Bunker: 1:36

the MiSTEM network director

Ashley O'Neil: 1:38

Amy's interview is a mix of practical advice and stories from her classroom. She shares how she built the steam special for her to elementaries that she's working in. Amy's quick to share that much of her supplies are repurposed are grant funded. And one of those grants that's funding materials for Amy this year came from a project led by Claire. These two professionals are in very different parts of the education system, Amy works directly with students and Claire is looking at education from a larger perspective and making connections and building projects for the region she supports here in Michigan, both don't focus on STEM or STEAM. But I like these interviews together, they show in their own way two examples of what STEM can mean in education and what the results can be. Now to spoilers. If you're hoping to leave this episode with a neat and concise definition of STEM education, you are probably going to be disappointed. And if you're looking to hear our own definition of STEM. Well, we're keeping the mic on other voices today. But I'll be back at the end of this episode to talk a little bit more about why these definitions differ. And to share some exciting news that came out after this interview. So for now, listen in. So today, we are happy to welcome to our podcast, Claire Bunker. And Claire is currently the director of the Region 10 MiTSEM Network. And I would say that Claire is definitely a leader of STEM education in our region. And she is always delightful to work with. So we are excited to have her here today to tell us something about the my stem network and what she's currently up to, but also any other gems of knowledge that she has from her experienced career in education. So welcome, Claire.

Claire Bunker: 3:19

Thank you and thank you for inviting me. I'm happy to share some of my thoughts with educators and other people in the region.

Ashley O'Neil: 3:27

Do you want to just start by telling us a little bit about yourself I know that Julie knows you better than I do. So it'll be helpful for me if you just want to share?

Claire Bunker: 3:35

Yes, my first degree was a bachelor's with a majors in computer science, minors and math and accounting. After briefly working as a computer programmer, I decided that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I returned to college CMU and obtained a master's degree in education and later a master's degree in educational administration with an emphasis in curriculum instruction again from CMU. I taught math and computer programming and computer literacy at Farewell High School, where I also served as a high school principal. Then I served as middle school principal at Shephard then went on to be the Director of general education at Clare Gladwin our ESD and finished my career as a K 12. Superintendent at Shepherd. I say I couldn't hold a job.

Ashley O'Neil: 4:22

So as we mentioned, Claire is the MiSTEM Network director for our region. MiSTEM being "m" "i" STEM, meaning Michigan stem,

Claire Bunker: 4:31

and they are relatively new positions. There are 16 hubs in the state. And I was probably right in the middle I was probably about the eighth director that was hired in the position. And you know, we work with schools and businesses and colleges and anything we can do to promote STEM in the region. It was created to make STEM learning more accessible across the region more equitable for all students in our state and also to help students prepare for success. In our changing climate economy,

Ashley O'Neil: 5:02

Amy is a former general education teacher, I met Amy, when she was teaching fifth grade in Ithaca. She took the position to teach the steam special for both Elementary and Ithaca, five years ago, when the program started,

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 5:14

We're very fortunate to have a position that is a steam focused. So I see all of the children, K through six, for 45 minutes a week, they come to the STEAM lab, and I present them with real world challenges. And they have a variety of materials they can use to tackle those challenges. So we have some recycled items. That's how we started, we didn't have, you know, our budget was $1,000 to start out. And so I went to the local businesses and said, If you have boxes and tubes and things that you can share with us, and over the course of the the five years that we've been in business, I've been able to secure quite a few grant funds. And so we have a really nice assortment of supplies at this point.

Ashley O'Neil: 6:11

Okay, a bit of context, if you've ever thought hey, how do initiatives like these make it into education systems. So the my stem network, the one that Claire's part of grew directly from the my stem Advisory Council, which was leadership within the Michigan government under Governor Snyder, and basically they said, Hey, we should make Michigan a world leader in STEM education that would be good for our state. And whenever we have big lofty goals like that, we have to come up with sub goals and pieces and parts of how to get there. So the Advisory Council created four pillars that they recommended would be important to building that big goal. One, create a stem culture to empower STEM Educators, three, integrate businesses in education, and for ensure high quality stem experiences. I've linked a page in our show notes that gives you a lot more information if you're interested. But basically what we need to know is that with state state initiatives, these goals lead to an infrastructure of people in organization to work in and with educators to make this stuff happen. And they all have to develop their own goals and definitions and purposes that align with that big goal making Michigan the leader Claire's job as a direct result of the mind stem Advisory Council under Governor Steiner. And in a less direct way steams special stem special stem initiatives like Amy's they are as well. We asked Claire, I bet about one of the pillars that I was less familiar with businesses in STEM education. So I wonder, Claire, for me, I know how the background and education sometimes it's with the work that goes on in the region, it's more difficult for me to understand the business side of things or the perspective. I mean, I understand that businesses in the region would like to hire right? competent, qualified people in the area of STEM education, so I understand why a business would be invested. And that would just be only one reason, like businesses are invested for a lot of reasons, right? But when business members come to the table, and work with educators work with you, as part of the network, like, can you give us a sense for what that looks like, or what sort of types of work they would be invested in?

Claire Bunker: 8:24

I think all businesses have technology needs, whether you're, you know, a real small business or a huge business, whether you're in a tech not technology field or not. I mean, technology is present in all businesses, and they are all struggling to get employees that will be able to fill those needs. So that's one of their concerns. Pre COVID, I think, again, in our region had done a very nice job of taking educators and industry tours, so they could actually understand the needs of employer outside of the school district. I certainly think we could expand some of the opportunities for high school students to job shadow and get more into businesses. And I, you know, it comes kind of back to soft skills, which are stem or not stem, employers really want employees that are going to show up, be on time, be respectful, you know, are eager to learn, they don't expect them to know everything. And so I think that's really a big area that employers are struggling with, um, you know, I think in Michigan, in the 60s, even to the 90s, you needed to be able to do your basics you need to be able to read, you needed to be able to write to basic, basic mathematics. You know, there were great jobs out there in the factories and things for anybody who wanted to work hard. You need to work ethic and you could make a decent living and support your family. You know, now really, to be a productive adult, you need to be able to navigate technology, you need to be a lifelong learner. And you need to be stem literate as well. It's more than what it was 30 years ago. You have to be literate in you know, technology and science and math and and engineering, yes and no, but definitely you need more STEM skills and what you did in order to be successful and make a good living in order to support yourself.

Ashley O'Neil: 10:11

So we didn't directly talk businesses and STEM with Amy. But in our conversation businesses did come up. But I do have a quick question, Amy, because I've been in your room, and I have the benefit of seeing your space. And I know that space is a challenge for you. But I also know that you've been pretty ingenious about some things. So would you share one of your, like, favorite resources or hacks or things like I'm thinking specifically of you went to Bigby coffee and got them to donate all of their tea tins. And now those tea tins serve as little like trinket containers, or tool containers on your wall, which cost you $0, and also looks really cool.

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 10:52

And they smell good when you open them up. It's a perfect plan. Um, so that absolutely is great. I also have been so thankful our local doctor's office has shared with us, they save all of their rules from the paper that goes on. and whatnot, all of the caps that are on, you know, vaccines, and whatever else, everything is safe. And you know, it hasn't been used in a sense, that would make it dangerous, but they we use them for everything. And they're interesting, because they are not things that the children know what they are really, you know, our commission on aging also gives us all sorts of things. And that's a hoot, there's two, Bing, and all these things that I know, the kids would probably be like, Why in the world, but we use it, you know, my, my kindergarteners were making space helmets, we did a space unit, and they had these tubing things going from, you know, all pieces and parts, and it was great. So just tapping into my local resources and allowing it even like Le t. They, they share with us all of their thread, like spools, and hat protectors. So we can use them to these cardboard things that we turn into hats for all sorts of things. It's, I think it helps build that sense of community that we're all working together. And several businesses have a box that just okay, that's the stuff for steam, and then they drop it off the school or I pick it up. And so it's, it's a lovely, you know, and I send the pictures, okay, this is what we did with your caps, this is what we did in your tubes. And they think that's a hoot, too, you know, seeing what it becomes.

Ashley O'Neil: 12:55

And you think a lot of that came about I know, in the beginning, you sort of went cold calling or knocking on doors. As it continued when you have individual students and classes from those certain businesses or has most of it then because you've gone out and made the the,

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 13:12

I think that once people started to realize what we were doing with them, then they started stretching out. And so you know, the ladies that have coffee downtown realized, Oh, I could save my, you know, these containers and whatnot. And so we ended up with this network, I just had a grandparent drop off all sorts of things that she heard at coffee hour that we might use. And so it's been great, you know, they're all sorts of funny things, but we end up using them. Someone brought in all these strange little hats that were, I assume they made dials or something. And for the invention convention, one of my teams, they're making some new basketball hoops. And so we cut the tops off those, and they have these little neck things. And it's, it's perfect, I think I'm sure this woman had no idea that we would be using these hats to make basketball hoops, but it's working, you know.

Ashley O'Neil: 14:08

And I think, like, above and beyond the message of being frugal or reusing items or not throwing things in the landfill, right, or making or sort of designing with what with the materials, you have all those skills that are coming out of it. I think if people when people could see or if people could see your classroom, our MakerSpace just the kids having those things available, just the amount of just them being able to make those decisions and choose from those items and use them in the way in which they want to use them. Like there's also some power in that. So, I mean, we're kind of getting a chuckle out of it's fun to see these things use in a different manner, especially when they don't know what real use of the material is but also just the the empowerment that it gives them to say. I can walk around and I can choose to use these things. In the way that I want is,

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 15:01

Absolutely! Yes, I think that it allows them to take risks and recognize that you could toss out an idea and give it a try, you know, maybe it will work, maybe it won't. But I definitely feel that they are able to see things in a different way and, you know, be creative and solve problems that I, I don't know, I'd like to think that it helps them in lots of different ways.

Ashley O'Neil: 15:34

So Claire shared some of the focus of the MiSTEM Network and their goals when she talked about being an adult and the skills needed in your workforce. I didn't ask Amy directly about her own thoughts on STEM, but I did ask her to share how she approaches her stem special. Amy, we talked a little bit about this, I feel like you do a little bit of like a literacy stem cycle, would that be an accurate way to describe what you do?

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 15:58

Absolutely. So especially with my kindergarten through third grade, I start every lesson with a story. And so today, we read the story snow dude, and the children, the kindergarteners were challenged to make shovels, and the shovels had to scoop up the land Styrofoam snowflakes that I made. And so every every grade level has a different challenge each week. And so it's, it's lovely for me because I get to see them really progress and handle some more complex challenges as they work their way through our district. All of my challenges are also aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. And so everything that I do connects in one way with either something that they're working on in the classroom. Like right now, the third graders are doing weather and climate in their classrooms. And so we're doing those sorts of challenges in STEAM, so that they have a chance to kind of experience those standards in a few different ways.

Ashley O'Neil: 17:13

And I, at the risk of going down a rabbit hole, I know that some of our listeners might be curious, did you build you built all that curriculum to the best of my knowledge? yourself?

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 17:24

Right? I did. I Yes, I was very fortunate actually to have the freedom to be creative and put together what I felt our district needed. So I worked with all of our teachers. And we sat down and said, Okay, what do we feel that we need? What would complement what you're doing in the classroom? What are some things that in the classroom, it's too hard to get supplies around, or have the time to do that, in addition to other things. And so we really put together a curriculum that I think we're all very happy with, because we have blended it together in ways that the children have a chance to lots of different things and lots of different ways.

Julie Cunningham: 18:04

And I'm just thinking that that outcome sounds lovely and perfect. And, and like, for the kids sake, great, but the amount of time it must have taken the adults to coordinate is no small feat. Just knowing what schools are like and knowing how people have a limited amount of time. So is there any advice you can give someone to? I mean, how did you work all that you're just one person? How did you manage to?

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 18:35

Um, so I am, I am passionate about this. And so I really felt comfortable spending a lot of time, you know, painstakingly going through things. But I also feel that our our district was very understanding that it required a lot of work. And so I was given time, you know, in a special schedule, sometimes you don't have, you know, a class every minute of every day. And so there were times that I was allowed to focus on curriculum. And I set the original goal was just to have one unit per grade level, that first year. And, you know, now we're at a point where we have all of the standards covered in one way or another, but you know, five years of working together and mapping out with teachers, okay, that did not really work or I could do that in the classroom. I'd rather do that on classroom and you know, you can work on this air so we did a lot of collaborating.

Ashley O'Neil: 19:47

You heard a little bit about the overall structure that Amy has used to build the steam program in her community. And from her zoomed out perspective, I asked Claire to share how she has seen STEM growing our area since she became the mind stem After here,

Claire Bunker: 20:02

we've seen the expansion of programs. The CSO program, for instance, is going to go to the west side, that's an expansion of a program. Mass recovery really working with elementary educators to increase their knowledge and ability to effectively teach mathematics at the elementary level co.org is k 12, every elementary teacher can participate in CS fundamentals. And our region has actually had probably a higher percentage than any other region, we've really pushed it in our region. So our elementary teachers can do that doesn't mean they have to teach the whole curriculum, they can use it on a day when they have 20 extra minutes or something like that, in order to engage your students, middle school and high school opportunities with quoting and co.org. We can help fund some of the things with my star project based learning as a big proponent in our region, we have many grants this year, 14 mini grants went out to the region up at $2,000 - $1500, if you didn't work with the business 2000, if you did work with the business, because they know it would be a little bit difficult during COVID To make that a requirement, and test some great great proposals to teachers as far as you know, biology, outside biology things, high school students working with elementary and middle school students, because they found out that by the time the high school kids get into robotics and things like that, it was almost totally boys that were involved. So they're going to work with the girls in the elementary in the middle school so that they aren't intimidated, by the time they get to high school. A lot of district looked at their needs and the needs of their students, and they can really come up with some great ideas in my steps to be able to support.

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 21:45

And, you know, I love the ability to be creative, you know, I'm able to, if my daughter and I go to the library and find a book that I think oh my gosh, I can do something with that. I'm really fortunate that I can adjust my curriculum, and I can make that work in a way that in the traditional classroom, I wasn't able to do that as much. And so that keeps me energized and excited. And you know, that ties into the grant work I'm doing because I'll get an idea and think, Okay, I could use this supply. I just need three more of them. And you know, so I'm very specific with my grant writing, because I have ideas in mind. You know, what will work?

Ashley O'Neil: 22:27

Do you hear she segwayed that so nicely, like, teacher, like, let's redirect us back to the goal.

Julie Cunningham: 22:33

He doesn't need us. In fact, she's like, No rabbit hole Cunningham let's go. So Good.

Ashley O'Neil: 22:38

It's like master teaching right there. So when it comes to grant writing, I, I used to get all those great updates when my kid was in your class until you see the little newsletters that you had, you know, applied receipt for grants to questions, how do you find them? And then what is your process look like? Do you reuse some of I know that grants can sometimes have a similar format? So do you have a system now where you say I've saved that document to copy.

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 23:04

So I started out with local grants that I felt, you know, were small, and I could tackle in a way that seems comfortable. And then once I had a handle on that steam stem stuff is really hot right now. And people are wanting to support, you know, in lots of different ways. And so then I started to expand to okay, what are some grants that are available at the state level, and then, you know, went from there. And there definitely are parts that I have been able to use over and over again, you know, the mission and vision of our program and things of that sort. So I have that part off set. And then because all of my curriculum is based on the next gen science standards, I'm able to tie that into almost everything that I do every grant I write, I explained, we're going to be doing this with we're going to address these standards. This is why we need to do it. I've done a lot with science and engineering practices. And so that has been able to translate into real world experiences until I've been able to share with the group committees. These are skills that the children will use no matter what field they go into their their life skills that they need. So that's been very helpful.

Ashley O'Neil: 24:32

I talked with Amy way back last summer when she first applied for this MiSTEM grant and I'll share part of her conversation about that grant in a minute. But I wanted to first let you listen to Claire and Julie. So money came from the my stem network and as the director Claire had some big decision making power and how to earmark those funds and what to use them for. And she decided that the best way to serve teachers was to get that money directly in their hands in the form of grant opportunities. It's pretty amazing. into the when you say 1500 or $2,000. Right? That's, I mean, that's a nice sum of money that my stem is supporting the schools with. But it's also, I mean, not a large sum of money when it's someone's asked when they I mean, they do pretty amazing things with a relatively small amount of money.

Claire Bunker: 25:20

Exactly. I agree. And I'll tell you that none of it went to salaries or anything, it's all educators either incorporated in their day or donating their time. And everything went to materials and things for students.

Ashley O'Neil: 25:32

It is and I also think the other sort of, and this probably goes without saying, but the other nice piece of that is that it really weren't, sometimes we we think about where they were these grants end up in the region, right. And those ended up in a wide variety of counties in a wide variety, there was really a large number of different teachers who applied in a large number of different projects, both regionally and size of the schools and urban versus rural. All right. So that was that I thought that was kind of interesting, too, and not contrived, not because you said so and so or this has to go to such and such a place just because that's how it worked out. So now here's Amy, a teacher, recipient of one of those grants,

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 26:17

I felt that that was an area that we were really lacking. And I didn't have a lot that could connect with the field of architecture. And with my sixth graders, we do a different type of engineering each week, they focus on, you know, a specific element. And that was an area that I felt was lacking. So at the time, we were working toward a band, and so we had ideas for if we had a new school, what would it look like? And you know, everyone was kind of thinking along those lines. And so my, my goal was to come up with different architecture kits that the students could use to practice putting together okay, what does a building need? How do the rooms go, you know, that sort of thing. And we didn't end up getting the bond to pass. But we have then used all of these kits do some really cool work. My fifth graders right now are learning about sunlight and shadows, and you know, the sun's position during the day and whatnot. And so I use the architecture kits this week, they So they had to design a house that had rooms specifically positioned to get the morning sunlight, and the afternoon sunlight. And it was a hoot to hear their reasonings. Some some of them said they wanted to have the bedroom, get that morning sunlight, because they wanted to wake up and other. So that's the last thing I want. And it was great. They, they really had some great ideas. And so that's how we used them. The the older kids, I also wanted the younger children to do some work as well. And so I had my first graders, they were also doing some sunlight work. And so they had to come up with houses, these houses were more organized, they had specific things they had to put together. And, and that works really well too. So it's been wonderful to see, i My goal was to have architecture and that whole system going through all my grade levels. And we've been able to do it in some really neat ways. My sixth graders designed their dream homes, and that was a hoot as well, they, they in fact, they ended up taking them home, and they wanted to work on them, and then we displayed them at school. So I've been thrilled with how that grant has come together. We've used all of the pieces in lots of neat ways.

Ashley O'Neil: 29:07

There's a difference between doing something once and doing it all the time over a period of time. For both Claire and Amy, STEM and STEAM have been the topic of their profession for a while. And it's interesting to hear how they consider the way things have changed over time. I think it's gone. In just in my time in the region. Some education has gone from lots of random acts of STEM to more of a concerted effort in a direction I feel like I agree. And your work and certainly the Great Lakes Bay region alliances work has been a big part of that.

Claire Bunker: 29:47

And we tried to look at the needs in the region and focus our funding to meet the needs.

Unknown: 29:54

I definitely have been able to experience their growth now. Not only with the concept of steam and being able to take risks and collaborate and that sort of thing, but with the materials that we have. So, for example, with Ozobots, in second grade, they drew a house, the map of their house, and then they use the Ozobots as a fire escape, how would I How would I get out, you know, well, then in third grade, they were learning about animals and how animals react to the environment and whatnot. So they had to create a path for the osoba and show that it would pause, if it saw predator, and it would spin around if it you know, saw some food or whatever else. And it was, it's great. And then it's gone all the way up to, you know, sixth graders, were making Draisaitl games and doing some things like that. So they are able to say, oh, yeah, we use this before, and then I'm able to say, Yeah, so we're gonna take what you did before and stretch it into, you know, now you're doing this work with it. So that's been really exciting. I was worried that maybe having supplies, and having them use them again, and again, that it might get old or whatever. And, in fact, it's just the opposite. They really are excited when they come in, like with a Riggleman JEGS those kits, we use them all the time. And it doesn't matter if sixth graders have used them, you know, every single year, they love them. So that's, I like that piece.

Ashley O'Neil: 31:35

That's great. And that cuts down a little bit on you having to teach something new every single time you're teaching. I mean that the lesson itself is new, but maybe you don't have to reteach the technology every time. And and they can probably help one another a little bit that way, too.

Unknown: 31:49

Yeah. It you know, certainly it's funny, when we have students move into the district, and they say, I haven't done this. And you know, my students absolutely take the lead and say, Oh, this is how we did it. Last year, we made it toboggan and now we have to make this and you know, so I like that piece too, that they are the leaders. Yeah.

Ashley O'Neil: 32:10

My second question was, so the sixth graders are doing a larger project, like making their dream home? Or, or maybe I don't know, maybe other grades do larger projects, too. But are they at what point did they start being able to translate that from week to week to week to keep a project going, I imagine the younger kids, that's not as easy to do.

Unknown: 32:30

Yeah. And you know, that's something that I really have struggled with. In general, it's hard to carry things on from from week to week, because I don't have a lot of space. And so if they're in the middle of building something, I, I tried last year to have things carry over. And it was really tough. And so what I have done, like right now we're doing the invention convention with sixth graders. And so we're doing the building and the hands on work in steam, and then they're doing the other parts in their classrooms. And that's at this point, that's, that's all I've been able to do, just because 15 minutes, is not a lot of time. And so, you know, in an ideal world, we would, I would be able to see them, you know, at least twice a week to carry through. But at this point, we're not there. So

Ashley O'Neil: 33:24

I was wondering, we even struggle with that sometimes in our, you know, when we only have when we see kids repeatedly, but only see them once a week, it is hard to have things that are ongoing. And sometimes it's not even just about space, sometimes it's about catching up to where you were the week before and the amount of time in which you can move forward as

Unknown: 33:44

Well. And unfortunately, you know, the last few years, we've had so many absences, for all sorts of reasons. And so I have students that even with, you know, my regular curriculum, like the fifth graders, were doing the spheres biosphere hydrosphere. Without, and someone would be in quarantine. And so they missed three of the lessons that we did on biosphere. And so then we were moving on to the other, you know, so I realized that I am able to do a broad theme, but each challenge is a standalone challenge or so that they can still, you know, they can still get what they need to out of that challenge. And if they have been there for all of them, then they can see the pattern and the whole unit, but they stand alone. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. I also this year, I have created notebooks for them. And so every challenge that they have is in this notebook. And so they've been able to look back and look forward and say, Oh, next week we're going to do this, you know, and so that's been a nice way for me to keep myself on track. And for us to if someone is absent they can at least see okay, that's what we did. The challenge was to create a You know, an animal that do this or that, and then it makes us look we're doing now.

Ashley O'Neil: 35:07

So we've spent a fair amount of time listening to Claire and Amy talk about their day to day and the projects that they've been a part of. And I hope that you've been able to tease out what STEM means to each of these professionals through those conversations. But I'm sharing next, some of their final talking points with us. We didn't request any definitions, but some definite goals and focuses become clear here. So can you think of like, what, what when you get excited about STEM in the region, what kind of things come to mind like you say, I, you know, even maybe a superintendent a handful of years ago, I just never thought I would see this,

Claire Bunker: 35:46

I think, you know, the students being actively involved in learning the idea that you can go outside and you know, learn your science and those type of things. And it's not just a fun day, or you're doing it as a kind of a one off activity actually changing the way you look at education. And, you know, being able to be more systematic about students learning and hands on and teachers incorporating that, and it's not a field trip, if you go off to Chippewa Nature Center, or forest hills or something like that. That is that is what you should be doing as part of your curriculum. It's not a special day to do that. That's, that's good to think that's what we do know that that is part of our learning, coming up to the STEM center and doing the hands on stuff there at CMU. Again, it shouldn't be a few schools and a few teachers, it should be an expectation of all educators, how are you going to incorporate that into your learning?

Julie Cunningham: 36:42

I couldn't agree more.

Ashley O'Neil: 36:44

I was gonna say, I love that. I just love that, that we flip it and we say it is a special thing. It is a privilege. It does this, this out of the normal field trip day. But I like your way of thinking to say no doing science at the river, that should be part of your curriculum, because that is where that science is happening best. And I think that's great.

Amy Hindbaugh-Marr: 37:05

You know, one of the things that when I have spoken with teachers and other districts that don't have a program like we do, I think that they are assuming that a STEAM lesson a STEAM challenge has to be something grand, and the fact that you can truly take any story, and come up with a challenge that allows children to think and problem solve and collaborate. I wish that I could share more of that, that really, my dad and I go to the library, we find the book, and it's one we like and okay, and she even now will say we could do this and see, we this could be the challenge, you know. And so I would love for people to realize that it doesn't need to be big and fancy. I've had several college students observe in my room and say, Oh, my gosh, this is this isn't like any class I've ever been in this is this is really neat. You know, we have some cool things going on. And it's not fancy, you know, they really are toilet paper tubes. And, you know, like I said, we're fortunate now that we do have other resources. But we are able to I really do every other week, you know, when we do a recycle challenge. And when we do purchased kit or you know, technologies, something of that sort. And they like both, I surveyed my students at the end of the year to find out, you know, now that we have some more resources, do they prefer to do that, and it was absolutely split down the middle, which is so interesting. Third, through sixth grade students, it was completely split down the middle that they like them both. So that's what we do, we do a little bit of both.

Ashley O'Neil: 38:57

Clearly, you've been really great. You've been a really great resource meet for me just in the context of this interview. I am not as actively involved with the my stem network, I hear about the things that you're all doing through Julie a little bit, but I know that there are some teachers who maybe this is on their periphery. So I've already learned a lot from you. But is there anything that you would like to talk about or share with us that we haven't asked you yet today?

Claire Bunker: 39:19

Um, I think that it is just that STEM is not the latest buzzword. It's not a fad that's going to go away. It's not going to go by the wayside. I mean, it gives kids the opportunity to build the skills that they're going to need to be more employable and to really meet the current labor, labor demand as far as the job goes and just to be a productive adult as well. They're going to need those skills and you'll so many things. I've obviously been an education a long time. And you know, so many things come and go come and go STEM is not going to come and go it's going to be there. You know, and each part of STEM contributes to being a well rounded student and a well rounded adult So, you know, we really need to embrace that and figure out how to incorporate it into our districts for all educators.

Ashley O'Neil: 40:10

So you've heard from two educators who work in STEM in education in Michigan. Both are passionate and clear in what they do. And both come at this from very different place. We'd love to hear how their experiences and ideas compare with yours. email us with questions and stories at cese@cmich.edu That's cese@cmich.edu. Now, at the beginning of this episode, I promise to share some exciting news with you. Here it is. Amy is hosting a workshop at our center this summer for anyone who's interested in incorporating or building a stem activity or STEM activities for their students. You can find the link to register in our show notes or visit our site cmich.edu/stemed. That's cmich.edu/stemed and click on the section that says teachers and schools. We'd love to see you this summer and we're thrilled to have Amy.