By Kerry Schwartz, Arizona Project WET - WRRC
There is a clear and urgent need in Arizona schools. Teachers need integrated Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) instructional units that bring real-world and relevant learning into the classroom. Many districts across Arizona are developing STEM schools and academies, but are still in dire need of curricular components other than the ubiquitous robotics programs. Water, energy, and food, arguably the three most important ingredients needed to sustain the world’s population, should be topics of focus for robust and integrated learning. The innovations for tomorrow will come from the students of today.
STEM is not just interdisciplinary instruction, it’s about thinking. It’s when students come up with the questions and then answer them in a whole-brain way. It’s systems thinking that leads to reflection and the ability to think about one’s own thought processes. STEM units of study offer opportunities for students to think through and reflect on complex issues; study and design systems; apply scientific and mathematical principles; practice the engineering design process; and use technology in purposeful ways. These are the educational components that STEM teachers need now, to drive student-centered instruction.
The Water Energy World STEM Unit is an innovation that answers this current need. With an interest in exploring the intersection of water and energy resources in the southwest, Western Resource Advocates, Arizona Project WET, and The STEMAZing Project began to collaborate a year and half ago. The STEM unit that developed was designed to help educators engage their students with the overarching question: Where do your water and energy supplies come from and how should we manage them for the next 100 years? Since water and energy are inextricably linked, there is a lot of thinking to be done. Water requires energy to purify and transport to the end user. Energy requires water purposes ranging from mining of primary energy sources to cooling of power plants. These ties are important for a literate citizenry to understand in order to make informed consumer choices as well as decisions when they exercise their right to vote.
With a solid foundation first in watersheds and ground water systems and then the science of energy and sources of energy, teachers can look at the connections between these two systems. The connections are investigated through engineering design projects that include harnessing energy from the sun to heat water as well as pumping water uphill to a new location in an engineering design challenge called Pump It Up. Pump It Up models the Central Arizona Project and some of the design and energy challenges faced when transporting water uphill. Through these relevant, engaging lessons, students will begin to experience the connections between the water and energy systems. To learn more about the Water Energy World curriculum visit: http://www.stemazing.org/#!water-energy-world/c1vz9 or http://bit.ly/28IHarB.
This STEM unit has now been the focus of two three-day professional development sessions as part of the Office of the Pima County School Superintendent’s STEMAZing Institute. The Institute for teachers is just one component of the STEMAZing Project, which began in the end of October 2013. The teachers involved have become a force that is positively impacting STEM education in Southern Arizona. Through professional development in the form of one-day sessions during the school year and the three-day Institute in the summer, online newsletters, and community outreach, this program is leading the STEM Education charge in the region. DaNel Hogan, one of the Education Innovation panelists at the WRRC 2016 Conference, has been the driving force of this effort. She’s proven that one innovative person can make a difference.
Through partnerships like this that drive integrated thinking and innovation, the need for high quality STEM education for K-12 students is being met. Currently, Arizona Project WET is working with the Watershed Management Group to develop a STEM unit on rainwater harvesting as part of a NOAA grant focused on building community resilience in the face of extreme weather due to a changing climate. Existing APW STEM programs incentivize school, home, and community water conservation through student-driven inquiry and action to install technology that saves water. Engaged students learning and acting for the betterment of their communities is what STEM innovation is about.