Developing globally
competitive students through
Project Based Learning and
STEM
Philip Avery
Director of Learning & Strategy
Bohunt Education Trust
[email protected]
2014 Fellow
Contents
Page Number
2
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4
ABBREVIATIONS & GLOSSARY
6
INTRODUCTION
- Background
7
- Aims, Objectives and Purpose of the Project
8
- Approach
9
- Report Overview
FINDINGS
- Creating the Space for STEM
12
- Creating Great STEM Lessons
17
- Teacher Training
20
- Linking to Business
25
- The Use of IT
27
- Learning Environment
30
CONCLUSIONS
- STEM Literacy for All
31
- Why Project Based Learning Aligns with Great STEM Teaching and
Simply Great Learning
34
- Getting the Use of IT Right
36
- Clarity of Education Vision
- Did I Meet my Aims and Objectives?
37
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Bohunt Approach
41
- Wider Recommendations
43
APPENDICES
- Itineraries
45
- Visual Representation of Teaching Processes
47
- Example of a CV from a Science Leadership Academy Student
49
- Press Coverage
50
- Information on the Akron STEM Hub
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Farmington Institute for very
kindly funding my Fellowship and for their continued support and interest in the project. I would also
like to thank all of the people and organisations who generously gave their time, advice and
enthusiasm during my time in Sweden, the Netherlands and the USA. There are too many to list here,
but a full list of all the institutions I visited is included in the appendices.
I would also like to thank the students at each school for taking the time to speak with me during my
visit.
Finally, I would like to thank Mr Neil Strowger (Headteacher of Bohunt School) and the Governing
Body of Bohunt School for their support during my application for a Winston Churchill Memorial
Trust Fellowship and for allowing me to take time out of school to undertake this worthwhile project.
Executive Summary
In three years’ time over half of businesses expect a shortfall in STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering & Maths) skilled staff. However, it is not just the numbers of new graduates in those fields
that we need, it is also the quality, skills and attributes within them that are important to the economy
and society. How do we meet these demands whilst also meeting the needs of an education system
focused on content based exams?
My research explored a variety of different approaches to making space for STEM and work ready
skills in the curriculum:
• Immersion language teaching, World studies, Engineering as a non-examined subject and STEAM
(addition of Art to STEM) projects are added to the timetable.
• Collaborative projects between subjects are put in to the calendar.
• A curriculum created around themes rather than subjects.
Experiences from the schools suggest that:
• Starting with the assessment is the best way of ensuring great STEM teaching.
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• An emphasis on Project Based Learning allows for the integration of skills and challenge with
content.
• Teacher training, of both new and existing teachers will be crucial in changing the outcomes for
young people.
The integration of schools and models was see in many areas of my research:
• The acceleration of students through high school and college in to degrees and then high end
apprenticeships that meet the needs of those businesses.
• Schools that are very closely supported by individual companies: mentors, staff, internships,
preferential recruitment, schemes of work and the acceleration of students to degrees linked to the
businesses.
• Industry programmes in schools that are determined by local industry partners.
• UTC’s in the UK where industry partners provide curriculum projects, internships and mentors.
• Seven year research projects (the length of time students are in school) organised in conjunction with
industry and schools that are led by Universities.
In concluding the problem facing the UK is reframed as a need to ensure all students leave school
STEM literate. With this in mind the approach of Bohunt School, who have introduced a STEM
curriculum at KS3, offers a way forward that should improve attainment, and help inspire more
children to follow STEM pathways.
Finally, regardless of the approach people decide (or decide not) to use a number of recommendations
are made; the key ones are:
Schools:
• Ensure there is a strong, simple educational vision that the STEM work links in with.
• Look to develop long term, meaningful partnerships with stakeholders that are a win-win.
• Ensure there is clear positive feedback to the individual STEM subjects.
• Incorporate (but not shoe-horn) Project Based Learning in to the methodology of teaching.
• Build in collaborative planning time.
Businesses:
• Ensure there is a clear win for your business as well as the school.
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• Be focused on education not funding.
• Try to find groups of people to get involved (graduates, women’s network etc.) rather than
individuals as this aids the longevity of the partnership.
• Give time for the partnership to grow and results to appear.
Policy Makers:
• Encourage collaboration between subjects.
• Encourage the progression of skills and attitudes, as well as knowledge of content.
• Free up some space in the curriculum for schools to innovate with.
• Find ways (for example the linking of National Insurance Numbers to schools) to investigate
ambition and careers as well as exam results.
• Continue to strive for high quality exams, but reduce the total number of exams that students have
take aged 16.
Abbreviations & Glossary
Abbreviations & Glossary
Assessment for Learning: the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and
their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best
to get there. More information here.
Blended learning: a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through
delivery of content and instruction via digital and online media with some element of student control
over time, place, path, or pace.
BTEC: The Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) is a secondary school leaving
qualification and further education qualification in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. BTEC
qualifications are equivalent to other qualifications, such as the General Certificate of Secondary
Education (GCSE) (levels 1 to 2), A Level (level 3) and university degrees (levels 4 to 7). BTECs are
undertaken in vocational subjects ranging from business studies to engineering. Examples of BTEC
courses include Business Studies, Applied Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Media
Production, Health & Social Care, Travel & Tourism and Performing Arts.
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CAD: Computer Aided Design, or Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD), is the use of
computer technology for design and design documentation. CAD software replaces manual drafting
with an automated process. It is heavily used in architecture and structural engineering fields.
CBI: Confederation of British Industry.
Engineering Design Process: a series of steps that engineering teams use to guide them as they
solve problems. The design process is cyclical, meaning that engineers repeat the steps as many times
as needed, making improvements along the way. See the appendices for a diagrammatic
representation.
Enquiry Approach in Science/Scientific Method: a method of procedure that has characterised
natural science since the 17th century, consisting of systematic observation, measurement, and
experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. See the appendices for a
diagrammatic representation.
GCSEs: General Certificate of Education; (in the UK except Scotland) a qualification in a specific
subject typically taken by school students aged 14–16, at a level below A level. More information here.
Guided Learning: an instructional sequence for small groups which is integrated into lessons to
provide a bridge between whole-class teaching and independent work. More information here.
Key Stage 3 (KS3): the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England
and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14.
Key Stage 4 (KS4): the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs,
and other exams, in maintained schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland—normally known as
Year 10 and 11 in England and Wales, and Year 11 and Year 12 in Northern Ireland, when pupils are
aged between 14 and 16.
MOOC: Massive Open Online Course; an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open
access via the web.
Ofsted: the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills; they inspect and
regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills
for learners of all ages.
Progress 8: a performance measure set by the Government for schools. It is designed to encourage
schools to offer a broad and balanced curriculum at Key Stage 4, and reward schools for the teaching
of all their pupils. The new measure will be based on students’ progress measured across eight
subjects: English; mathematics; three other English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects (sciences, computer
science, geography, history and languages); and three further subjects, which can be from the range of
EBacc subjects, or can be any other approved, high-value arts, academic, or vocational qualification.
More information here.
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Project Based Learning (PBL): a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by
working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex
question, problem, or challenge. More information here. See the appendices for a diagrammatic
representation.
STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths.
Teaching Schools: outstanding schools that work with others to provide high-quality training and
development to new and experienced school staff. They are part of the government’s plan to give
schools a central role in raising standards by developing a self-improving, sustainable, school-led
system.
University Technical Colleges (UTCs): government-funded schools that offer 14–18 year olds a
great deal more than traditional schools. They teach students technical and scientific subjects in a
whole new way and are educating the inventors, engineers, scientists and technicians of tomorrow.
More information here.
Introduction
Background
STEM Skills Shortage
Much is made of the STEM skills shortage in the UK. A 2015 report by the CBI (Confederation of
British Industry) and Pearson, entitled ‘Inspiring Growth’ found:
• There are widespread difficulties in recruiting people with STEM skills at every level, from new
entrants to train as apprentices (20%) to people with more than five years’ experience of STEMrelated work (32%).
• Adding those expecting difficulties in three years’ time to those currently experiencing problems,
over half of businesses (52%) see a shortfall in experienced STEM-skilled staff.
However, it’s not only the number of graduates of STEM subjects that is important, but also their
quality. Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton bikes, at a Royal Geographical Society event in March
2015 entitled ‘Made in Britain’, made the point that it’s not just more engineers that we need, but
more British engineers with inventive, quirky outlooks who can create innovative products, not just
superbly engineered products. The CBI study also shows that, for business, graduates need to have
more than just great grades:
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• By far the most important factors employers weigh up when recruiting school and college leavers are
attitudes (85%) and aptitudes (58%). These rank well ahead of formal qualifications.
• A majority of businesses remain concerned about the preparation of school leavers in important
areas including business and customer awareness (66%), self-management (61%) and foreign
language skills (60%).
Skills Versus Content
Despite the calls of business for an increased focus on skills (an internet search of “UK education
system focus on exams” pulls up many people, including the CBI, calling for more of a balance) the
UK system continues to be dominated by an emphasis on content based exams; in the new GCSEs
that are coming in from 2015 (English and Maths) and 2016 (most other subjects) there will be more
content, not less.
Furthermore, the traditional home of innovation, design and making, Design & Technology (D&T) is
under pressure in the UK due to a shortage of qualified teachers, government accountability measures
that prioritise other subjects, teachers who can’t access professional development and a halving of
numbers of students taking GCSE Design & Technology (to only 225,000). The threats to D&T have
recently spawned a campaign by the D&T Association to try and save its subject. More information
can be found here and a video defending D&T can be found here.
However, does a rise in D&T students solve the problems articulated by the CBI and businesses? On
its own I don’t think it does. An understanding of design is important, but the intertwining of the
STEM subjects with design and the creation of great education pedagogically is as important. Within
the UK the Progress 8 measure for schools and pressure from Ofsted is unlikely to go away in the near
future and therefore what needs to be found is a way of energising students about design, the
‘University of Life’ (Richard Branson at a Virgin Disruptors event in October 2015) and STEM,
whilst at the same time improving the learning and teaching of the individual STEM subjects.
Aims, Objectives and Purpose of the Project
Aim
The aim of this project is to look at attempts by other countries to increase the number of graduates
of STEM subjects and improve their ‘work readiness’, whilst sitting within an education system that
involves content based exams (so, for example, I didn’t visit Sweden, which although very focused on
Project Based Learning, doesn’t have exams until the age of 19). It focuses primarily on the 11-18 age
range as that is the area of education I know and am involved with.
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Objectives
The aim will be met through three objectives:
1. Understanding the implementation and impact of 'Challenge Based Learning' (a type of Project
Based Learning) in order to understand if it has a role to play in achieving the aim.
2. Understanding the organisation and impact of various school/university/business collaborations.
3. Understanding the impact on STEM education in the Netherlands, the USA and Sweden of the
intricacies of their education system; Sweden’s system emphasises equality and every child is given
a laptop or tablet; the Netherlands system has many tiers of school and is based on division that is
decided by the needs of the child; the USA spends more on education than any other country and
has a diverse range of both public and private schools.
Purpose
To create high challenge, innovative, business focused learning and teaching that addresses:
• The CBI challenge: “...we need schools to produce rounded and grounded young people who have
the skills and behaviours that businesses want.”
• The need to improve STEM education, as highlighted by the 2007 Lord Sainsbury Report on
innovation.
Approach
My approach was not academic. Rather it was to try to see as much as possible in order to stimulate
ideas and look for connections between ideas. Furthermore, it was to try to look beyond the education
system to identify those ideas that would have a great impact, regardless of their context; doing this
helped to reframe the issues that we have within the UK.
As Director of Learning for the Bohunt Education Trust I’ve been working with an incredible team to
introduce, in collaboration with industry, one of the UK’s first ever STEM curricula, which is taught
to every 11 to14 year old within Bohunt School, Hampshire. The study on the impact of the ideas I
had seen would come from implementing them at Bohunt.
What I have also stayed away from in this report is league tables of results. Nearly all the schools I
visited were high achieving, rapidly improving and/or giving their students access to top end
universities, but I don’t want to focus on exam results as that emphasises knowledge over careers,
attitudes, aptitudes and skills. However, I have tried to ensure that any recommendations I make work
with exams and the UK context, not against.
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Report Overview
In looking at the findings from my various visits the report breaks them down in to themes:
• Creating the space for STEM within a school.
• What is needed to create a great STEM lesson.
• Teacher training.
• Linking to Business.
• The use of IT within STEM lessons (and wider).
• The learning environment.
These themes are then refined in to four conclusions:
• STEM literacy for all.
• Creating great STEM lessons within the UK system.
• The use of IT.
• Aligning STEM with a school’s educational vision.
The recommendations section explores Bohunt School’s implementation of a STEM curriculum as it
has been heavily influenced by this research, as well as featuring a bullet point of key
recommendations for any school wanting to implement Project Based Learning (PBL) and STEM, but
without following the Bohunt approach. Finally, again within the recommendations section, there are
thoughts on how the business community and policy makers can support the aims of this project.
Findings
Creating the Space for STEM
Various different models from collaborations to making STEM a subject exist. The UK context with
students taking a decreasing number of exams due to the introduction of terminal exams and Progress
8, gives great scope for any of the options below.
Avenues World School
Avenues World School in New York has an incredible vision centred around creating a global
community of schools, but that’s a separate report! What is relevant to STEM is its approach to
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learning and its integration of STEM in to the curriculum, along with other ‘work ready’ skills.
Avenues describes its approach to learning as a hybrid learning model:
“Avenues expects students both to be with teachers and students in a traditional school setting and to
take advantage of the power and flexibility of new technology. Students enjoy a rich mix of
instructional techniques. Part of the day is in traditional classroom settings; other portions are with
small teams of students on project-based work; and some time is spent pursuing highly individualized
learning, often with the aid of technology. This requires a serious commitment to technological
infrastructure, which is imbedded in the Avenues plan.”
This approach is enhanced by introducing their own courses on top of the core curriculum, rather
than doing Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which is what Ivy League Universities would expect:
• Immersion Language Teaching (Bohunt Education Trust has found great success with this, see here).
• A World Course, which in time will include collaboration with it’s other campuses across the globe.
• STEAM (STEM plus Art) projects.
Furthermore, they arrange their year in to five semesters. The first four offer a normal timetable, but
the fifth is for mastery. This term allows students to explore an area of interest in far more depth,
pulling in knowledge from multiple areas and studying it for an extended period of time.
So, for World Avenues School, PBL is in the ethos of the school, STEM (and other skills such as
languages and global awareness) is on the curriculum and the development of in depth knowledge,
skills and attitudes is built in to the school year. Having their own courses is brave as they are breaking
with what Ivy League Colleges may expect and therefore, as a top end private school, potentially
disadvantaging their students from accessing those institutions. To ensure this doesn’t happen they are,
through marketing, ensuring that when a college sees an application from their school they know that
they are coming without the AP courses, but with a fluency in a second language, a global awareness,
enquiry skills and an attitude of deep engagement with their areas of interest.
A question though is whether STEM, as it is simply projects, is seen as positively by students as a
normal subject and linked clearly enough to work readiness.
Dayton Regional STEM School
At Dayton Regional STEM School they focus on two big collaborative projects per year and then
smaller projects within subjects. The collaborative projects are deep partnerships between a small
number of teachers. They then have a partnership person who tries to find outside people to help with
the STEM projects. So, for example, they do an art, physics and maths project on mobiles (that hang
from the ceiling, not that call and text people). The Maths teacher focused on the golden ratio and
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Fibonacci sequence, the physics teacher worked on fulcrum points, the art teacher worked on the
design and the external expert helped with how to actually make them.
To support these projects there is collaborative planning time built in to teachers’ timetables and the
majority of professional development is focused on making these a success.
This approach is less risky and does develop skills, but is constraining with regards to content and the
emphasis on developing design skills.
The Science Leadership Academy
At the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia Engineering is on the curriculum. In the 9th
Grade it’s on the timetable twice a week for half a year for all students. In the 10th to 12th Grade it’s
on the curriculum twice per week all year as an option. The students go through a basic course in
safety and the design process, then they all do a project together and then they get to pick a topic to do
a project on. The course is non-examined. All sorts of engineering is covered: mechanical, chemical
etc. Each class starts with a five minute presentation on what each group is doing, like lab groups, and
it ends with what each group is struggling with so that other groups can offer advice.
The projects link to ‘real world’ aims or to engineering challenges, which are like the millennium
development goals for engineering. In this way there is a purpose to the projects beyond the content
and skills that are developed. This is further enhanced through the use of the Stanford D (design)
School interview protocol that ensures the elimination of bias (‘I know this’) and instead focuses on
empathy and working together with people in other countries.
The projects the schools have been working on are, in some cases, incredible: A water pump powered
by a football goal and a cheap parabolic mirror that filters water that is actually being used by
hospitals in Liberia, through Engineers without Borders.
The graduation rate from the Science Leadership Academy is 99%, 42% higher than the national
average and 49% higher than the state average, despite the school being in a difficult part of
Philadelphia and mirroring the demography of the area. Students are also getting in to top
universities, such as Penn. Furthermore, from looking on LinkedIn at the CVs of alumni it is clear that
the projects will have an impact as they start their career. In the appendices is one example, you would
hire him wouldn’t you?
Another interesting feature of the Science Leadership Academy is the very strong links with the
Franklin Institute (a science museum with a very strong emphasis on enquiry). Every week students
from the school go to the Institute for a hands-on learning lab.
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The flexibility by having engineering on the timetable has allowed for incredibly engaging projects, as
well as the development of skills and knowledge. At a really basic level the excitement around these as
well as the success they are seeing from them is keeping a number of the children in school.
Haggviks Skolan
At Haggviks they break the year up in to four terms. During each term there is a different theme
(humans, sustainable society, change and scientific theory). All the curriculum content for their
subjects is taught through those themes, rather than in subjects. Each term has five weeks of content
and skill learning followed by a three week project designed by collaborative groups of teachers.
Creating Great STEM Lessons
Start with the Assessment
As a new school designing its curriculum from scratch in a different way to many other schools in the
US, the World Avenues School curriculum design process is a good blueprint for how to design a great
STEM Curriculum:
“Any curriculum design … is based on a number of well-established factors, including national and
local standards and the school’s mission.
Avenues’ curriculum design process begins with consideration of these factors and then uses what
Grant Wiggins, a nationally recognized educator, called “backwards planning” in his approach called
“understanding by design (UbD.)” This approach focuses first on the outcomes desired, then works
backwards, plotting the steps that will produce those outcomes. UbD helps teachers clarify learning
goals, devise assessments that reveal student understanding and craft effective learning activities.
Developed by Mr. Wiggins in association with Jay McTighe, UbD’s key idea is that a primary goal of
education should be the development and deepening of student understanding, which is most
effectively revealed when students can transfer what they have learned in one area to understanding in
other areas. By defining what student outcomes they want to achieve, teachers then work backwards to
develop their curriculum to reach those goals.
A major component of the resulting curriculum design is a good assessment program, which will allow
teachers and administrators to evaluate how students are progressing and where they need to go. The
curriculum can then be adjusted to respond to students’ needs, improving and strengthening it
through many iterations, with more detail added with each iteration.
Curriculum design, then, is not a one-time process. The school is constantly reexamining the
curriculum, fine-tuning and improving it, both during the school year and at the end of each year.”
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This then leads to the question of what progress should be shown in STEM? The Urban Assembly
School of Design & Construction in New York has an emphasis on design and a resident architect.
They are making the design process central to their assessments by unpicking the different skills that
are within the design process so that they can be talked about explicitly by students and staff:
Key Cognitive
Strategy
Extended Key
Cognitive
Strategy Phrase
Key Cognitive Strategy
Definition
Aspect
Extended
Aspect
Phrase
Aspect Definition
Problem
Formulation
Formulates the
Problem
Student demonstrates clarity
about nature of problem and
identifies potential outcomes.
Student may revisit/revise
problem statement as result
of thinking about potential
methods to solve problem.
Hypothesise
Hypothesises
about Potential
Outcomes
Considers purpose and
audience. Problem statement
is clear and has more than
one plausible hypothesis.
Strategise
Plans Strategies
Considers more than one
plausible approach; generates
a feasible plan of action.
Student explores full range
of resources and collection
techniques or generates
original data. Student makes
judgements about quality of
data and determines
usefulness of info. Student
may revisit or revise info
collection methods as greater
understanding is gained.
Identify
Identifies
Resources
Considers a full range of
appropriate resources.
Collect
Prioritises and
Collects
Resources
Makes judgements about
available info material and
data sources, considering
credibility and value, and
collects info and data
necessary to solve the
problem as formulated.
Student identifies and
considers most relevant info
or findings and develops
insights. Student reflects on
quality of the conclusion
drawn and may revisit/revise
previous steps in process.
Analyse
Analyzes
Evidence
Deconstructs info and data,
selects evidence and uses
analytic tools to structure
findings or insights.
Evaluate
Evaluates
Findings and
Conclusions
Groups info in to usable
pieces, connects ideas and
supporting evidence, draws
conclusions and reflects on
quality of conclusions.
Student organises info and
insights in to structured line
of reasoning and constructs
a final version through a
process that includes
drafting, incorporating
feedback, reflecting/revising.
Organise
Organises the
Reasoning
Incorporates ideas and
supporting evidence well.
Construct
Constructs a
Final Product
Creates a draft, incorporates
feedback to make appropriate
revisions and presents a final
piece appropriate to purpose
and audience.
Student is appropriately
precise and accurate at all
stages of the process by
determining and using
language terms, expressions,
rules, terminology and
conventions appropriate to
subject area and problem.
Monitor
Monitors
Quality
Throughout
Determines and applies
standards for precision and
accuracy.
Confirm
Confirms
Product
Quality
Assures that the final product
meets all discipline specific
standards for precision and
accuracy.
Research
Interpretation
Communication
Precision/
Accuracy
Accesses
Information
Interprets
Information and
Data
Communicates the
Solution
Demonstrates
Precision and
Accuracy
Throughout
At the Dayton Regional STEM School they evaluate the process more than the individual skills.
Furthermore, they break the processes down by what the child is trying to achieve and what the
subject material is, the following is the text from a poster displayed in many classrooms:
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Writing Process
Engineering
Design Process
Scientific Method
Question
Problem Based Learning
Process
Craft a claim
Define the problem
Meet the problem
Brainstorm/
research
Brainstorm/research Observe/research
Define problem statement
Outline
Design
Hypothesise
Brainstorm know & need to
know lists
Draft
Build
Design your experiment
Research the problem
Proofread
Test
Experiment & collect data
Research possibly solutions
Revise
Evaluate
Analyse data
Evaluate probable solutions
Edit
Redesign
Redesign experiment & re-test Choose the best solution
Publish
Share
Present results
Present your learning
The process is documented through digital portfolios. To prepare students for this type of assessment,
which is unusual as it is rewarding the process not the product, students do a STEM Foundation
Course that includes 21st Century skills (teamwork etc.), global awareness and thinking skills (using the
Thinking Hats approach). These skills are then reinforced in the individual content lessons. This
approach is similar to the Learning to Learn approach in the UK.
The focusing on process links well to Carol Dweck’s work on fixed versus growth mindsets, which she
articulates very well in a TED Talk, and to what colleges and businesses focused on design are looking
for. Kingston Design School in London, like Drayton Regional School of STEM and High Tech High
in San Diego, emphasised the importance of a portfolio to show the process. The portfolio need to be
created over time, had to show fieldwork, needed to be engaging for the reader as well as the creator
and needed to tell the story as well as evaluate the prototype: observations, sketches, scale drawings,
scale models, the rationale, the prototype, evaluations at various stages etc. In essence they wanted the
portfolio to do more than just evaluate the process, they wanted it to show the students’ thinking and
concepts. They were clear that schools needed to emphasise the creation of outstanding portfolios:
“We never accept anyone just on grades. It is also on their portfolio: its creativity, its process and its
reflections.”
Another key observation from the Design School was things that we might see as simplistic, such as
creating pencil sketches and prototyping in cardboard, are actually really important stages in how
professional designers work and in how students at Design School will have to work.
Project Based Learning Works
High Tech High in San Diego takes the US Standards and turns them in to projects. They can be with
other teachers or just within that subject. At the end of each project there is an exhibition to parents,
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other students and sometimes businesses as well; ideally the output will have an impact beyond the
school. All projects have an individual write-up. Sometimes the teacher dictates if the student has to
do the project on their own or in groups; sometimes the student decides. Maths is taught traditionally
in High School, in the lower school there is some integration with projects. With the other subjects
they are taught traditionally only 25% of the time and the emphasis is on teaching the information
needed for the projects. Character, technology and IT are all combined with the learning of
knowledge within the projects, they are not standalone areas of study. The work is all collated within
digital portfolios that are open to anyone to view. All projects involve teams of teachers who are given
collaborative planning time.
Sample project:
A comic book project about a superhero: learning about the physics concept that was the
superhero’s ‘power’ was done in physics (along with designing an experiment to show off the
power), the story writing and turning the story in to speech was done in English and the artwork
and design was done in Art.
In order to train the teachers to deliver in this innovative way they have their own teacher training
establishment. Furthermore they have a lengthy 1.5 week induction, which heavily involves students,
that looks at creating essential questions, project protocols, project tuning and assessment.
The student/parent evenings are called conference evenings and the emphasis is again on the student.
Students take their parents around their classes and talk them through what they’ve been doing. They
then go to a computer and show them their online grade-book (available to parents all year round).
The impacts are impressive: 98% of students go on to college compared with the US average of 72%
and studies on PBL show that there are a range of benefits including a deeper learning of the content,
stronger motivation and the ability to retain the information for longer. From talking to the students
this seemed to be for three main reasons:
1. Engagement: Troy, who showed me round, said that at his previous school (which didn’t teach in
this way) he did his homework because he didn’t want to get in to trouble. Now though he did his
homework because he wanted to know the information that would allow him to complete a project
he was interested in.
2. Interleaving: The projects are building in reminders of the content as they are immersive and have
a very strong visual reminder (the product) of the key learnings. This links to what educational and
cognitive psychology is saying works for memorisation (see box within conclusions).
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3. Motivation: Daniel Pink has studied motivation in the business world for a long time and he’s
come to the conclusion that traditional ways of motivating employees with financial incentives
don’t work. Instead, motivation increased when people have autonomy, a driving purpose and the
desire to perfect their craft. It is easy to see the parallels in Pink’s argument to schools and PBL.
4. Challenge: The time spent on a project, combined with the range of inputs and variety of ways of
supporting the learning means that very challenging concepts and tasks can be undertaken by
students. For example, look at the following project from eSTEM Academy, a Reynoldsburg City
School, which also focuses heavily on PBL …
Studies in Space: Bridging the Literal and the Metaphorical
This past summer, the Summit Road STEM Elementary School library-museum participants
kicked off their year-long project with an immersive arts-integrated experience. After a field trip to
the Columbus Museum of Art, they spent a day at school investigating the nature of space and its
possibilities within the library. Working in pairs, students measured the perimeter of the library,
then graphed the dimensions to scare on gridded paper. They then represented the library’s fixtures
on their graphs using simple geometric forms to mimc the fixtures’ actual shapes. With an eye to
the building’s architecture, the flow of its traffic patterns, the function of a library museum, and the
elements and principles of design, they transferred the essence of the library’s forms onto vellum
using ink and liquid watercolour.
Students moved further into the realm of the imagination by responding artistically to prompts,
such as ‘close your eyes and moved your oil pastels across the surface of your butter board in a way
that communicates the kind of explorer you are’. They then used the oil pastels, along with more
liquid watercolour, acrylic paint and a few unconventional materials that produced interesting
visual effects when combined. Each material, mark and visual effect was uniquely imbued with
symbolic significance by the students.
Finally, they examined their artworks using viewfinders to isolate ideas and aesthetic vignettes that
were personally important to them. They then deconstructed their original masterpieces by cutting
those isolated areas into shapes that reiterate the geometry of the library - museum space. New
meaning was created when the select components were combined into the heartfelt compositions
you see here, making viable each students’ ideas about what the library - museum might one day
become.
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And the output from the project …
You wouldn’t think it was done by a Primary School child would you?!
Not everything about High Tech High was positive. Too often in the lessons that I observed the
teacher was acting more as a triage nurse than a teacher ‘are you ok? Do you know what you need to
do next? I’ll get you a new battery etc.’ The high level discussions and questioning between student
and teacher that challenge and help students progress, as well as high quality Assessment for Learning,
was not there. However, the educational vision worked as it was carried by the system and the
students’ understanding of what to do and confidence to be independent.
The students’ understanding of the educational vision (encapsulated by High Tech Highs four design
principles: personalisation, adult world connection, common intellectual mission and teacher as
designer) was shown when I asked a student how the school ensured he got great exam results:
“They don’t. They say that if I want great exam results I should get a private tutor. That’s not what
education here is about.”
That’s one way to make space for real world learning and the development of skills, but you would
need to be very brave to do that in the UK.
Teacher Training
Hofstra University Model
The approach of subject collaboration, the integration of the design process and the inclusion of PBL
requires teacher training in order to succeed. At Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, they
have been running a STEM Masters for over 25 years. The course is a win-win-win for education and
educators; it improves the impact of STEM education, improves the career prospects of those taking
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it (as it is a combination of pedagogy, leadership and research) and also creates replacement schemes
of work for core subjects.
The STEM Masters is taught out of the Engineering Department, not the Education Department;
this is similar to the initiative within the University of Delft in the Netherlands discussed below.
The STEM Masters focuses on 3 ‘Is’: Inspiration, infusion and impact. Teachers of one of the STEM
subjects (for example science) are trained up in the design process and in one of the other areas
(normally Maths tuition). They then create a replacement unit of work of about a week in duration
for their subject that incorporates the design method and is infused with the other subject. An example
of a replacement unit is that of looking at the impact of temperature and surface area on alka-seltzer
rockets; it combines the chemistry of the reaction, the physics/technology of the rocket design/build,
the trigonometry needed to work out the height and the plotting of graphs. Finally the Masters
students have to teach their replacement unit and measure its impact on the students learning and
attitudes to learning. In the above example (science infused with maths) they found that the science
results didn’t change, but that the maths results improved, not just in trigonometry, but across the
board. As Dave Burghadt from Hofstra put it:
“Anecdote doesn’t make academia, but it does explain why this happened. A student said to me ‘I
don’t like Math anymore, but at least I now know why I need it.’”
This last comment shows the engagement that comes from combining the STEM subjects together
along with the Design Process (an interesting follow up piece of research would be to split out these
two components with regards to engagement). Combined with the engagement that comes from PBL
(as seen at High Tech High above) it strongly suggests that if key concepts can be built in, and the
Hofstra infusion method allows that to be done rigorously, how attainment, as well as all the other
things we are wanting to get from high quality STEM education (more engineers, work ready skills
etc.), will improve. Furthermore, it shows that wholesale timetable redesign is not needed to
incorporate design, collaboration and PBL in to schools.
Hofstra University also wanted to run a STEM Masters course for those people leaving the
engineering professions who wanted to become teachers. Their detailed proposal would allow them to
teach multiple sciences, maths, engineering and of course STEM, by emphasising content catch-up
over some of the subject skills training, as they would have used those daily in their jobs. The New
York authorities rejected it. This approach, although small in number, could help to address the
chronic shortage of maths and science teachers in the UK, as well as meeting the aims of this project.
The rise of Teaching Schools means that a STEM Masters approach would be possible in the UK
without the need for a change of Government policy. For example Bohunt Education Trust is closely
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aligned with the TESLA Teaching School Alliance (TSA); if TESLA was to link with the Regional
STEM Centre and a local university it could well be able to offer a STEM Masters like Hofstra.
A second ‘infusion’ example for US grade 5 (the end of Primary Education):
Task was to create a chair for a specific stuffed animal. The replacement scheme of work
incorporated the Design Process in order to build in continuous improvement. The Maths goals
were protractor use, obtuse/acute/right angles, different types of triangle, quadrilaterals, knowledge
of similarity and congruency in polygons. To do this the chair had to include various angles,
triangles, a trapezoid with an angle of 55 degrees, two congruent rhombus and two similar
parallelograms.
The pedagogically solid design tasks involved hands on activities, easy to work with materials, clearly
defined outcomes and allowed for multiple solutions. To promote student centred learning the
scheme of work included a variety of opportunities for collaboration and multiple design iterations.
Furthermore, the scheme of work linked clearly to a limited number of science and engineering
concepts.
Key within the research and investigation phase of the scheme of work were Knowledge Skill
Builders. These were short, focused activities that teach the skills and content required for the
challenge (excellent link to Guided Learning). They provide the structured research, create evidence
for the teacher to assess the students skills and knowledge and inform the final product.
To keep the focus on the Maths, rather than the design, students could only redesign their chairs
after they had shown they understood the new academic content being introduced through the
Knowledge and Skills Builders.
The baseline test in geometry had a range of 0-40% and an average of 17.6%. At the end of the
unit of work the class average was 88.6% with the lowest score being 76%. Furthermore, there was
less need to repeat geometry as a deep, sustained knowledge had been created.
Delft University Model
The Hofstra model involves teacher development to better teach the individual STEM subjects
through infusion, combined with the integration of the Design Process. At Delft they have taken a
different route that involves creating whole new subjects.
The first subject is Nature, Life & Technology (NLT). This is a team taught, inter-disciplinary subject.
It is topical and science based; for example it covers artificial limbs and MP3 Players. The schemes of
work are designed by teams incorporating someone from industry, an education academic and
teachers. They go through a quality assurance process and are reviewed every 4-5 years to ensure they
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are still current. The course has been going about 7 years and over half of schools in the Netherlands
offer it. Universities are positive about the course due to its emphasis on science.
Training for teachers comes through a Masters qualification that also qualifies them to teach science in
lower secondary and design in upper secondary.
The lessons are practical with a heavy emphasis on physics and chemistry. The schemes of work
incorporate a design focus or research focus. The aim is to hone research and design skills, enhance
science knowledge and improve the awareness of potential STEM careers - all the objectives that this
project has set out to achieve.
Within the UK this approach of creating new subjects would be difficult to incorporate at Key Stage 4
and 5 (age 14-18) without exam boards taking the subject on, although some schools (for example
Bedales in Hampshire) have created their own qualifications that are not recognised in Government
league tables.
At Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) there is the space to build lessons like this in to the curriculum without
worrying about exam boards. At Key Stage 4 and 5 could we just incorporate enquiry learning in to
the topical areas covered in the examined schemes of work? The experiences of Hofstra and Delft
suggest not. What is off putting to students is when they are doing enquiry for the sake of enquiry. For
example students think that science is existing knowledge that you need to learn. There is a correct
answer that is in the book. Therefore, experiments are interesting, but a deviation from learning for
the exam. This is certainly something that is seen at Bohunt School, particularly with high achieving
students. The reason for this is that for enquiry to work you need to find genuine answers to genuine
issues or problems. The problem with trying to build enquiry in to science is that working on genuine
problems within the constraints of a school is difficult. A book called the Flying Circus of Physics
details many everyday phenomena that are worthy of enquiry, but few link well to the UK curriculum.
Hofstra University’s STEM Masters gets round this problem by incorporating design in to its schemes
of work; design can nearly always be improved. Delft University gets round it by designing a scheme
of work that looks at topical issues and is linked to industry. This linking to industry could be a way
forward in the UK, certainly within Key Stage 3.
Linking to Business
There are many examples of long term, deep collaborations between schools, universities and
businesses; below are a selection of them.
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Ohio STEM Network
There are many different parts to the Ohio STEM Network, which aims to increase the number of
graduates in particular STEM fields so that the economy of the state grows. This contrasts with the
UK where there is no specific policy and we are very broad (more around some general notion of
inspiration), and fairly uncoordinated, in what we are trying to achieve.
Area Level
The Columbus authorities have decided that the four areas they want to focus on to improve
economic prosperity are advanced manufacturing, advanced health, IT security and logistics. In each
of these areas schemes have been put in place to encourage young people in to those careers.
Advanced manufacture is about robotics and advanced design. The partner for one of the schemes is
a car seat manufacturer that employs 2000 people. They were struggling to stay fully staffed,
particularly with new recruits at the graduate level of the business. New graduates with a four year
degree were coming in, getting a year or so of experience and then leaving. What they are now doing,
through linking in to the Ohio STEM Network, is taking apprentices from High Schools with two
years of college (because they’ve been accelerated) and paying them to do the final two years of
college (so the student gets their entire four year degree for free), as well as paying them a wage for
working. In doing so they have reduced their staff turnover by 45% thereby reducing recruiting costs
and improving productivity.
Industry Level - Battelle
Battelle is a company in Ohio that has education as a major part of its philanthropic work. They run
the Ohio STEM Network with money from themselves, money from the state, funding from the
federal pot and money from the Gates Foundation for a particular programme called Race to the Top.
The outcome they are working towards is students leaving with four year Associate Degrees so that
they can get in to industry along with a certificate of being ‘employment ready’. Furthermore, through
acceleration, they are trying to get the first two years of the degree to be free, saving the student up to
$30,000 in tuition fees.
In order to meet their aim they have setup a network of STEM Schools, Hubs (institutions of Higher
Education that then employ school liaison officers) and a STEM Leaders Academy to train up leaders
of education in the approach. Within Battelle there is a staff of three working full time on this.
The key tenets of the STEM Schools are:
• Mastery of English and Maths.
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• Rapid remediation if the basics are not mastered.
• Community engagement.
• PBL.
• Literacy work that goes over the top of everything they do.
• Mirroring of the University timetable (two semesters and then January is catch-up, college courses, a
MOOC or condensed high school work).
More information on the Akron Hub, whose vision is ‘to build, capture and connect the disciplines of
science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) while leveraging partnerships in alignment
with economic development priorities’, is included in the appendices.
School Level
eSTEM is a school in Reynoldsburg; it had 600 students in May of 2014, of which 65% were boys. In
September 2014 it expanded to 650 students due to demand. The school doesn’t have STEM on the
curriculum, it is more a way of working. Teachers are seen as design engineers: problem - question research - activity - evaluation. 40% of curriculum time is spent on projects, the other 60% is
traditional teaching.
The school has increased its engineering uptake (engineering, biology and pre-med) to 60% despite
the fact that they can go on to any course they want (their thinking with regards to this is that STEM
thinking translates widely: journalism, public policy etc.).
Like all the STEM Schools in the network they have a strong link to a college. As the college is too far
for the students to travel to they have a satellite in the school. This works well for the college, not just
due to the teaching of the students; as they have also tripled the number of adult learners in one year.
To help with the acceleration of the students they have remediation time at the end of every day and
they re-timetable the whole school to ensure students can progress when they are ready to.
P-TECH
P-TECH is a school in Brooklyn that is heavily supported by IBM and has been held up by President
Obama as a model he wants to see more of (see here). In the same building as P-TECH, which is 75%
boys, is the Academy of Health Careers (80% Girls) and Paul Robson High School.
The school was born out of a conversation between the CEO of IBM and the Head of Education for
New York City (NYC) and the experiences of the Vice-President of IBM who was former Deputy
Chancellor of Schools in NYC and wrote educational programmes for 20 years. They wanted to link
education and economic prosperity. There is no benchmark for entry to the school, other than an
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interest in IT (although, due to the way applications work in NYC, many do not have that). Students
are accelerated (can move once you’ve achieved 80% in Maths and 75% in English) through High
School courses to a choice of two college courses: Computer Information and Electro-mechanical
Engineering. The college courses can also meet High School credits. There is an extended day and
year, each student has a laptop and there is a huge focus on Maths and English in the first year.
The school does not receive any funding from IBM, but there is a very close link between the
company and the school; IBM provide:
• A liaison officer who works in the school three days a week.
• A mentor for each student.
• A co-written (with the school) scheme of work preparing students for the world of work.
• Extended projects using PBL methodology.
• Internships.
• Preferential treatment with regards to job opportunities.
• Authors to document the setup and running of the school.
• STEM challenges that are worked on for two hours every week.
This drive of students aged 12 through to two college courses that are appropriate for IBM employees
is all consuming: all projects focus on it, accelerated progression, longer year, IBM mentor etc. If that
really was the students’ passion aged 11 when they chose the school then that would be fantastic.
However, many students didn’t put the school down as the first choice and many students don’t know
their passion aged 11, or it changes going forwards. Furthermore, there is a strong argument, that
even if a student does know their area of interest a broad education is still preferable.
Stenungsund Petrochemical Link
Stenungsund is a town in western Sweden dominated by the Petrochemical Industry. Nosnas is a 16-19
(3 year groups) school in Stenungsund. In 2007/08 they were approached by industry as they needed
workers. A programme was setup that gave the students a route through to working in the industries at
the age of 19, but it was also designed so that with just a few additional courses they could go on to
University. Students on the programme work on a particular area of interest (computing, atomisation
or welding for example) and the companies have invested a lot of money in supplying the school with
the particular machines they use in their industry. Furthermore, they offer the students six weeks work
experience in year one and two, and fifteen weeks in year three.
The students’ schedule on the Industry Programme mirrors work (8.30am to 4pm), mixes subjects
through PBL, emphasises teamwork, is based around the design process, involves particular software
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packages used by industry, features lectures from people working in industry and looks at wider issues
challenging the industries such as sustainable development. There are 27 scholarships available each
year for students following the programme.
There are regular meetings between the industry and school leaders to ensure the programme remains
relevant. The decision making board is majority business so they retain the decision making power.
What is incredible is that there are examples of the school moving ahead of the industry so that when
the students go to do their work experience they are teaching the people in the industry how to
improve things, not the other way round. This is due to:
• The wider combination of skills taught in the school. In the industry the workers are specialists.
• The mix of theory and practice.
• The students having time to look at one particular process or craft for an extended period of time.
• The quality of the teachers.
92% of the students on the
industry programme who
want to go in to work at age
19 are in work after one year
v e r s u s 7 2 % n a t i o n a l l y.
Furthermore, more students
are choosing to go in to
industry at 19 rather than
university and so the local
community is being built as
children are staying near their
parents.
Reading UTC
Reading University Technical College (UTC) is linking to business through its various industry
partners. The UTC specialises in computing and engineering and was the first UTC to gain Ofsted
‘Outstanding’ status. The partners help design programmes of work, offer internships, offer work
experience, provide mentors help with marketing and PR (especially with regards to women in
science) and attend various celebration events. The benefits to the company are access to talent, ability
to tailor the curriculum they receive so that it meets the needs of their business, PR opportunities,
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opportunity to meet and collaborate with other companies, development of its employees and the
ability to use the UTCs facilities for team away days etc.
The vision for learning is based around projects. In the BTEC subjects every unit is run as a project
with industry input. In Maths, English and Science businesses are incorporated in to units of work and
projects run where appropriate. There are also short burst projects where the timetable breaks down
for a day or so for company specific projects. Furthermore, for two hours a week students get together
in vertical project groups (mini tutor groups) to work on projects. These projects last half a year.
Example of a Vertical Project at Reading UTC:
Teams are redesigning the right hand side of a nearby train station in collaboration with Peter Brett
Associates. The company has given 14 mentors to work with 14 different project teams. The teams
must come up with bidding packs including full designs and costings. The teams have to follow civil
engineering programmes of work. The project fits across many subjects (physics, engineering, CAD
etc.) and has been mapped against the curriculum.
Reading UTC describe their assessment model as ’T-shaped’. The vertical part of the T is deep
technical knowledge; the horizontal part is personal skills and professional attributes. Again, their
emphasis on PBL ties this pedagogy with the developed of the skills and attributes that the CBI and
businesses want to see.
Tech Futures Projects
Tech Futures Projects are being developed by universities in the Netherlands (for example Windesheim
University), who then engage businesses and schools. There must be seven years of progress through
the projects (to take students from 12 to 19) and they are specifically designed to solve the problem of
not enough people doing STEM subjects. One such project is focused on clean water and links
together schools, universities and the UN Water Unit, which is based in the Netherlands.
The Use of IT
The OECD has stated that: “Schools have yet to take advantage of the potential of technology in the
classroom to tackle the digital divide and give every student the skills they need in today’s connected
world, according to the first OECD PISA assessment of digital skills.” Many approaches to STEM
and PBL used IT heavily (High Tech High and Avenues World School were one student to one device
schools for example).
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The Swedish education system is dominated by equality (hardly any fee paying schools, can’t charge
for trips and visits etc.), especially with regards to technology where every child in the country is given
a laptop or tablet by their school. PBL, research, design and making are all areas of massive
technological innovation through internet searching, online collaboration, AutoCAD software and
rapid prototyping machines such as 3D Printers. Sweden provides an interesting opportunity to look at
whether increased technology in education is positive, negative or neutral.
Throughout my time in Sweden I saw both the positives and negatives of technology. On the negative
side I spoke to one student who said that his tablet was a distraction in lessons, I watched a lesson
where students nearly fought to sit at the back of the room so they could check their email and
Facebook and I saw lessons where students spent ages surfing the internet. However, I also saw many
positives: interesting software (such as Lin Education’s ‘Learning Circles’ that allow students to
navigate their way through the scheme of work on their own, the use of teacher created 5-7 minute
videos to ensure the summarisation of learning, incredible assessment programmes that involved the
teacher, parent/guardian and student being able to work together to show evidence of their academic
progression and a school (Fredrikshovs Gymnasium) that was clear that teacher collaboration and IT
was normally the solution to most educational problems, but that first and foremost, the teacher has to
have leadership and high expectations in the classroom.
More specifically within STEM lessons technology such as 3D Printers and 3D Routers can lead to
rapid prototyping, as promoted by organisations such as Fab Labs. However, there are disadvantages
to students being able to see their designs in reality too quickly. According to Marc de Vries from Delft
University something is lost through rapid prototyping. He echoes Kingston University’s Design
School view, which is that there should be drawing by pencil and making by hand stages before the use
of computer aided design and rapid prototyping. These stages are important for working through the
concept and potential solutions and getting to know the materials the prototype will be using in detail.
Windesheim University in Zwolle (Netherlands) has within its education department an E-STEM
Laboratory, which aims to integrate academically researched knowledge about the use of IT in to
STEM projects and subject collaborations. The laboratory also designs apps that are then made by
students of ICT from the technical university. So for example the Department of Movement and
Sport looked at whether Tiger Woods software on the Xbox Kinect (which uses a stick to monitor
your body movement) could teach you to play golf as well as a golf pro (the answer is no, but it gets
close). More relevant to schools is the current research in to immersive environments using headsets
and 3D Printers. This idea seems positive, but it is so hard for the research not to get caught up in the
technology, rather than linking strongly back to the pedagogy. One clear advantage of it is that it does
engage the education students in research and making teaching decisions based on evidence.
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One school that really has pushed the use of technology is the Steve Jobs Primary Schools in the
Netherlands (and now globally). They have done this successfully by having an incredible system and
infrastructure that the technology is part of (the pedagogical model is one of Blended Learning). A
coach meets with the student and parent/guardian every six weeks to review their learning and decide
on their plan for the next six weeks, a bespoke timetable of taught lessons, guided learning groups and
individual study. Each day they will get 1-1.5 hours with a tutor and then move to specific areas for
silent work and small group work. They are grouped by stage, not age and each block is 45 minutes in
length. Each student has an iPad and many of the individual study sessions (especially Maths) involve
the use of Apps. The feedback from the apps, as well as the tutor feedback from guided sessions is fed
in to the six weekly coach/student/parent meetings to determine the next six weeks. The concept,
which is in 28 schools, has seen excellent results in terms of behaviour (the school I visited seemed
exceptionally calm) and some students have accelerated. Some students have not progressed any faster,
but they haven’t progressed any slower and they have all improved their organisation, self-motivation
and a variety of skills such as independent working and teamwork.
Essentially, technology is neutral, it is the educational vision, pedagogical underpinning and classroom
craft that determines whether a technology rich classroom is positive or negative. What technology
does do is broaden the range of resources and activities available to teachers and students.
Learning Environment
Learning environments signal a lot to students. Many of the schools visited had experimented with
space: Dayton was very open plan, partly because it was housed within an old department store, the
National Inventors Hall of Fame School had big communal spaces, the World Avenues School had
many breakout areas and the Steve Jobs School had a variety of spaces including silent study areas
and quiet study rooms.
With regards to STEM specifically, two of the most interesting spaces I saw were eSTEMs Fab Lab
and Summit STEM Elementary School’s ‘library’.
Fab Labs are part of a global maker movement. It is based around the fact that five machines (along
with CAD software on computers) are all that are needed to be able to rapidly prototype many items:
• Vinyl cutter
• 3D printers
• CO2 laser cutter (cardboard, mdf)
• CNC router
• Mill (wood, circuit boards)
As talked about under the links to business section eSTEM doesn’t have STEM lessons, instead all
areas are focused around ways of working (imagine - plan - design - improve - share). The Fab Lab
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forms part of that. It is staffed by older students and one full time technician. For example, a design
project was looking at how to create a circular table for IT rooms, something they didn’t have at the
time (imagine). They had found one that was available to buy for $3000. Instead of doing that they
designed one themselves (plan and design) and then prototyped it using the Fab Lab in cardboard. It
didn’t work as it flexed too much in a rotational fashion, so they got the physics department involved.
They worked with the students to work out the forces and understand the flex. They fashioned a
solution using metal tension cables and the prototype worked (improve). In the Fab Lab the tables
could be manufactured at $350 a piece, a saving of $2650 per table (share).
The failed prototype:
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The final product with metal tension cables.
The Elementary School linked to eSTEM had a traditional library, but it wasn’t very inspiring. So they
got the students to reimagine it and redesign it (this is covered in part under the section on PBL). The
end result was a space that was a resource centre with books and computers, but it also had something
so simple, but so effective, exhibits that sparked curiosity, many of which were available for students to
tinker with, take apart and attempt re rebuild. They included things like phones through the ages, old
computers and lamps.
As part of the follow-up research to this project I visited Fab Lab London, who describe themselves as
“the City of London’s first purpose built digital fabrication and rapid prototyping workspace”. What
my visit showed is that there is a continuum from detailed craft learning at one end to rapid
prototyping that brings ideas, often from CAD software, to life quickly. That same continuum needs to
be in schools as well with prototyping machines linked to Computer Science, Maths and Science at
one end and crafts learnt through D&T at the other. The two are not mutually exclusive; an
understanding of materials is best developed through working with them hands-on and so D&T has a
role even at the Computer Science end and, the other way round, the use of Maths, Science and
Computer Science can be used to enhance nearly any design and build project.
Fab Labs could play a really important role in integrating community inventors with students, training
teachers and linking business to schools.
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Conclusions
STEM Literacy for All
What became clear from talking to students about collaborative projects that spanned various subjects,
seeing what they were achieving through an exposure to STEM, rather than simply science or IT, and
talking to businesses was that the importance of a high quality STEM education goes far beyond
recruiting more engineers. All students need to leave school ‘STEM literate’.
There are a number of components to that literacy:
• Understanding of the design process and an awareness of the importance of all of the stages
(including planning on paper before committing to computer and evaluation).
• Understanding of how the various STEM subjects work together.
• Knowledge of how they themselves work best with technology for project planning, presenting etc.
• Knowledge of particular software packages (e.g. Google Sketchup), machines (e.g. 3D Printers or
laser cutters) and knowledge (e.g. what an arduino does and how to programme one).
STEM literacy is not just important for students when they go in to the world of work, it is also
important for their studies, especially if the pedagogical underpinning of their studies involves PBL.
This was brought home at Kingston Design School where one student had designed wearable
technology that mapped the movement of a person’s spine through the day so that posture could be
improved. Design, thought of as an art or a craft, was involving arduinos, programming and science.
The need for greater STEM awareness has been recognised by the UK Government in its promotion
of computing and through its attempts to make science and maths exams cover more content.
However, there is a danger, due to the emphasis on the individual subjects, that students don’t see the
interconnections and how they relate to their life. Furthermore, the attitudes and skills that young
people need are not developed due to the increasing amount of content that needs to be memorised
for the terminal exam.
The United States in its Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) recognises this threat under the
need for the new standards:
“When we think science education, we tend to think preparation for careers in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics, which are wellsprings of innovation in our economy. Why then is
ensuring scientific and technological literacy for all students of equal concern? Over the past decades,
demands have shifted in favor of skilled jobs requiring more education than the unskilled jobs they
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replaced. Moreover, many of the fastest growing occupations are those where science and
mathematics play a central role.
The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, grouped all
occupations into 16 career clusters. Fourteen of the 16 career clusters call for four years of science,
with the remaining two clusters calling for three years. All 16 called for four years of mathematics.
The inescapable message: to keep their options open and maximize their opportunities, all students
should follow a rigorous program in both science and mathematics.
Beyond the concern of employability looms the larger question of what it takes to thrive in today’s
society. Citizens now face problems from pandemics to energy shortages whose solutions require all
the scientific and technological genius we can muster. Americans are being forced to increasingly make
decisions—including on health care and retirement planning—where literacy in science and
mathematics is a real advantage. Contrast these demands with the results of the 2003 National
Assessment of Adult Literacy. Fewer than one in three college graduates can perform tasks such as
interpreting a data table about blood pressure and physical activity.”
What this means is that STEM can’t be an add on to the curriculum, it can’t be left on the fringes as a
club for some or a design challenge for a few. STEM needs to come in to the curriculum as an area of
study. It might not have it’s own lessons, but it should be identifiable.
Strangely, within the UK system, the increased focus on terminal exams and the expanded amount of
content may well be an opportunity. Many schools are reducing down the amount of subjects that
their students are taking in order to reduce the number of terminal exams they need to take at the
end, thereby giving them more chance of doing well in them. This is certainly something that has
happened at Bohunt. What it means is that at Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) there is some space in the
curriculum for non-examined subjects.
Why Project Based Learning Aligns with Great STEM
Teaching and Simply Great Learning
The NGSS approach to ensuring that skills are emphasised as well as content and that the content
links to other areas is to focus on three key dimensions, all of which are important within science and
wider. The framework gives us an interesting way of helping students understand more about what
‘learning’ is as there is a tendency in the UK for students to equate learning simply with the
memorisation of content (evidence from Bohunt School suggests that this is particularly a problem
with high achieving students; they are seeing the exam as the endpoint, rather than the career and
new ideas within that field):
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• Practices: The practices describe behaviours that scientists engage in as they investigate and build
models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers
use as they design and build models and systems.
• Crosscutting Concepts: Crosscutting concepts have application across all domains of science. As
such, they are a way of linking the different domains of science. They include: Patterns, similarity,
and diversity; Cause and effect; Scale, proportion and quantity; Systems and system models; Energy
and matter; Structure and function; Stability and change. The Framework emphasises that these
concepts need to be made explicit for students because they provide an organisational schema for
interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically-based view of
the world.
• Disciplinary Ideas: Disciplinary core ideas have the power to focus the science curriculum,
instruction and assessments on the most important aspects of science. Disciplinary ideas are grouped
in four domains: the physical sciences; the life sciences; the earth and space sciences; and
engineering, technology and applications of science.
These standards are essentially calling for deeper understanding of what ties together chunks of
content and an application of knowledge; Project Based Learning demands exactly the same. A
project could focus on a crosscutting concept and pull in knowledge from a variety of different subject
areas. Through a project’s focus on planning and methodology, as well as the outcome, it emphasises
skills and application (in particular the enquiry approach within science and the design process within
engineering), as well as content.
An article by Edutopia linking PBL to the NGSS concludes with the following:
“The NGSS will be successful only if we give students the learning models that call for the rigor and
depth they demand. Not only is PBL ready for the challenge, but it can create deeper engagement
with the content, where students’ deeper learning in the classroom makes them real scientists and
engineers of the real world.”
Replace ‘The NGSS will be successful only…’ with ‘The challenges facing UK STEM recruitment
will be solved only…’ and I think this sums up an approach that needs to be used more (not
exclusively) within the UK system. The difficulty is ensuring that all FOUR areas (practices, crosscutting concepts, disciplinary ideas and content required for the exams) get the attention they deserve.
In the Netherlands, like in the USA, changes to the science curriculum are also pushing schools
towards focusing on how they are thinking as much as the reproduction of facts. Furthermore, they
have a whole strand of schools (Technasiums) that are focused on Project Based Learning.
However, the advantages of PBL go beyond just great STEM education. Research in cognitive and
educational psychology show that it is a pedagogical model that has great potential across all subjects.
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Improving Students’ Learning with Effective Learning Techniques; Promising
Directions from Cognitive and Educational Psychology
J.Dunlosky, KA.Rawson, EJ.Marsh, MJ.Nathan & DT.Willingham
High utility:
• practice testing
• distributed practice: implementing a schedule of practice that spreads study activities over time
• high because benefits different ages and abilities of learner and boosts performance across a
range of contexts
Medium utility:
• elaborating interrogation: generating an explanation for why a stated fact or concept is true
• self-explanation: explaining how new information is related to known information, or explaining
steps taken during problem solving
• interleaved practice: implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kids of problems, or
a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session
• medium utility as not enough evidence of efficacy; not enough evidence or not enough situations
tested for them to be known to be useful in a range of contexts
Low utility:
• summarisation
• highlighting/underlining
• keyword mnemonic
• imagery for text
• rereading
Practice testing is implicit within prototyping and distributed practice and interleaving, as expressed
in the High Tech High write up in the findings, is part of PBL. Therefore, PBL would seem to
marry well with the latest learnings from this field of education.
What is clear is that PBL has a major role to play in the skilling up of students for the workplace, in
showing students the real world application of STEM subjects, in enhancing the teaching of
individual STEM subjects and in creating memorable learning more widely. However, it needs to be
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the right teaching tool for the learning job; it should not be shoe-horned in or over used. Furthermore,
for it to be successful it relies on teacher training and dedicated time for teachers to collaborate.
School/University/Business Collaborations
Partnerships between businesses and schools (often with the involvement of universities) nearly always
enhanced the projects and improved the work readiness of the students. The most successful (Nosnas
School in Stenungsund, the Reading UTC and the programmes running within Reynoldsburg) always
started with the company’s aims and then involved long term collaborations between the partners.
That collaboration was invariably cemented through structures such as the board that made decisions
on the curriculum and was business dominated in Stenungsund or the STEM Network headed by
Battelle in Ohio.
In the UK, of all the areas that are covered by this project, this is the area that we seem to be furthest
behind in. Our articulation of the problem is too broad (lack of engineers versus the need for more
workers for a car seat manufacturer) and our response uncoordinated (lots of organisations fighting for
Government funding), without a clear leader and lacking specific metrics.
Getting the Use of IT Right
This was not a key objective in terms of my research, but emerged from the variety of approaches I
saw and from listening to many conversations.
From my travels it seemed that the schools where the IT was a negative were the schools where the
educational conversations had the thread of technology running through them, rather than the thread
of pedagogy; ‘With these tablets we need to teach in the following way’ rather than ‘teaching in this
way would be transformational; having tablets would help that way of learning’. Furthermore,
technology was too often divorced from the wider classroom environment and the school’s vision.
Inspirational learning environments incorporating the latest technologies (both digital and otherwise)
can be used as a stimulus for students to take responsibility for, and control of, their learning.
Furthermore, they can help build the intrinsic motivation, creativity and autonomy of all students. For
that to happen, the technology needs to follow the educational vision and pedagogical model.
Bohunt Education Trust’s approach to IT grew out of their involvement with the Department for
Education’s Guided Learning study, which showed that individuals that spent more time in the guided
groups made significantly more progress.
Comments from students seemed to suggest that the improved attainment was due to the alleviation of
barriers to learning:
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• “It helped us with learning skills such as teamwork as well as learning about energy“ [responsibility
for each other’s learning].
• “It was good to work with different people of different levels and get to know them better”[learning
from each other, motivation].
• “It helped us all understand the topic and be more secure working with the class” [responsibility for
each other’s learning, higher order thinking skills, improved recall].
• “It was great to be able to choose our own way of doing things” [motivation].
Project/Challenge Based Learning was implemented at Bohunt because it builds on Guided Learning
by providing an immersive pedagogy that supports and enhances the more widespread use of Guided
Learning.
The use of ICT supports Project/Challenge Based Learning as it provides a greater range of
resources and activities. For example:
• Specialist science areas have sensors linked to iPads within collaborative learning environments; this
enables students to look at experiment design, rather than just the results, by speeding up the
graphing of results and thereby allowing multiple runs and the improvement of a method. In this
way it enhances understanding and improves enquiry skills.
• The iPad Band Room allows students playing iPads to jam live and/or record in groups with
students playing live instruments. It creates challenge for those that can play an instrument by
allowing them to complete multi-track recordings incorporating many different instruments and
enables students who can’t play an instrument to play live with others.
• General classrooms have access to a range of IT (to enable the technology to match the learning
need), walls students can write on (to encourage collaboration), interactive projector tables (to enable
peer evaluation and ensure there is no ‘front’ to the classroom), access to a green screen and
individual desks on wheels (so students can control the room’s set up).
As well as enabling Guided Learning and Project/Challenge Based Learning, Technology also helped
support (but not lead) the embedding of these pedagogies. Rooms that were ideal for Challenge Based
Learning incorporating all of the above were created. These Dynamic Learning Environments had
their own dedicated STEM Technician and were very much in demand from students and teachers.
However, there was a catch, teachers could only teach in the rooms if they taught in a Challenge
Based way and regularly incorporated Guided Learning; their medium term plans were checked by a
team of teachers, who also conducted observations. The idea was to help teachers act their way in to
new ways of thinking. This was far more impactful than the approach of changing practice through
INSET or Twilights.
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Clarity of Educational Vision
Reflecting back on the range of schools, educational contexts, leadership groups and students that I
had seen it became clear that where positive educational outcomes were particularly striking it was
because there was a clear educational outcome behind it: work related skills and intrinsic motivation at
High Tech High and the creation of more employees in Ohio. That vision didn’t necessarily have to
be at a whole school level, for example the vision behind the bilingual programme at Boxmeer was far
clearer than the whole school vision, but where there was clarity there was impact.
The opposite was true, where schools (or departments) didn’t have a clear educational vision then
things that should have been positive often didn’t work well. The best example of this was in Sweden
with the one piece of IT for every child programme. Where schools (or departments) had a strong
educational vision the technology was well used, where it didn’t the IT tended to be a distraction and
used for low level tasks.
At Bohunt we have tried to do this at a whole school level (ethos of ‘Enjoy Respect Achieve’, trying to
educate ‘game changers’, a school education based on a wealth of opportunities and the highest
expectations and teaching that is under-pined by the ‘Red Lines of Teaching’. We have also tried to do
it at the curriculum level, for example looking at why we teach languages led to immersion language
teaching and our view on how students should be inspired to follow a STEM career, along with our
view that all students should be STEM literate, led to our STEM curriculum.
Did I meet my Aims and Objectives?
I achieved the first two of my three objectives (understanding of the role of Project/Challenge Based
Learning and school/university/business networks in meeting my aim).
My third objective (to understand the impact of the education system on STEM education) was
harder to do as trying to get to grips with an education system during a short visit, let alone all the
various interpretations of it by individual schools, was very difficult to do. Instead I have focused on
two key themes that have come out from my travels: ensuring that we get our conversations around IT
right and making sure that whatever we are doing aligns with a strong, simple educational vision.
I certainly believe that the elements needed to achieve my aim (increasing the number of STEM
graduates and improving the work readiness of our students) are within this project. However, a deep
understanding of the challenges of implementing them within the UK system and evidence of their
impact will only come over time. However, initial findings in both of these areas are possible by
looking at Bohunt School in Hampshire, where I have been working with others on achieving this aim
for a little over two years.
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Recommendations
Bohunt Approach
The approach at Bohunt Education Trust (BET) is based on our concerns about STEM education in
the UK, the findings of this project, our investigations in to new technologies and a Guided Learning
study in conjunction with the Department for Education.
The limitations of the current status quo are that far too often in UK schools STEM is relegated to
after school clubs and companies predominantly offering a plethora of uncoordinated inspiration
events the impact is only felt by pockets of students and does nothing to change out-of-date attitudes
towards engineering.
BET is taking a very different approach by bringing specific STEM lessons, designed in con-junction
with long-term industry partners, in to the curriculum so that all students take part. The approach
started before this fellowship was completed, but the latest iteration of it and the next steps are very
much informed by the research. The STEM curriculum is based around a series of challenges that
develop not only knowledge, but also key skills and habits of mind. The challenges, set by industries
such as Surrey Satellites and Siemens, either mirror real-world issues the companies are facing or focus
on areas of knowledge that they feel is missing from the curriculum. The teachers who are developing
the schemes of work have additional non-contact time in order prepare the plans and resources.
There are numerous advantages to this approach:
• The lessons, taught during Key Stage 3 (11-14 year olds), are experienced by all students, thereby
ensuring every student is: Increasingly motivated to study the individual subjects by being shown
their practical application; given the chance to decide whether a future in STEM might be for them;
more ‘STEM literate’, an essential attribute in the modern world.
• The integration of the curriculum with industry through the content, challenges, resources, trips and
outside speakers, provides an in-depth, meaningful look at potential future STEM careers that goes
far beyond careers meetings or work experience.
• The sustained focus on STEM over numerous years goes far beyond knowledge acquisition; it, along
with a Project Based Learning approach, gives students a chance to develop the attitudes,
competencies and habits of mind that will help them in the world of work. Examples include
working to a brief, communication and prototyping.
• The long-term partnership with companies, which do not necessarily mean lots of time on the
company’s part as most of the work is done by the school, leads to numerous win-win spin-offs.
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Examples include company employees developing communication skills by giving workshops and
talks, the recruiting of apprentices to the companies and high impact CSR through mentoring of
students that show high aptitude and motivation.
By the school (rather than the companies) taking the lead various initiatives can be knitted together in
to a coherent, exciting programme that allows students to progress rather than just experience. For
example, Bohunt School (where the curriculum has been in place for just over a year) is currently
planning an initiative in conjunction with Lockheed Martin that will see a large number of students
take part in their ‘Merlin Challenge’. Those that are inspired by that will then progress to competing
in the Greenpower Car Competition, supported by Lockheed Martin employees. It is hoped then that
those students who decide this is the career for them will be mentored by Lockheed Martin employees
long after they have left Bohunt.
Unfortunately such positive work risks being undermined by ingrained attitudes and negative
comments. Acting upon research that suggests many students decide their career options primarily
based on their parents opinions of certain industries BET decided to tackle the issue of the perception
of STEM careers both by parents and students by hosting a free STEM festival for the whole
community. Over 40 local STEM industries attended offering hands-on workshops and interactive
exhibits. The event was run for two years and over 6000 people attended. Exit surveys from the
festivals showed that the percentage of parents that would recommend a STEM career to their
children doubled to nearly 90% by the end of the Festival.
Furthermore, by having a sustained STEM curriculum the school can ensure the role models
encountered by students highlight that STEM is for all. The annual Bohunt motivational speaker
series has emphasised women in STEM, the Siemens Women's Network has run girls only STEM
workshops and the schemes of work are made accessible to all.
Finally, with regards to preparing students for their futures, the STEM initiative aligns with
programmes to improve their ambition and leadership (the Outdoor Programme) and their language
fluency (immersion language programme).
Evidence of Success?
Anecdotal evidence and success, for both girls and boys, at national Science Competitions such as
Go4SET and the National Science & Engineering Competition, hint at the impact of BET’s
approach. Attainment and destination data is not yet available as the initiatives are relatively new.
However, recognition and affirmation of Bohunt’s innovative approach is growing; I won STEM
Leader of the Year 2013, the school was TES Overall School of the Year 2014 and the CBI have
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published a case study on our work. Furthermore, there are some statistics that suggest the curriculum
is having an impact:
• 100% of students now know what STEM stands for.
• More than 70% of all students who have taken part are now considering careers in STEM.
• 55% are interested in finding out more information on jobs in space industries.
• 52% want to know more about careers in environmental engineering.
To ensure high quality impact data the school is working with Winchester University to find out how
best to embed Engineering Habits of Mind and measure their impact on attainment, attitudes and
ambitions. This study will be complete by September 2016.
Neil Strowger, CEO of Bohunt Education Trust, is clear on why this approach is important:
“Education for us is far more than simply outstanding examination results. Our Mandarin immersion
programme, transformation use of technology and STEM curriculum show our commitment to
giving students the skills, attitudes and ambition to stand-out and succeed long after they have left us.”
Ensuring the Concept is Challenged
As part of my application for the Fellowship I said that I would run a round table event so that our
approach was listened to and challenged by educationalists and business people. I have been lucky that
the concept has received widespread interest and so we’ve been able to talk about it at events and to
audiences far larger than any I could have organised myself:
• Telegraph Round Table on inspiring young people in to STEM. Write-up here.
• Telegraph Round Table on increasing the number of female apprentices. Write-up here.
• At a Capita Conference on education.
• In a Manufacturer Magazine article.
• In a Times Educational Supplement article.
• In a Virgin Disruptors blog.
Overwhelmingly the approach has been received positively, however it has been challenged:
• There is the challenge of the lack of evidence for impact due to the newness of the initiative.
• People have questioned whether it is Bohunt School’s context (Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ and some of the
highest results from a non-selective school in the country) that have allowed it to implement this
approach. Bohunt School is part of the Bohunt Education Trust and the STEM curriculum is being
rolled out at their newest school, Bohunt School Worthing, a coastal school with a very different
context. It will be interesting to see how it is received there.
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• Whether the model is scalable. As Bohunt School has received no additional funding for the
technology and/or the additional non-contact time, as the school is located in a rural area with little
industry and as most of the teachers teaching the STEM Curriculum are non-specialists there is
nothing that suggests it is not.
Next Steps
The implementation of a STEM Curriculum at Bohunt School has been led by a vision for improved
STEM education and by a team who are creating everything from new. Two years ago we did the
planning for the curriculum and developed industry links, last year we taught it to Years 7 & 8 and this
year we have expanded the curriculum in to Year 9. Much of our time and focus has been on
implementation, curriculum planning and resourcing the new lessons. This has led to some of the
details not being where we would like them and, at times, the vision being clouded by the need to have
something to teach the students. As the project moves beyond its implementation phase, improving
these details becomes the priority:
• Improving the training of our STEM teachers. The learnings from the Teacher Training section of
this project will be important here. In particular it would be helpful to create a STEM Masters for
existing teachers and STEM School Direct places for those coming from the relevant industries.
However, there is much that can be done even without this major change.
• Improving the teaching and assessment of the Design Process. This is coming partly from the
collaborations with industry; for example, Siemens (who we are collaborating with on a scheme of
work to do with Eco Cities) employees came in to train the STEM teachers on the project planning
process (that links to the Design Process) that they use in Head Office and on evaluation tools they
felt would work for the scheme of work. Industry training will hopefully be supplemented by a
teacher mentor programme with Fab Lab London (or similar organisation) as they are very good at
finding ways to engage young people and using the machinery that is available.
• Ensuring that the students are clear on the skills they are progressing and the importance of these.
• Improving the feedback of skills and content from the STEM lessons to the individual STEM
subjects. This requires far more collaboration between the individual subjects and the STEM team
and more collaboration between the individual subjects. By grouping the various subjects under a
single STEM Faculty this will allow us, as the year progresses, to train teachers to be better at
teaching the other subjects (for example a Science teacher becoming a better Maths teacher and a
science teacher being able to use the workshops), to share resources between subjects (for example
how to be efficient when internet searching being shared by IT to STEM or Science).
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• Improving the quality of the evidence with regards to the impact of our approach. A two year link
to the University of Winchester, who are researching Engineering Habits of Mind, and a dedicated
Head of STEM are the building blocks to ensuring this happens.
Wider Recommendations
Schools
• Reframe the issue from generating more engineers to one of ensuring the STEM literacy of our
students as it can enrich their lives and enhance their studies and life after school.
• Ensure there is a strong, simple educational vision that the STEM work links in with.
• Look to develop long term, meaningful partnerships with businesses and other stakeholders that are
a win-win (although probably not a comparable size of win on both sides). Ensure that those
partnerships don’t take up lots of their time.
• Ensure there is clear positive feedback (not necessarily immediately, but certainly after a couple of
years) to the individual STEM subjects so that you are enhancing results and de-risking Ofsted, as
well as improving work-readiness and choices for your students.
• Definitely look to incorporate (but not shoe-horn) PBL in to the methodology of teaching.
• Build in collaborative planning time.
• If you are going to incorporate a STEM curriculum in to your school (rather than or as well as
changing your teaching of the STEM subjects) then using the McTighe and Wiggins ‘Backwards
Design Process’ to curriculum design will help. At Bohunt we didn’t do this and so we are now
having to correct issues with assessment and progression.
Businesses
• Keep in mind that the school day is very constrictive when trying to organise meeting with teachers.
• Find the people in your organisation that are passionate about their subject and/or education.
• Ensure there is a clear (but potentially not huge) win for your business as well as the school.
• Be focused on education not funding.
• Try to find groups of people to get involved (graduates, women’s network etc.) rather than
individuals as this aids the longevity of the partnership.
• Give time for the partnership to grow and results to appear.
• Generate positive publicity around the partnership as it takes pressure off the people involved by
keeping senior managers happy.
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Policy Makers
• Encourage collaboration between subjects.
• Encourage the progression of skills and attitudes, as well as knowledge of content.
• Free up some space in the curriculum for schools to innovate with.
• Find ways (for example the linking of National Insurance Numbers to schools) to investigate
ambition and careers as well as exam results.
• Continue to strive for high quality exams, but reduce the total number of exams that students have
take aged 16.
Education is not black and white, it is full of continuums and grey areas. Improving the skills,
ambitions and work readiness of our young people is possible through infusion and through
developing a STEM curriculum; the training of staff is possible through a Masters programme and
through links with businesses; PBL can develop skills in students as part of a timetable focused entirely
on themes and through infrequent collaborations between subjects. However, what is clear is that the
most impactful initiatives are focused (not just about inspiration events), involve collaboration between
schools, universities and businesses, combine skills and knowledge, involve projects and are long term.
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Appendices
Itineraries
USA
7 May 2014: Travel to New York
9 May 2014: Avenues World School & Lecture: What’s emerging in D&T beyond 3D printing and
wearable devices
10 May 2014: Lecture: New models for the business of design for social good
13 May 2014: Hofstra University & Lecture: How does the brain respond to the city?
14 May 2014: Design Workshop: Design process as a problem-solving tool for entrepreneurs and
innovators
15 May 2014: P-TECH School
17 May 2014: Travel to Columbus
19 May 2014: Battle Head Office & Metro School
20 May 2014: National Hall of Fame Middle School
21 May 2014: eSTEM High School, Summit High School & Baldwin STEM Middle School
22 May 2014: Dayton Regional STEM School & Battelle Head Office
26 May 2014: Travel to San Diego
27 May 2014: High Tech High (HTH International)
28 May 2014: High Tech High (HTH Chula Vista) & travel to Philadelphia
29 May 2014: Rowan University & National Inventors Hall of Fame School
30 May 2014: Science Leadership Academy
2 June 2014: Penn University
3 June 2014: Williamsburg Intermediate School & Delsea School
5 June 2014: Travel to the UK
UK
5 June 2014: UTC Reading
9 June 2014: Cedars School, Glasgow
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Sweden
2 May 2015: Travel to Gothenburg
3 May 2015: Travel to Stenungsund and dinner with local education contact
4 May 2015: Nösnäsgymnasiet
5 May 2015: Stora Höga skolan
6 May 2015: Lin Education Head Office & Fridaskolan
7 May 2015: Travel to Stockholm
8 May 2015: Häggviks Skolor & Fredrikshovs Slotts School
11 May 2015: Matteusskolan & travel to the UK
Netherlands
25 May 2015: Travel to Amsterdam
26 May 2015: Delft University & travel to Utrecht to meet local education contact
27 May 2015: Agnietenschool & travel to Boxmeer to meet local education contact
28 May 2015: Metameer
29 May 2015: Steve Jobs School and Steve Jobs School Head Office
1 June 2015: Windesheim University and travel to the UK
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Visual Representations of Teaching Processes
Engineering Design Process
!
https://www.teachengineering.org/assets/images/FullDesignProcess_635wTYPOFIXED.png
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Project Based Learning
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http://www.shsu.edu/centers/project-based-learning/images/PBL-Essential-Elements-Revised20130802.jpg
Challenge Based Learning
http://www.iteach-uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/picture-21.png
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Enquiry Approach in Science
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/
T h e _ S c i e n t i fi c _ M e t h o d _ a s _ a n _ O n g o i n g _ P r o c e s s . s v g / 2 0 0 0 p x The_Scientific_Method_as_an_Ongoing_Process.svg.png
Example of a CV from a Science Leadership
Academy Student
From Linked In. This is included to show the impact in terms of his career of the projects that he did
whilst at secondary school. You would employ him, wouldn’t you?!
Name & personal details: Removed
Key Projects:
Untapped: Water (underway) Jan 14 – Present
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Untapped: Water is a non-profit organization championing the innovation of water catchment,
storage, and purification solutions to provide safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities. We
work with people, educating them to take on a worldly, sensitive, and design based approach to solving
local community issues. Ultimately, our programs produce diverse problem solvers who earn the
unique experience to join projects within developing communities around the globe.
Untapped: Water will improve the network of confident communicators, diverse teams, socially
sensitive persons, and advocates of design studies to provide modern living standards. Implementing
low-cost design solutions, we collectively believe in ending the water crisis, and envision a future freed
of people on the planet living without life’s most basic need – clean drinking water.less
Rainwater Collection Unit (patent pending) Aug 11– Present
At Science Leadership Academy, I completed a yearlong project known as a capstone, which served as
a senior thesis. Previously I completed an engineering project in renewable energy titled, "Reinventing
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Generator Structure". I applied my engineering experience with my
passion for integrating sustainability into communities to focus on designing a method to empower
individuals in need of potable water. I took field notes during my week of service in the Dominican
Republic, which served as critical data that later influenced the unique collapsible design feature of
the device. My final capstone work unveiled a newly invented rainwater collection unit. This device
serves as an innovative and original approach to harvesting water from rainfall. It provides both the
ability to store and purify water. The collected water can be passed through an inexpensive
replaceable filter attachment that operates naturally using gravity. However, without using the filter
included, the rainwater collection unit can still provide access to water with less contaminant. This
improves efforts to save potable water for essential functions like drinking. Main design characteristics
incorporated are compact form, durability, lightweight, and simplistic installation. Two final working
prototypes were constructed. This invention has potential as a device in areas including camping,
urban farming, but focuses on relieving issues of water scarcity and contamination in developing
communities. Currently, I am going through the process of obtaining a manufacturer and proper
patenting.less
Reinventing Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Generator Structure Mar 09 – Jan 10
During the span of this project I conducted experimentation, research, and rapid prototyping
methods. Focused on redesigning traditional wind turbines, I developed an original idea that altered
the conventional design structure of the driving components used by wind turbines to produce energy.
By harnessing captured winds, mechanical rotations can be manipulated to yield an electrical current.
PHILIP AVERY
@MRPHILAVERY
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The completion of this research resulted in a functioning prototype made using a strict budget
strategically requiring basic materials and access to a home improvement store. By creating a turbine
that integrates the axis, blades, magnets, and other generating components, I invented a device
capable of intense scalability and modularity. Ideally, the wind turbine was developed with the
intention of implementation in urban settings due to its small footprint and simplistic instillation.
Presented the prototype and research to various academic and community audiences.
Honors:
• August 2011 - Presented to Dr. Ahmed Gamal El-Din Moussa: Minister of The Ministry of
Education in Egypt
• May 2010 - Presented to The Franklin Institute's Board of Trustees
• April 2010 - Presented to William Henry “Bill” Gates III: Former CEO, Current Chairman, and
Founder of Microsoft Corporation
Awards:
• 1st Award: Physics - Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science - State Competition, May 2010
• Honorable Mention: Earth & Space Sciences - Delaware Valley Science Fairs, April 2010
• 1st Place: Earth & Space Sciences - George Washington Carver Science Fair, March 2010
• 1st Award: Physics - Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science - Regional Competition, February
2010
• Certificate of Achievement in Science - SLA - Winter Science Fair, January 2010
Press Coverage
5/11/15: Capita Conference Panel on STEM
1/10/15: Virgin Disruptors blog post - Mind the Gap, Addressing the STEM Skills Shortage in
Education http://www.virgin.com/disruptors/mind-the-gap-addressing-the-stem-skills-shortage-ineducation
24/7/15: TES - From Fab Labs to Superheroes: How the Best in the World Teach Science and
Technology https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/‘fab-labs’-superheroes-how-bestworld-teach-science-and-technology
PHILIP AVERY
@MRPHILAVERY
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11/3/15: Telegraph Roundtable Event - Inspiring Young People into STEM https://
jobs.telegraph.co.uk/article/inspiringstem/
Information on the Akron STEM Hub
See separate file.
PHILIP AVERY
@MRPHILAVERY
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