Teacher Training By Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski

Twenty-five primary teachers spent two days actively engaged in exploring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts via conducting hands-on-minds-on STEM investigations. During the two-day STEM teacher training session conducted by Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski, teachers were immersed in exploring STEM practices and content. Concepts covered during the training included:

• Inquiry-based science practices
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Reflective journaling in the STEM classroom
• Engineering Design Process (designed structures and animal habitats)
• Exploring structure and function in nature and man-made objects
• Engineering principles (teachers implemented the engineering design process during each of the investigations)
• Architectural design (analyzed real-world structures)
• Buoyancy (designed, built and tested a variety of boats)
• Reverse Engineering (using toys)
• Force, motion, and energy concepts (ramp science and more)

The teachers left the training with a new perspective on conducting hands-on-minds-on STEM investigations in their classrooms, that make clear connections to the Common Core, and the Next Generation Science Standards. I truly believe that these teachers were enlightened as well as transformed.

The photos below are from the two-day STEM teacher training conducted by Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski.

With science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education at the forefront of transforming education in the United States and world the literary world is not letting us down. Several new STEM books that can be integrated within K-12 classrooms are published monthly. I’d like to share some recent K-12 STEM literature that I have reviewed and used in K-12 classrooms and informal learning environments as well as in my STEM teacher training inservices. I encourage those teachers implementing STEM curriculum within their classrooms to get copies of the age-appropriate STEM books listed below. There are dozens of other STEM references listed under the book page in this website as well.