Introduction

In 2013 we asked the question: What can we do at the local level to respond to changes in education, and make it more meaningful for our students?  Our answer was to combine science, math, and technology courses into a single project-based STEM learning experience within our secondary school.  Now our school has collaborative student cohorts tackling month-long real-world projects like traffic management, automation, alternative energy and more.  

The purpose of this presentation is to share what our program looks like and how we implemented advice from current education literature? ----and then talk a bit about how it might scale to other schools and districts.  But let’s get right into it with a short example of a senior project in our STEM program.

In eight years the program has grown from a single senior cohort to five cohorts spanning all grades.  We see improved engagement, attendance, graduation rates, and it has broadened post-secondary opportunities for our students.  We believe the program is scalable, so how did we do it and, more importantly, how can other schools or districts start their own STEM programs?

Who are we?

We are Mike Hengeveld and Carl Janze. Mike has have taught math and science in British Columbia high schools for 21 years.  Carl has taught technology-based and special education courses in British Columbia high schools for 24 years.  We are the Lead Educators of a team of four and, respectively, we are the SM and TE of our STEM program.  We’ve taught together in the same urban school for the last 14 years and formed a partnership when we realized that an interdisciplinary, project-based approach might be the way to improve engagement for students.  

Context

We are in a major Canadian urban centre and have approximately 900 students in grades 8-12 from a diverse range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.  On average, approximately 140 students take either three or four courses as part of the STEM program per year. A traditional student schedule has eight courses that run from September to June in 2 semesters with 4 courses each.  Each course has a different instructor and students move from classroom to classroom. The school day runs from about 8:45 AM to 3 PM daily, with four 80-minute periods and a midday lunch break.