We made a decision in August 2014 that we would host a STEM Family Night. We didn't have a complete vision of what that would look like, but we wanted students to be able to walk around with their parents and talk about science/engineering projects and how they arrived at their conclusions.
Bonus: Could the parents and students actually DO something together?
If not: Could the students DO something in front of the parents?
If not: Could there be an iMovie or something similar that shows the work being done? Maybe an animoto? Something the students would make....
So teachers set about finding an activity and working with their students on the activity.
And the snow began to fall. And fall and fall. And did I mention that our school is in Alabama? We're not equipped!
NUTSHELL: Two Family Nights were cancelled due to ice or snow and then we began to bleed into another activity time frame... we couldn't make it happen. So teachers had done the work, but the showcase was off.
GOOD NEWS: We saw first hand how our students responded to non-Project Lead the Way STEM activities and got a feel for how our classrooms would have function with PLTW. It was a good learning experience, but it was definitely frustrating in the moment.
Bonus: Could the parents and students actually DO something together?
If not: Could the students DO something in front of the parents?
If not: Could there be an iMovie or something similar that shows the work being done? Maybe an animoto? Something the students would make....
So teachers set about finding an activity and working with their students on the activity.
And the snow began to fall. And fall and fall. And did I mention that our school is in Alabama? We're not equipped!
NUTSHELL: Two Family Nights were cancelled due to ice or snow and then we began to bleed into another activity time frame... we couldn't make it happen. So teachers had done the work, but the showcase was off.
GOOD NEWS: We saw first hand how our students responded to non-Project Lead the Way STEM activities and got a feel for how our classrooms would have function with PLTW. It was a good learning experience, but it was definitely frustrating in the moment.