Learning & Leading Through Technology

You Don’t Have to Be a Scientist to Incorporate STEM

Most people are content fol- lowing one passion. But for Sara Hunter, the opportunity to merge her love of teaching with an intrinsic interest in technology led her to the ultimate dream job.

As a third grade teacher at Union Elementary School in Zionville, Indiana, Hunter was the go-to tech person, which led her to attend the Reform Symposium Worldwide e-Conference (RSCON). That’s where she became familiar with the pedagogy of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching. In fall 2012, she accepted a dual position as an elementary STEM teacher/instructional coach. As a teacher, she introduced students to authentic learning, and as a coach, she showed teachers new ways to teach.

Hunter piloted a flipped professional development model to help teachers integrate STEM into their lessons. Working with educators individually, she helps them map out strategies for incorporating technology in all subject areas.

“We don’t want a substitute for what
we already have going on in our class-
rooms,” she said. “We want to truly
move to that transformational level that
changes our practice as educators and
provides our students with an innova-
tive learning experience that invites
them to learn in a different capacity.”
Many teachers hesitate to integrate
STEM, she said. “Some teachers say,
‘That is not me. I am not the expert,’ but
one of the important pieces in the phi-
losophy behind it is removing the role of
teacher as expert.”
Students are capable of construct-
ing their own meaning, she said. For
example, Hunter centered a STEM
lesson on a storybook called Sheep in
a Jeep, which is typically used to teach
phonics and sounds. Hunter took a
different approach.

“We looked at it in terms of what is at work around the jeep and the sheep that make them keep falling out, so it was really a lesson in force and motion—inertia,” she said.

“We actually used little toy jeeps
and sheep and let them watch as
the sheep fell out, and the teachers
had materials to design solutions for
keeping the sheep in the jeep.”
In addition to her work with educa-
tors, Hunter teaches 17 inquiry-based,
hands-on classes a week in grades 1–4.

Her STEM classes cover everything from programming robots to experiencing the natural world outside. She’s pioneered a model to leverage mobile technology while interacting with nature, and through her district’s robotics initiative, nearly 200 kids are getting hands-on instruction in programming.

Although the student teams sometimes struggle to find solutions, Hunter believes a constructive environment for failure builds confidence. “I firmly believe it makes them much better critical thinkers and problem solvers, and it also makes success so much sweeter,” she said.

Even her first graders participate by following the Mars rover Curiosity.

The students received tweet replies
from Mars. “It was the moment that
was like TNT went off and blew the
walls off the classroom—little first
graders realizing there was this thing
on another planet that was commu-
nicating with Earth, that what they
had to say about that robot on another
planet mattered,” Hunter said. “That
was an extraordinary and pivotal mo-
ment and probably one of the biggest
buy-ins for all of those kids last year.”
Hunter blogs at iceteacher.blogspot.
com, presents at conferences, and is
extremely passionate about sharing
her STEM teaching experiences with
others through ISTE’s Young Educator
Network. But the best part for her is
not only sharing her knowledge, but
also listening to the voices of others.

“One of the things I’ve learned in the last year in both my work with students and with teachers is how to ask better questions,” she said. “Instead of telling, I do a lot more asking.”