Lessons learned from a STEM-Integrated program
A School of education seminar presented on November 19th, 2018 by Dr Hui-Hui Wang
Hui-Hui Wang, is a visiting academic from Purdue University, Asst Prof Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication, USA (https://ag.purdue.edu/ydae/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=huiwang&intDirDeptID=20)
Pollinators are vital to agriculture, and they are also essential for maintaining the structure and function of a wide range of natural communities in North America. However, there is increasing evidence that the health and populations of many pollinator species are in decline. In the U.S., there continues to be a growing interest in educational programs with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) integration. STEM-integrated programs were developed to help youth apply relevant STEM content and use evidence-based reasoning to solve a real-world problem. The real-world problem that pollinators are facing today is a great context that educators could apply integrated STEM approaches to teach youth relevant STEM contents, and help youth practice evidence-based reasoning. Purdue University faculty and Extension staff co-developed a native solitary bee integrated STEM curriculum that aims to help youth use more evidence-based reasoning. The trained Master Gardener volunteers taught the youth program. The proposed workshop will demonstrate some activities from the integrated STEM through native solitary bee curriculum and discuss what authors had learned from the experiences.
