STEM is Everywhere! by Helen Mihalatou https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi A MOOC offered by Scientix. en-us 2018-11-03 17:28:35 UTC 2026-01-04 02:26:54 UTC hello@padlet.com 1.1 Introduce yourself and share the name of a famous scientist! helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300089491 Hello everyone! My name is Helen Mihalatou. I am a biologist who teaches in secondary school. Here I present you a very famous ancient philosopher and scientist from my country, Aristotle.]]> 2018-11-03 17:32:41 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300089491 1.2 The evolution of STEM over the years helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300094510 How will artificial intelligence rewrite the way we work, think, study?
Mankind has risen to the current biotic level due to the many big or small interventions that have been achieved throughout our history on earth. However, I believe that the evolution of mankind ethics has not been maturing accordingly. We are not still capable of handling major changes. And we are not yet ready to accept that another "species", the Artificial Intelligence ones, will overcome us. 
]]> 2018-11-03 18:17:54 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300094510 1.3 Create a timeline of STEM inventions helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300101061 Greek stem inventions.]]> 2018-11-03 19:18:23 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300101061 1.4 Changing the educational paradigm helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300253655 I totally agree with Sir Ken Robinson. I am a school teacher and my experience agrees with the concept that every year  education is increasingly standardised and kids, who are living in the most stimulating age in history, fail to see the point of going to school. They focus mainly in ‘finding the right answers to pass the tests’ rather than about stimulating divergent thinking. In my opinion, the education system has to be reformed. The suggestions pointed out in the video by Sir Ken Robinson are essential for this reformation. ]]> 2018-11-04 21:44:25 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300253655 1.5 Essential 21st-century skills for today’s students helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300259870 I totally agree on the 21st century skills as was presented by the 4Cs. I try to help my students in fostering such skills by motivating them to engage in real life situations, make experiments, find solutions, collaborate.  However, the results are not often positive. Students nourishment on these skills should start early in their school life, from kindergarten. It is very difficult to start training high school students if they have not cultivated such skills before. This training should be a long time process. A linear approach to help students develop the 4Cs should be applied from the early to high school curricula.  ]]> 2018-11-04 22:29:25 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300259870 2.1 STEM in the real world helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300559604 I surely agree that students do not appreciate science. They do not relate it to the real world because curricula do not allow teachers to make students curious about the world. The main goal, specially in high school, is to offer as much knowledge as you are obliged to so that students can pass the exams. Imagine that high schools are competing to each other on the basis on the number of students that managed to pass the exams to enter the university. A very dissatisfying situation for both teachers and students. So, a teacher has to stand against the whole educational system in order to practice science in an alternative way so as to attract students to real world problems, to make them curious about the world, to teach them critical thinking. Fortunately, there are teachers who really try to differentiate form the main stream in order to foster students to appreciate science. However, being part of an educational system imposes serious restrictions. ]]> 2018-11-05 16:21:56 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/300559604 2.2 Connecting STEM activities to real-world problems in different subjects helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/302567910 2018-11-09 14:22:49 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/302567910 2.3 Real-world STEM activities to use in your classroom helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/302625141 I am a biology teacher and I had to teach students about osmosis. In order to motivate them and engage them in a real - world problem, I planned activities on how industries perform on preserving food. We focus on the use of salt in order to preserve some types of food like salted nuts or salted fish. Salting is the preservation of food with dry edible salt and is one of the oldest methods of preserving food. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. Any living cell in such an environment will become dehydrated through osmosis and die or become temporarily inactivated. 
To understand the process of osmosis and its results in the function of cells we planned to work with osmosis under the microscope. We used onion as a model and we observed its cells under the microscope. In parallel,  we immersed onion cells in salted water and observed them in the microscope. 
I think that this was a very creative activity for students who had to work in the lab, set up the samples, experience with the microscope, collaborate among the group and discuss their findings and ideas on osmosis and its application in real - world problems. ]]> 2018-11-09 15:55:19 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/302625141 2.5 Licenses helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/302638460 I believe that there has to be ethical and legal rules regarding licenses and copyrights on innovations in every part of stem discoveries. Discoveries are to be used for the improvement of human lives and problems are emerging when there is a financial benefit of them. In education resources in particular, I believe that sharing of experience or creative ideas should be accredited and be free to use in class.]]> 2018-11-09 16:18:13 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/302638460 3.1 The value of an interdisciplinary approach to STEM helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/303471926 I surely agree with  Bori Pocze that when learning is fragmented students often fail to understand. I agree that an interdisciplinary approach to STEM lessons has the potential for building higher-order 
thinking skills and helping students form meaningful connections between subject areas and to have a better understanding of some of the relations 
between the real world and real jobs.  However, it is not so feasible to apply interdisciplinary lesson plans within the framework of schools curricula. 
 
]]> 2018-11-12 20:36:11 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/303471926 3.3 Scientix: The STEM lessons resources repository helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/303488849 SPICE Good Practice: Make stringy DNA molecules visible (DOC)

]]> 2018-11-12 21:28:56 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/303488849 3.4 Real-world problems you can implement in your STEM class helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/305386869 An idea of a real-world problem STEM activity would be to implement a lesson plan in which students would be engaged in making jellies by using types of juices to give flavor. Some groups would use fresh pineapple juice (no temperature effect) while others would use canned pineapple juice (temperature effect). The scientific goal of the lesson plan would be the study of the effects of temperature on enzyme activity by observing the success of the deferentially prepared jellies. ]]> 2018-11-16 18:12:20 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/305386869 4.1 Rubrics and their use in education helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/306051901 I have never used a rubric although I have read a lot about this tool for evaluating students and for self - evaluation. I understand the benefits of using such tools in education and I will attempt to use them. ]]> 2018-11-19 18:16:21 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/306051901 helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307514956 2018-11-25 15:09:57 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307514956 4.2 The Scientix Rubric helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307515431 What to include in your Scientix Rubric:
  • Constructive criticism: When providing feedback to your peers, try to include helpful and specific suggestions. If you are unsure of how to do that, please read this article.
  • Links to useful resources: If you know of any useful resources related to the topic of the work you are reviewing, please do not hesitate to include them in your review. By sharing useful resources, you will help your peers create better lesson plans.
  • Acknowledge the effort of your peers: Your peers have put a lot of effort into creating their lesson plans, so try to do the same when you review their work. Read carefully each lesson plan, be fair during the evaluation and do not forget to include constructive comments and helpful resources.
 
What not to include:
  • One-word feedback: As already mentioned before, your peers will benefit most from detailed suggestions, therefore try to avoid one-word feedback, such as "Well done" or "Good". Try to elaborate why something is good or if something needs improvement, give some recommendations to your peers.
  • Unconstructive criticism: Here is an example of unconstructive criticism: "Good effort on the lesson plan but I don’t like it." What do you mean by “don’t like it”? “Like” and “dislike” are subjective phrases. Try to stay away from general and focus on specific feedback. For example: "Good effort on the lesson plan but I noticed that there are some key elements missing, one of them is "assessment". Assessment is an important part of a lesson plan and when planning it you should always consider what type of assessment you could include. Why not include a rubric as an assessment method? You can go to section 4.1 Rubrics and their use in education in the fourth module of STEM is Everywhere! MOOC, and learn more about rubrics."
]]> 2018-11-25 15:13:50 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307515431 4.3 TeachMeet: STEM teachers share their experience helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307515781 In Module 2 and 3, we shared numerous activities that you can implement in your STEM subjects individually or in an interdisciplinary way and now, we would like to hear from you. We organized a TeachMeet to hear experiences from some of the teachers who helped create this course as well as some of the course participants.
The TeachMeet will take place on Wednesday, November 21 at 17:00 CET. In this live event, you will have the chance to hear some examples of STEM activities that involve real-world problems. 
]]> 2018-11-25 15:16:30 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307515781 1.6 The Scientix Lesson Plan helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516089 As you already know by now, to get a course certificate you need to create and submit a lesson plan. Whilst you will be working on filling in the lesson plan throughout the whole MOOC, you will only have to submit it during the final activity, in Module 4.
Please watch this video to learn how to create an engaging lesson plan with the Scientix Lesson Plan template.

You are expected to use the Scientix Lesson Plan template to submit your work in the final activity in Module 4. You can download the template here. To help you review the lesson plans, please use Scientix Rubric. You can download the Scientix Rubric here. It is recommended to take a look at the Scientix Rubric before you start drafting your lesson plan, because you will be evaluated by the same criteria during the review.
]]> 2018-11-25 15:18:46 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516089 2.4 Publish your lesson plan in the Scientix repository! helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516277 As you already know by now, in order to get a course certificate, you will need to create and submit a lesson plan. That lesson plan has to include an activity that connects real life to your STEM class. In section 2.2 Connecting STEM activities to real-world problems in different subjects, you had an opportunity to browse through many activities that connect real-world STEM problems and different subjects. You are welcome to use any of those activities in your final lesson plan; however, please note that, if you do, your lesson plan won’t be considered for publication in the Scientix resources repository in that case.
Only if you choose to create a lesson plan that includes a brand-new activity, you have the chance to be published in the Scientix repository. Another important thing to consider is the license. To be eligible for publication in the Scientix repository, you must attribute your work as Attribution CC BY or ShareAlike. Find out more about different licenses in the next section.
In Module 4, in the final peer-to-peer activity, we will provide you with detailed instructions on how to submit your lesson plan for potential publication in the Scientix repository.
Did you know that this is the first MOOC on European Schoolnet Academy that is organised and carried out entirely by Scientix? Scientixpromotes and supports a Europe-wide collaboration among STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teachers, education researchers, policymakers and other STEM education professionals.
]]> 2018-11-25 15:20:02 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516277 2.6 Poll – Which STEM activity would you like to implement in your classroom? helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516451 We are at the end of Module 2, we trust that by now you have a solid understanding of how to connect real-world problems with your Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics classes, and that you are confident in doing so.
In section 2.2 Connecting STEM activities to real-world problems in different subjects, you could browse STEM activities for several subjects, and now we would like you to vote for the activity that you would like to implement in your classroom:
]]> 2018-11-25 15:21:17 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516451 3.2 Implementing real-world problems in your classroom in an interdisciplinary way helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516551 In the previous section, we discussed the value of an interdisciplinary approach to STEM; now let's look at some examples that you can implement in your classroom.
Please peruse the following sections to get examples of interdisciplinary activities:
Interdisciplinary activities: Biology and MathematicsOne might think that Biology and Mathematics do not have a lot in common, but that is rarely the case. A deep knowledge of Mathematics is essential for biologists; it helps them perform their calculations easily and correctly. Experimentation in Biology requires analysis that is impossible to carry out without applying mathematical formulas.One of the examples of such application of Mathematics is in the calculation of the nutritive values of food articles, which is the topic of our Healthy Breakfast Activity. You can download the Healthy Breakfast Activity here, and the PowerPoint Presentation to go along with your lesson here.The second activity explains the science behind one of the most popular sports in the world – basketball. You can download The Perfect Shot Activity here and please watch the video below to learn more about how to implement this activity in your classroom.
]]> 2018-11-25 15:22:06 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516551 3.5 Poll – Which interdisciplinary STEM activity would you like to implement in your classroom? helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516924 In section 3.2 Implementing real-world problems in your classroom in an interdisciplinary way, you could browse STEM interdisciplinary activities, and now we would like you to vote for the activity that you would like to implement in your classroom:]]> 2018-11-25 15:24:28 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307516924 4.4 Final activity: Submit your real-world STEM lesson plan helensefer https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307517058 In order to successfully complete the final peer-to-peer activity, please make sure you read all the information below. 
 
Congratulations, you made it to the final course activity! Now it is time to show all the great work you have done so far and apply everything you have learned.
As mentioned before, the final course activity in the STEM Is Everywhere! MOOC is a peer-to-peer activity that consists of two parts:
Step 1: Work Submission 
 
If you followed all the modules up until now, you probably already have a lesson plan created, based on the Scientix Lesson Plan template. A lesson plan is a detailed description of an entire lesson, from beginning to end. In the first module, you have learned how to create an engaging lesson plan. If you need to refresh your memory, please go back to Module 1.6. Here you can find the Scientix Lesson Plan template that you are expected to follow.
In order to be complete, the lesson plan will have to include an activity that connects real life to your STEM class. This can be one of the activities from modules 2 and 3, or even better, a completely new activity. You are always welcome to use the Scientix repository if you need some inspiration.
If you choose to create an interdisciplinary lesson plan, you can work in pairs with other course participants. If you choose to do so, please make sure that:
  1. Each participant submits the lesson plan individually.
  2. Even though you are submitting the work individually, the lesson plan has to have both
  3. Both lesson plans need to be identical, otherwise, your work will not be accepted.
After you are done with creating your lesson plan, please submit it via the interface below. Make sure you wait for the file to be fully uploaded before clicking the Submit button. The deadline to submit your file is Wednesday, 28 November 2018 at 23:59 CET.
Step 2: Peer Review 
 
After submitting the lesson plan, you will move on to the second part of the peer-to-peer activity – the peer review. Wait 24 hours and then return to this page, where you will see the three other lesson plans you are asked to review. You will receive three other course participant’s lesson plans to review, regardless if you submitted your lesson plan individually or in a pair. To help you review the lesson plans, please use the Scientix Rubric, an evaluative method often used in education instead of numerical grading. You can download the Rubric here. Fill in the rubrics and upload files in the interface below.
Remember that your review is not anonymous. Once you have attached each rubric in its corresponding box, click the “Review” button for each review you have composed. The deadline to hand in your reviews is Wednesday, 5 December 2018 at 23:59 CET*.
* This means + 1 hour if you are located in Eastern Europe, i.e. Bulgaria, Finland, Greece and – 1 hour if you are located in Western Europe, UK, Ireland, Portugal, etc. You can check the time conversion with this online tool.
Please recall that after December 5, 2018 a "blackout" period of 1.5 weeks will follow, during which the course will not be accessible.
Only after completing both Step 1 and Step 2, the final course activity is completed.
Please note: If you choose to create a lesson plan that includes a brand new activity, you have the chance to be published on the Scientix repository! If you are interested, please refer to section 4.5.

 | If you made a mistake while handing in your task in Step 1, please click here to find out how to proceed. If the work you're supposed to review in Step 2 is missing / incomplete / plagiarised / of low quality / non-compliant with the instructions and criteria set out, please follow the instructions here. In general, if you have any questions or problems regarding the assessment process, please visit the course FAQ and click the "p2p" tag.
]]> 2018-11-25 15:25:26 UTC https://padlet.com/helensefer/99y9d80tnmyi/wish/307517058