Shownotes
STEM and STEAM education is an innovative approach to teaching that integrates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, and it's making a significant impact in Cobb County schools. Dr. Adam Casey, the supervisor for STEM, STEAM, and innovation, joins David Owen to discuss how this educational framework prepares students for real-world challenges by encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving skills. With a focus on hands-on learning, students engage with real-world problems that are often close to home, fostering both academic and empathetic understanding. The conversation also highlights the importance of collaboration between schools and local businesses, emphasizing partnerships that enhance the educational experience. Listeners will discover how schools can achieve STEM certification and the growing opportunities for community involvement in this vital educational initiative.
Chapters:
- 00:05 - Introducing STEM and STEAM
- 00:18 - Introduction to STEM and STEAM Education
- 04:42 - The Importance of Accessibility in Education
- 10:21 - Connecting Schools with Community and Business for STEM Support
- 14:31 - Engaging Community in STEM Education
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Transcripts
When will I ever use this in the real world?
David Owen:How many times have we heard that one?
David Owen:How STEM and STEAM helps to bring it all together is our focus today on the Inside Scoop.
David Owen:Hello and welcome back to the Inside Scoop.
David Owen:I'm David Owen.
David Owen:STEM and STEAM are programs or methods of teaching that have been around for years now, but how much do we really know about them?
David Owen:Here to teach us more is the supervisor for STEM, STEAM and innovation, Dr.
David Owen:Adam Casey.
David Owen:Welcome to the podcast.
Dr. Adam Casey:Thank you for having me, David.
Dr. Adam Casey:Appreciate it.
David Owen:Tell us what STEM and STEAM has become or is in Cobb county schools today.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yeah, well, STEM and STEAM has been around for quite some time.
Dr. Adam Casey:We're going on about 15 years in Cobb County.
David Owen:Oh, wow.
David Owen:Fifteen.
Dr. Adam Casey:About 15 years.
Dr. Adam Casey: STEM originated in the early: Dr. Adam Casey:And companies were noticing that high school students in particular were not prepared or equipped for the new tech jobs that started rolling out.
David Owen:Sure.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so about that time, the National Science foundation determined we needed to do something about that, and so they coined the term STEM to promote integrated thinking within students.
David Owen:Okay.
Dr. Adam Casey:And it all.
Dr. Adam Casey:You know, a lot of times we think about STEM as a thing or something that you do, but it's actually an approach to teaching and learning.
Dr. Adam Casey:It's an instruction.
Dr. Adam Casey:Instructional design.
David Owen:Yeah, that was a question in my head, because my first tendency was to call it a program, but it really is not.
David Owen:Right?
Dr. Adam Casey:That's right.
Dr. Adam Casey:It's a way of teaching.
Dr. Adam Casey:We're moving away from subject silo teaching, where we teach math for 30 minutes, writing for 30 minutes, reading for 30 minutes, and we're teaching kind of all of those together in an integrated way.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:And you just took my next question, which was by integration, you mean pulling them all together.
David Owen:So that's a good clarification.
David Owen:So STEM and steam.
David Owen:Those letters stand for science, Technology.
David Owen:Help me out here.
Dr. Adam Casey:Sure.
Dr. Adam Casey:Science, technology, engineering, arts.
Dr. Adam Casey:If we're talking about STEAM and mathematics and the arts is a very broad term, people automatically go to visual arts or music, which is absolutely the case, but it can be other things as well.
Dr. Adam Casey:It includes things like the humanities, like language arts, or it can even be aesthetics.
Dr. Adam Casey:It's a final product.
Dr. Adam Casey:It's a way to make things look more appealing to everybody else.
David Owen:Okay, so going back to the words of the acronym, I won't recite them all again.
David Owen:How does this approach help the students prepare for careers?
David Owen: e lamenting back in the early: David Owen:How does it prepare them for those careers in those various areas?
Dr. Adam Casey:That's a great question.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so what we do with STEM and steam, and of course those are interchangeable a little bit.
Dr. Adam Casey:But what we do is we teach our students how to look for real world problems and then come up to find real world solutions.
Dr. Adam Casey:And oftentimes when we hear real world problems, we might think of a problem that's affecting the world.
Dr. Adam Casey:But for our youngest learners, a real world problem can be something very close to home.
Dr. Adam Casey:So it's not necessarily about solving the problem that's always fantastic, but it's about learning how to solve a problem and.
David Owen:When to apply it.
David Owen:Exactly.
David Owen:You say very close to home.
David Owen:Like, what would be an example of applying that approach?
David Owen:I'm throwing the curve ball at you, I guess.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's great.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's great.
Dr. Adam Casey:So in some of our younger school, younger students in elementary school, they oftentimes will solve problems like how do we attract more pollinators to our school campus?
Dr. Adam Casey:Or if we want to do a school, create a school garden, where's the best place on campus to do that?
Dr. Adam Casey:And they might go through some sort of engineering design or some thinking process to determine where the best place for a garden could be.
Dr. Adam Casey:Another example that comes to mind is I remember that there was a school with a fifth grade class and they had a student in their class one year that was in a wheelchair.
Dr. Adam Casey:And the students realized they had not had a student in a wheelchair for a while, that there were some parts of the their school that wasn't really accessible for that student.
Dr. Adam Casey:So that class decided a real world problem is how do we make our school more accessible for all students?
David Owen:So that, that is so cool on so many levels.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yeah, you kind of get chills when you think about that.
Dr. Adam Casey:Right?
David Owen:It's like not only are you teaching the academic and the critical thinking skills, it sounds like is really a big component of this, but also that just the compassion.
David Owen:Very, very gratifying to learn about.
David Owen:So when it comes to STEM and STEAM schools, are they actually declared a STEM or steam, I guess implementing or using school.
David Owen:And if so, how does that all happen?
David Owen:Tell us about that.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yeah, we are very proud to have our very own in house STEM and STEAM certifications here.
David Owen:Certification.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so you can be certified as a STEM or STEAM school.
Dr. Adam Casey:You can also have a program that's certified STEM or steam.
Dr. Adam Casey:And usually that's reserved more for our middle school and high schools when it's really hard to say your whole school is A STEM school, especially in high school, because we want to offer so many tracks for students.
Dr. Adam Casey:So a lot of our schools do offer some sort of STEM or STEAM program or track.
David Owen:Okay.
Dr. Adam Casey:But in elementary especially and middle, and it's available for high schools as well, you can go through a process to become certified.
Dr. Adam Casey:And that process usually takes about one and a half to two years.
Dr. Adam Casey:It involves multiple stakeholders coming to the school to do what we call STEM or STEAM walks, where they take a tour.
Dr. Adam Casey:These stakeholders take a tour of the school.
Dr. Adam Casey:They hear presentations from principals and teachers and students.
Dr. Adam Casey:They see what is going on in each classroom, and then they offer feedback to the school, what they like, areas that they can still grow in.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so it's all about a growing opportunity over a year and a half to become STEM or STEAM certified.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:Because I guess you can't just overnight say, hey, I'm going to implement a new teaching method essentially.
Dr. Adam Casey:Exactly.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yeah.
Dr. Adam Casey:And we look for it across the board.
Dr. Adam Casey:And through that process, we're just looking for growth each time.
Dr. Adam Casey:No one's perfect.
Dr. Adam Casey:There's not a right way or an incorrect way to do it.
Dr. Adam Casey:We're always just looking for growth, looking for that interdisciplinary instruction, looking for those engaging students.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's what we're looking for when we do these walks.
Dr. Adam Casey:And we have representatives from the science department, from the math department, from the fine arts department.
David Owen:Each of the areas.
David Owen:Get to all of the areas, see what's going on.
Dr. Adam Casey:Exactly.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:When it comes to the using this approach, does that at all detract from teaching the standards?
David Owen:For example, for the state of Georgia and for Cobb?
Dr. Adam Casey:That's a great question.
Dr. Adam Casey:Absolutely not.
Dr. Adam Casey:And that's the beautiful thing about STEM is if we break down those areas, each of those areas have their own set of standards.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so that's what makes us stand out a little bit from the math department and the science department and even our engineering CTAE department for middle and high schools, that's what makes stand out, because we're pulling a little bit of all of these departments together.
Dr. Adam Casey:We're really an integrated department.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so we ground all of our work in the academic standards.
Dr. Adam Casey:We always joke we don't want to see fluff.
Dr. Adam Casey:We don't want to see something that comes across as an extra.
Dr. Adam Casey:Something extra that the teachers have to do.
Dr. Adam Casey:This is a way of teaching, so.
David Owen:It'S not just checking a box.
David Owen:It's actually a way of thinking, a new way of teaching.
Dr. Adam Casey:Exactly.
David Owen:Okay, so.
David Owen:So first of all, this sounds cool, and I often we like cool.
Dr. Adam Casey:Cool is Great.
David Owen:I often say I was born at the wrong time because I would love to be in school now because there are so many cool things like this going on.
David Owen:I've even heard of, I think drones being implemented and some of the courses.
David Owen:Well, I won't get into the weeds there, I guess.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's another podcast.
David Owen:Yes, another podcast.
David Owen:So we've got a lot of schools.
David Owen:I mean, how do you.
David Owen:I guess maybe this goes back to your certification program, but how do you ensure that all the schools are getting the same STEM approach or do they have to have the same approach?
Dr. Adam Casey:They don't have to have the same approach.
Dr. Adam Casey:And that's kind of the beauty of the program.
Dr. Adam Casey:We are such a large district that we give a lot of the autonomy of the STEM program to the principal and they can kind of decide what direction they want to take their program as it aligns to their school wide mission and, and goals that they have.
Dr. Adam Casey:And schools all do it a little differently.
Dr. Adam Casey:Some have STEM labs as like a specials rotation like pe, art, music.
Dr. Adam Casey:They might have STEM lab.
Dr. Adam Casey:And in that STEM lab, that's not the only place where STEM takes place.
Dr. Adam Casey:Usually that's where students learn about engineering design, that E component that doesn't always fit elsewhere.
Dr. Adam Casey:They learn about creativity and collaboration and how to work together.
Dr. Adam Casey:And then they can transfer what they learn in the STEM lab to the classroom.
David Owen:Yeah, so you're really just kind of given exercise to critical thinking skills and a lot of these things.
David Owen:Said that earlier.
David Owen:But okay, so with these, all of these things are just super cool things.
David Owen:And if I had a business, for example, and I'm looking to okay, my next batch of graduates coming out, I need to, I need to get connected with the schools to make sure that I could find the best students, frankly, because I'm concerned about my business as well as a student.
David Owen:But my business kind of is what I do.
David Owen:So how can they, the businesses, or for that matter, anybody in the community, get connected with the schools to support STEM and STEAM teaching?
David Owen:Is that a thing or is this kind of a.
David Owen:You just do it inside the school and that's it?
Dr. Adam Casey:Absolutely.
Dr. Adam Casey:In fact, on our STEM criteria, one of the requirements that our schools are required to have to obtain a certification is a relationship with local community businesses and partnerships.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so I would absolutely encourage any business, if they're interested in getting involved with this program, to reach out to their local schools, reach out to the principals.
Dr. Adam Casey:We're familiar with the term partnering in education.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's something that's been around for a while.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yes, Exactly.
Dr. Adam Casey:And those are fantastic partnerships with our STEM and STEAM partnerships.
Dr. Adam Casey:We like to take it one level deeper, if you will.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so we like a continual relationship, something that goes back and forth where communities or businesses are coming into the schools and working with the students and sharing what they do with their business as it relates to STEM or steam, and maybe even turning that relationship into a field trip where the students are then going to see the business and seeing what takes place in the business.
David Owen:And so they literally can see the real world application of what they just learned.
Dr. Adam Casey:Absolutely.
Dr. Adam Casey:One business that comes to mind very quickly that many schools have a relationship with is Pike's Nursery.
Dr. Adam Casey:And those are often locally owned and operated as part of the franchise.
Dr. Adam Casey:But there's one school that I can think of where their first graders take a field trip to Pike's Nursery.
Dr. Adam Casey:And it's close enough to where they go one class at a time all day to Pike's Nursery, and they talk about gardening and the way plants grow, and then they practice what they learn at their local school gardens.
Dr. Adam Casey:And then Pikes comes to the school and they do a presentation in the garden at the local school.
Dr. Adam Casey:It's kind of that back and forth relationship that we look for with our STEM partnerships.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:And then my next question was, how can parents also partner with the school?
David Owen:And frankly, you kind of just gave me the answer a little bit.
David Owen:As soon as those kids learn how to take care of their school garden, you can send them out to do yard work.
David Owen:Right?
David Owen:Is that kind of.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's one way.
David Owen:Okay, definitely.
Dr. Adam Casey:That is legit.
Dr. Adam Casey:That is one way.
Dr. Adam Casey:You know, our STEM programs don't receive the same funding or receive funds the same way as some of the core subject areas.
David Owen:Right.
Dr. Adam Casey:So a lot of our support and even local school funding for STEM come from parent groups from the PTA or our school foundations.
David Owen:Okay.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so in many schools, the parents are very much involved in what's going on in STEM at the local schools.
Dr. Adam Casey:But if you're a parent that either works for a company that might fall under that STEM umbrella, and most companies do, you can find a connection somewhere.
David Owen:There's a letter that represents your.
Dr. Adam Casey:Exactly, exactly.
Dr. Adam Casey:We always encourage parents to reach out and get involved.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:And they might even.
David Owen:Well, first of all, thinking of as a former business owner, if a business were to donate materials, for example, shovels, picks.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yes.
David Owen:Weed eaters.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yes.
David Owen:I'm thinking of my yard.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yeah, I see where you mean.
David Owen:Yeah, I mean, those would be tax deductible, in theory.
David Owen:You check with your own.
David Owen:I'm not a tax guy, but it seems to me that that would be a great collaborative thing.
David Owen:We could always use the help, always use the interest.
David Owen:Right?
Dr. Adam Casey:That's right.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's right.
Dr. Adam Casey:Consumable supplies, anything that you might have to donate.
Dr. Adam Casey:You know, part of the engineering design is creating.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so students are often tasked with creating prototypes or models of something.
Dr. Adam Casey:And any type of supplies I'm sure the schools would be happy to accept.
David Owen:Okay, so you mentioned reaching out to the schools, parents, connecting.
David Owen:How can.
David Owen:Are there links?
David Owen:Is there a website that people can go to to help make these connections?
David Owen:Or is it just find a school that's STEM certified and dig deeper?
Dr. Adam Casey:So I think the one thing to remember especially about my department is I am the supervisor of STEM steam, but there's a third word in my title, and it's STEM STEAM and innovation.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so we include innovation because for a lot of schools, they might not fall under that STEM umbrella in the sense that they say STEM is something that we're working towards right now, but a lot of schools the cusp of innovative ideas and experiences.
Dr. Adam Casey:So I would say there's not one school in Cobb county that's not innovative in some way.
Dr. Adam Casey:And so that's how kind of my department works with all schools, not just those pursuing STEM or STEAM certification.
Dr. Adam Casey:But with that in mind, yes, I think all schools would be open to collaborating with community partners and parents.
Dr. Adam Casey:But of course, we do have a list of our STEM certified schools and that can be found on the Cobb K12 website.
Dr. Adam Casey:Under our department website, we'll put the.
David Owen:Link so it's easy for them to find it.
Dr. Adam Casey:Absolutely.
David Owen:Okay, well, that's fantastic.
David Owen:And maybe when you reach out to the school, you could say, hey, I specifically am interested in innovative STEM STEAM ish practices, if not certified schools.
Dr. Adam Casey:That's right.
Dr. Adam Casey:Yeah.
Dr. Adam Casey:And if you're not sure how to reach out or where to reach out or what school might be in your area, if you are a business leader, that's what my department is here to do.
Dr. Adam Casey:Help match some people.
David Owen:And we will make sure his personal phone number is or at least the link to his department.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:Well, Adam, thank you so much for coming in and educating me.
David Owen:I've been here for quite a while and I kind of knew generally what.
David Owen:What you guys do, but didn't know all the details that really make it kind of the sweet spot, I think.
David Owen:So that's fantastic.
David Owen:Thanks for coming in.
Dr. Adam Casey:Absolutely.
Dr. Adam Casey:Thanks for having me.
David Owen:So if you found this helpful or informative like, and subscribe to this podcast and make sure you share it with a friend.
David Owen:You never know, that friend might be an owner of a business or maybe just a parent who wants to participate in stem, STEM and steam.
David Owen:And you heard that there are lots of opportunities for that.
David Owen:So thank you for listening to this edition of the Inside Scoop, a podcast produced by the Cobb County School.
