Imagine-IT Phase II:
For my Imagine-IT BIG Idea, the professional context includes focusing on my incoming 6th grade students and their parents at John T. McCutcheon Elementary School, within the context of my Science class. My BIG Idea’s ultimate goal is to get each student and their parents more actively engaged in STEM, both at our school and within the greater community, by setting up a sustained system of meetings throughout the year. I believe this is important due to the fact that women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in STEM professions at a time when STEM careers are showing the highest demand and increasing salaries compared to all other careers in our economy. I also feel that this is especially important to our school community considering that we serve a very culturally diverse minority population living in poverty, and on top of that, we serve the highest percentage of students currently living in homeless shelters of any Chicago Public School. Parents need to be more aware of STEM opportunities and oftentimes there is a disconnect with making them aware of the important role they can play in helping to support their children’s choice to pursue STEM opportunities.
By strengthening the home-school connection, I feel that more of my students and their parents will begin to see STEM as a viable educational and career pursuit for them. There are numerous performances that will help gauge progress such as: increased involvement in after-school STEM programs such as our existing partnership with Northwestern’s Science in Society After School Program; Girls in Engineering Day at Elmhurst College and Argonne National Labs; my after school STEM club called $TEM+, which combines engineering challenges with computer science and financial literacy projects; my students taking Science Fair to new heights and parents becoming more involved (I have recently had students advance to CPS citywide and IL State Science Fairs, and to see so many amazing students from across the city and diverse backgrounds taking weekend time to present their projects with only a handful of parent and community visitors present to support them, has strengthened my commitment to help change this unfortunate pattern); building upon last year’s first ever McCutcheon Family Science Night; more students choosing to enroll in STEM tracks in high school when they start the application process in 7th grade; and last but not least, improved behavior, attendance, and grades, which will all increase any student’s ability to apply to selective enrollment and STEM track programs in high school.
To implement this program, I will create a sustainable system of face to face meetings with each student and at least one parent present. I plan to integrate technology in the process to sustain the communication and provide easier points of communication with students and their parents throughout the year by using: email, twitter, facebook, Google Classroom, MSUrbanSTEM webpage, etc.
Some related Links:
My Imagine-IT BIG Idea promotional video created as part of my MSUrbanSTEM webpage: http://gerardkovach.weebly.com/phase-i.html
Existing Science Club partnership for my students with Northwestern University: https://scienceclub.northwestern.edu/front-page
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at Argonne: http://www.anl.gov/education/photos/introduce-girl-engineering-day-2016
For my Imagine-IT BIG Idea, the professional context includes focusing on my incoming 6th grade students and their parents at John T. McCutcheon Elementary School, within the context of my Science class. My BIG Idea’s ultimate goal is to get each student and their parents more actively engaged in STEM, both at our school and within the greater community, by setting up a sustained system of meetings throughout the year. I believe this is important due to the fact that women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in STEM professions at a time when STEM careers are showing the highest demand and increasing salaries compared to all other careers in our economy. I also feel that this is especially important to our school community considering that we serve a very culturally diverse minority population living in poverty, and on top of that, we serve the highest percentage of students currently living in homeless shelters of any Chicago Public School. Parents need to be more aware of STEM opportunities and oftentimes there is a disconnect with making them aware of the important role they can play in helping to support their children’s choice to pursue STEM opportunities.
By strengthening the home-school connection, I feel that more of my students and their parents will begin to see STEM as a viable educational and career pursuit for them. There are numerous performances that will help gauge progress such as: increased involvement in after-school STEM programs such as our existing partnership with Northwestern’s Science in Society After School Program; Girls in Engineering Day at Elmhurst College and Argonne National Labs; my after school STEM club called $TEM+, which combines engineering challenges with computer science and financial literacy projects; my students taking Science Fair to new heights and parents becoming more involved (I have recently had students advance to CPS citywide and IL State Science Fairs, and to see so many amazing students from across the city and diverse backgrounds taking weekend time to present their projects with only a handful of parent and community visitors present to support them, has strengthened my commitment to help change this unfortunate pattern); building upon last year’s first ever McCutcheon Family Science Night; more students choosing to enroll in STEM tracks in high school when they start the application process in 7th grade; and last but not least, improved behavior, attendance, and grades, which will all increase any student’s ability to apply to selective enrollment and STEM track programs in high school.
To implement this program, I will create a sustainable system of face to face meetings with each student and at least one parent present. I plan to integrate technology in the process to sustain the communication and provide easier points of communication with students and their parents throughout the year by using: email, twitter, facebook, Google Classroom, MSUrbanSTEM webpage, etc.
Some related Links:
My Imagine-IT BIG Idea promotional video created as part of my MSUrbanSTEM webpage: http://gerardkovach.weebly.com/phase-i.html
Existing Science Club partnership for my students with Northwestern University: https://scienceclub.northwestern.edu/front-page
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at Argonne: http://www.anl.gov/education/photos/introduce-girl-engineering-day-2016