FINDLAY, Ohio — Teaching STEM lessons in the classroom has become more popular in recent years. But, how can you teach it if you never learned it yourself?
Dr. Nathan Tice and Dr. Gwynne Rife with the University of Findlay have created a short STEM curriculum for local middle and high school teachers to incorporate STEM lessons into their classrooms.
The resource is all about converting waste into energy.
Tice said they came up with the idea for STEM lesson resources when other teachers would mention that they learn about STEM in their continuing education, but not how to properly implement it in the classroom.
"There are good things out there; but what about actual science and technology and engineering, what's content specific continuing education that'll allow them to hone their skills and think about ways of improving the classroom environment and classroom education," Tice said.
Tice hopes this initial resource can be just the beginning, with more publications, online resources and in-person workshops to come.
"That's the big point, right? We don't just want this sitting on the shelf. We want the teachers out there in northwest Ohio actually incorporating the material into their classes and getting students excited about this," he said.
Incorporating STEM into classrooms not only helps students who will one day work in a STEM field, but it also helps round out all students' education and can help create critical thinkers in many different fields.
"Who do you vote for? What should you buy? What policies should you support in terms of public policies? A lot of that does require STEM knowledge and understanding of STEM so you're not just listening to someone else and say 'Well, what do they think?' You can make up your own decisions about these public policy questions, or public interest questions based on your own understanding and your own thoughts," Tice said.