Jr.+High+Brainstorming

STEM Lab Project Discussion

Please add to this discussion, based on an email from Bill on Jan. 6, 2011. Please sign your name to each item that you edit and/or use a different font color. -- Bill

Here are some items that we need to work out pretty quickly, especially regarding the STEM project.

· STEM Schedule: 8-36 has a shortened week (Jan. 17-21), since they will be in the STEM lab during the week of MLK Day. Sr. Joy booked 8-36 into the STEM lab during Dedicated Time on Wed. and Fri of that same week to make up for having Monday off.

· Should the students present their projects at the end of the STEM week? Is there enough time? Should they be shown in some other class?

· Although we worked out a rubric, it’s not clear which subject or subjects will use the STEM project as a grade.

· Technology grade — this ties in because the technology grade should partially depend on the STEM project, but there should be other components to it. Social studies is responsible for recording the technology grade in the 2nd trimester, though that was originally because of the prominence of History Day during the second trimester. **On that note, It seems that LA grades the 3rd trimester, but I think that e-mission falls right on the cusp of the two marking periods. What is the plan for the LA project or does e-mission simply replace that and count toward 3rd trimester?

· Works cited & works consulted – there is some confusion about how to handle these in the STEM project, and it may be that it was not emphasized enough at the beginning of the project. Or students may be under the (incorrect) impression that since they are getting content from approved sites, they don’t need to cite them. If nothing else, we should make sure we’re more clear if we do this project again. **Pictures-use of and how to cite them was a topic of discussion.

· Student evaluations — it might be good to get feedback from the students at the end of the project to get their take on the plusses and minuses of the STEM project. **Kelly may discontinue the Element commercial if the student responses are overwhelmingly against two I-movies back to back.

I’m not sure how to proceed without another meeting, and since 8-14 is finishing their project tomorrow, it seems like some of these issues need to be settled rather quickly. So I’m going to copy this message into a wiki — the one that was created back when we had the interactive whiteboard demo. I think it’s a public wiki, so anyone can edit it without signing in. (Let me know if I’m mistaken.) Here’s the link to it: http://ancillae-assumpta.wikispaces.com/Jr.+High+Brainstorming