Wow! You Teach What?

     The new school year is off and running and I have a new job this year. I am a STEM teacher. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. This year my job is to support science education in our school, teach computational thinking and to foster curiosity in the students that come to my school. This year we are focusing on "Moonshot Thinking." I was inspired when I watched this video and I hope you will be too!

http://youtu.be/0uaquGZKx_0

     We need to foster "moonshot thinking" in our students today. So many of them are only focused on getting the "right" answer and in reality, it's not their fault that this is their main focus. We have become a nation of "test takers." We have suck the curiosity out of our children and our students. Student success has been defined by how well "they have done on the test." Is this really how we want to educate children? How we want them to learn? Who will solve the great problems of science, medicine and ultimately, society?

     Los Altos is leading the way in revolutionizing learning for students. We are building this new STEM program as we go and my colleagues and I are pioneers in this new frontier. We don't have all the answers yet, but we are fostering curiosity and "big" thinking in our students and I am proud to be a part of all this change. We need help with this mission and I will be reaching out to community members and organizations to make all this happen for students. I hope that businesses in the Silicon Valley will see the importance of our work since we are helping to educate your future employees. We have STEM labs to create, technology to buy and integrate, and we need to collaborate with the professionals in our STEM fields of study. If I have provoked thoughts and interest, let's work together!