The 8 Elements of STEM Schools Melanie LaForce, PhD Outlier Research & Evaluation The University of Chicago July 2015.

The 8 Elements of STEM Schools

Melanie LaForce, PhDOutlier Research & EvaluationThe University of Chicago

July 2015

S3: Overarching Research Goals

Understanding the models and landscape of STEM schools

Examining the implementation of STEM school models and the factors that affect implementation

Exploring the relationship between essential components of STEM schools and student outcomes

What is a STEM School?

Advisory �Career Readiness Experiences � Code of Behavior and Values � Collaborative Governance Structure � Common Planning Time � Community Learning Center � Core Course Sequence � Depth Over Breadth � Early College � Family Involvement � Flexible Schedule � Higher Education Exposure � Individual Planning Time � Interdisciplinary Teams � Intersession � Mastery learning� Non-Instructional Staff � Non-Selective Enrollment � Online Management System � Open Physical Space � Partnerships� Platform or Demonstration School Identity� Problem-Solving Projects � Range of Student Assessments � Range of Student Outcomes � Regional School� Representative Population � School Space to Facilitate Public Engagement � Service Learning � Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum � Standards � STEM Instructional Leaders � STEM Space � Student Access to School Across the Day� Student Induction Process � Student-Led Demonstration of Learning � Summer Homework � Technology Presence � Tutoring� Year-Round School � Online Training Resource � Professional Development Activities� Professional Development Resources � Special Space for Professional Development � Staff are Flexible and Open to Change � Staff Believe all students can learn (Disposition) � Staff Collaborate � Staff Consider Depth Over Breadth (Disposition) � Staff Emphasize Code of Behavior and Values � Staff Establish and Maintain Partnerships� Staff Have a Sense of School Ownership (Disposition) � Staff Participate in Decision Making � Staff Reflect on their Work � Staff Spread Practices � Staff Support Needs of Whole Student � Staff Treat One Another with Trust and Respect � Staff Use an Engineering Design Process to Frame School Development and Improvement � Staff Work with Autonomy � School Leaders Facilitate Staff Growth and Development � School Leaders Model Instructional Practice for Others at the School � School Leaders are 'Transformational"� School Leaders Model Risk-Taking for Staff � Teacher Leaders Facilitate Communication Across Campuses � Students Contribute to School Decision-Making � Students Demonstrate Code of Behavior and Values � Students do Summer Homework � Students Participate in Early College Activities � Students Participate in Extracurricular Activities� Students Participate in Higher Education Exposure Activities � Students Participate in Tutoring � Students Treat One Another with Trust and Respect � Students use Community Learning Center � Students Work With and Use Technology Appropriately � Families Monitor Student Activity and Grades � Partners Facilitate Spread of Practices � Partners Help Establish and Maintain Community Presence � Partners Support Instruction � Partnerships Provide Money/Material Resources � Teacher Differentiation of Instruction Based on Learning Needs � Teacher Differentiation of Instruction Based on Students' Social and Emotional Needs � Teacher Facilitation of a Positive Social and Emotional Learning Environment � Teacher Facilitation of Student Autonomy � Teacher Facilitation of Student Engagement in Problem-Solving Projects � Teacher Facilitation of Student Interest � Teacher Facilitation of Student Self-Reflection � Teacher Facilitation of Students Doing Cognitively Demanding Work � � Teacher Facilitation of Students Engaging in an Engineering Design Process � Teacher Facilitation of Students Engaging with "Real-World" Content � Teacher Facilitation of Students Learning Skills Specifically Related to the Work Place � Teacher Facilitation of Students Recognizing Connections Across Disciplines � Teacher Facilitation of Teamwork and Collaboration Among Students � Teacher Models Use of New and Current Technologies � Teacher Use of Assessment to Inform Instruction � Students Cooperate and Work with One Another as Teams � Students Demonstrate and Follow Code of Behavior and Values � Students Demonstrate Autonomy � Students Engage and Participate in Career Readiness � Students Engage and Participate in Problem-Solving Projects � Students Engage and Participate in Service Learning � Students Engage in Cognitively Demanding Work � Students Make Connections Between the Content They are Learning, the Real World, and Their Lives � Students Participate in Demonstrations of Learning � Students Recognize Connections Across the Disciplines� Students Reflect on Their Learning � Students Take Risks� Students Use Work Place Skills � Teacher Differentiation of Instruction Based on Learning Needs � Teacher Differentiation of Instruction Based on Students' Social and Emotional Needs � Teacher Facilitation of a Positive Social and Emotional Learning Environment � Teacher Facilitation of Student Autonomy � Teacher Facilitation of Student Engagement in Problem-Solving Projects � Teacher Facilitation of Student Interest � Teacher Facilitation of Student Self-Reflection � Teacher Facilitation of Students Doing Cognitively Demanding Work � � Teacher Facilitation of Students Engaging in an Engineering Design Process � Teacher Facilitation of Students Engaging with "Real-World" Content � Teacher Facilitation of Students Learning Skills Specifically Related to the Work Place � Teacher Facilitation of Students Recognizing Connections Across Disciplines � Teacher Facilitation of Teamwork and Collaboration Among Students Use of New and Current Technologies � Teacher Use of Assessment to Inform Instruction � Students Cooperate and Work with One Another as Teams � Students Demonstrate and Follow Code of Behavior and Values � Students Demonstrate Autonomy � Students Engage and Participate in Career Readiness � Students Engage and Participate in Problem-Solving Projects � Students Engage and Participate in Service Learning � Students Engage in Cognitively Demanding Work � Students Make Connections Between the Content They are Learning, the Real World, and Their Lives � Students Participate in Demonstrations of Learning � Students Recognize Connections Across the Disciplines � Students Reflect on Their Learning� Students Take Risks � Students Use Work Place Skills �Advisory �Career Readiness Experience � Code of Behavior and Values �Collaborative Governance Structur

Components originally identified in Ohio study (2010)

Students Successful AdultsSCHOOL

What’s in here?

How do inclusive STEM high schools define themselves?

Opening up the Black BoxWhy?

• To be intentional about your strategies• To consider allocation of resources• (Researchers’ favorite!) To measure and evaluate your success!

Exercise: What are your essential components?

• What structures, behaviors, or other strategies are essential to your model?• Be as precise as possible• List 5-10 essential components

The 8 Elements of STEM schools

Problem-Based Learning

Rigorous Learning

Personalization of Learning

School Community

and Belonging

External Community

Staff Foundations

Essential Factors

Career, Technology, & Life Skills

Components that address the idea that learning should be customized for each student’s abilities and interests.

Personalization of Learning

Components that address the goals of problem- and project-based learning.

Problem-based Learning

Components that address rigorous and challenging learning, including cognitive demand.

Rigorous Learning

Components related to the development of skills that students will use in future careers and in life.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Components that are central to the school culture, but are non-instructional.

School Community and Belonging

School staff behaviors that enable interactions and instructional behaviors.

Staff Foundations

Components that reflect a connection between STEM schools and the broader external community from neighborhood to state levels.

External Community

The components of this element are environmental factors, staff attitudes, and other situations external to the school model itself that STEM school staff identify as essential.

Essential Factors

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

S3 Data CollectionYear 1 Key Questions:• What percent of students in your school participate in STEM internships, STEM field trips, STEM

extra-curricular activities?• Interest in future STEM career (I would like to pursue a STEM career; If I had to choose a major

right now, it would be in STEM, etc.)Year 2 Key Questions:• Have you participated in: Internships? STEM internships? STEM field trips? STEM guest

speakers? (How many?)• How relevant were these to your career goals? How much did you learn from them?

• Interest in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, mathYear 3 Key Questions:• Have you participated in STEM internships?• Interest in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, math• Interest in future STEM career (I would like to pursue a STEM career; If I had to choose a major

right now, it would be in STEM, etc.)

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Students who report more of a school culture around STEM career activities are more likely to report higher interest in future STEM careers.

• Students who report that more students in their school participate in STEM internships, STEM field trips, and STEM extra-curricular activities are more likely to indicate an interest in a future STEM career.

• (Effect is not significant for participation in STEM/non-STEM service learning or guidance counseling)

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Engaging in STEM career activities is often positively correlated with student interest in STEM subjects.

• Students who reported higher levels of relevance and learning from STEM field trips reported more positive attitudes toward science.

• Students who participated in STEM internships and reported learning more from guest speakers reported more positive attitudes towards technology.

• Participating in STEM internships, having field trips that were relevant to career goals, and learning more from guest speakers was related to positive student attitudes toward engineering.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Analysis Issues:• Correlation is not causation.• Students who have inherent interest in STEM subjects may

seek out, find relevance or learn more from STEM career experiences.

• They may also perceive a stronger culture of STEM at the school.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Controlling for general interest in schoolwork, attitudes toward school, AND interest in STEM subjects:• Students who participated in STEM internships were

significantly more likely (a big effect!) to be interested in a future STEM career.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

What can we learn from this?• Some gender and race issues are still present.• Even when accounting for participation in career

experiences and general attitudes toward school and schoolwork:• Females and “other”-identified* minorities report lower interest in math.• Females report lower interest in technology & engineering.• “Other”-identified minorities report lower interest in science.

* “Other” includes American-Indian, Alaskan Native, Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Other (not including African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, Caucasian/White, Mixed Race, or Asian), or those that preferred

not to answer.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

What can we learn from this?• Math is tough one.• Career experiences do not relate to math interest.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

What can we learn from this?• It’s not necessarily about number and frequency of career

experiences, but about fit.• Increasing the sheer number of field trips, guest speakers,

and internships was not a predictor of interest in STEM subjects, and in fact sometimes had a negative effect.

• When experiences were more relevant to students’ career goals and students felt like they learned more, they were more likely to have positive attitudes toward STEM subjects.

Career, Technology, and Life Skills

Exercise: What are some of the career, technology, and life skills strategies you use (or want to use) in your school/program?

What are the goals of these strategies?

What will they look like in practice if they are successful?

PBL• What is PBL?• Project-based learning• Problem-solving in short-term instructional activities

(“short burst” PBL)• Problem-solving projects

Effects of PBL on interest in future STEM careers

“PBL” defined for the purposes of these analyses as “Problem- or project-based learning, problem-solving projects” or “Design challenges” depending on school language.

• PBL projects…• Gets student to discuss ideas in class• Do a good job of getting students to do research to look for background

information• Draw from multiple courses or subjects• Are interesting and fun• Are relevant to students’ daily lives• Give students a chance to think about future careers• Help students better understand current events and/or environmental issues• Draw on things that students have learned previously• Require students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom to a real-life

event• Are central to the curriculum• Require a thorough process of inquiry, knowledge building, and resolution• Are more student-led than teacher-led

Effects of PBL on interest in future STEM careers

Interest in a future STEM

career

PBL that includes career

content

(Controlling for student self-efficacy for and intrinsic motivation in STEM)

Effects of PBL on interest in future STEM careers

Interest in a

future STEM career

Science Intrinsic

Motivation

Science Self-

Efficacy

Quality of PBL

Effects of PBL on interest in future STEM careers

Interest in a future STEM

career

Math Self-Efficacy

Quality of PBL

Next Steps

• Examining implementation across STEM high schools

• How do supports and barriers relate to implementation?

• How do different components (and their implementation) relate to student outcomes?

Other STEM Schools Work

• Chicago Public Schools• The state of Utah• STEM Indicators for the National Science

Foundation

Questions?

Contact: [email protected]

S3 website: outlier.uchicago.edu/s3