STEM is an acronym that stands for Science Technology Engineering Math. Experts say that there will be over a million jobs in STEM related fields in the very near future. Choose one of the articles on The US News and World Report STEM Education page that involves students (not necessarily politics). Summarize the article and consider how the concept of student-centered learning was/was not involved in the success of the students’ project. Make sure you include the title of the article in your three paragraph blog response."'Hidden Figures' Inspire Connecticut Girls"
This article focuses mainly on the positivity and inspiration for young girls, especially young girls of color, to work in the fields of STEM that have previously been male-centric. The article starts out by recounting the field trip of a group of students from Bulkeley High School to see the movie Hidden Figures. The author goes on to insert quotes from young girls who were inspired by that movie to follow their dreams and not to let anyone tell them they cannot succeed in a STEM field. The article concluded by mentioning a "girl-powered" panel with various women from positions in STEM fields. Though the girls did not have a project they were engaged in for this article, they did have quite a lot of student-centered learning. From the movie, they learned much of history that is not traditionally taught in schools. Also because of this movie, girls learn that their own learning and career plans can be driven by themselves with many student-centered activities and panels. From this article, I learned quite a lot about the movie and motivation of other girls similar to me in the sense that all of us want to pursue STEM careers. Even though most of the girls in the article want to enroll in medical field programs, and I will go into Electrical Engineering, all of us want to join into the work force in a primarily male-dominated environments. Hidden Figures was a great inspiration to any girl to break out of the social norms and accomplish great advancements both in STEM fields and any other type of job.
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Read the article by John Cloud titled, “Is Genius Born or Can it be Learned?” Summarize Cloud’s purpose in writing the article. Describe the conclusions he has reached about genius. How can you apply this information to how you approach your own learning and academic life, particularly your Genius Hour Project.Cloud's purpose in writing this article is to give the reader the question is genius born or is it learned with the right type of environment. He also writes of different arguments from a few different scientists and their opinions on the subject. From what he learned from the professors, Cloud seems to conclude that genius is both from genetics and from the environment people are raised in. Furthermore, he believes certain personality traits have a large factor when the person in question is thought to be a genius or a potential genius. Also, he believes strongly children with high IQ's should not be held back but allowed to move on and excel.
From everything I learned about in this article, I could take great inspiration as to applying this to my life and my various school projects. I will continue to complete my work and my Genius Hour Project with great enthusiasm like a genius portrays. Also, I will have to keep up a strong endurance to finish my work quickly and on time. Finally, I will have to work on my own to make myself a genius without the negative thoughts that I can not because genetics or the environment does not dictate what I will become. After watching Ken Robinson's TED Talk about education, express your thoughts on how his views do/do not relate to the concept of Genius Hour. What about Ken Robinson's views do you agree/disagree with? Also, consider HOW Ken Robinson presented his TED Talk. What can you learn from his delivery, organization, and content to help you present your OWN TED Talk? From what was expressed on the video, I believe that Ken Robinson’s TED Talk about education relates to Genius Hour strongly. He feels children should stop be taught in the traditional sense of education and be able to learn differently. This is just like Genius Hour where the students have a chance to learn on their own without the teacher having a curriculum. Also, Robinson feels that students will flourish because of their natural curiosity and diversity which Genius Hour is all about.
Ken Robinson had many different views on how school systems should be run and how students should learn. With every point he made, I agree with every single one of his views. I agree with the fact that the schools should have the power to set the standards that they need to learn instead of legislative deciding what is best. I also agree with schools should not have their sole focus on standardized testing, but instead have it on having students learn. Even before he began the main part of his talk, Ken Robinson engaged his readers by making a few jokes. Also, all throughout his talk he would slip in a few jokes here and there to continually grab listeners attention and to help illustrate his points. The way he organized and presented his content was in a way that made many people want to hear and learn about. Everything he did will help me when I must present my own TED Talk. I can do this by organizing my thoughts in an order that causes people to want to listen to hear the next bit and engage my listeners more. Also, he helped me to come up with a way to make the content of my project into something anyone would want to hear about. Read the article "How Geniuses Think."Respond to the following: Describe the author's interpretation of Genius and how it differs from conventional definitions of Genius. What are the shared strategies of geniuses? How does your Genius Hour project encourage you to use some of these strategies?The author's interpretation of Genius differs from the conventional definitions of Genius by taking into account that you do not need to be intelligent to be a genius. Many individuals can be creative geniuses and minimal intelligence or vice versa. He thinks geniuses think productively instead of reproductively like most people would on solving problems. They think of how to solve problems differently and in a way that doesn't make them dwell in the past for the solution to the problem.
Some of the shared strategies of geniuses include them looking at a problem in many different ways. They would look at a problem and keep changing their viewpoints until they had a clear picture of how to solve the problem. Another strategy was for them to make their thoughts visible. Most do this by drawing out graphs and diagrams to show what they mean. Geniuses also produce and make novel combinations. The geniuses would produce large quantities of their works quickly, and they would combine many ideas to come up with their own ideas. By forcing relationships, geniuses show this strategy that no one else had looked at to make their ideas work. Thinking in opposites is another strategy geniuses share by being able to think of something in two completely different ways. Being able to think metaphorically is another gift geniuses have to change the way of thinking about two unlike things. Finally, geniuses always prepare themselves for chance. They do not quit after they had first failed in an experiment, and they actively seek an accidental discovery. My Genius Hour project encourages me to use some of these reading strategies by being creative when I have to write each story. I have to be able to change my mindset of how I also thought of the war from the perspective of a U.S. citizen in the future to many different nationalities who were experiencing the war as it happened. Also, I have to be able to produce a lot of stories in a short amount of time just as the past geniuses had to accomplish. I will also have to actively convey the importance of learning on this subject and possibly force together ideas that originally were not seen before. Summarize the article and explain how what you’ve learned in the article can be applied to how you approach your own Genius Hour project.The article starts out with explaining a little bit on what Genius Hour is about and similar programs. With an account from a teacher using the program, he explained how the project uses Google's 20% time initiative, and how he set up some guide lines for students to follow. The article continues by saying that failure is an option during these projects even in a school filled with standardized tests.
The next section of this article, Selling the idea to parents, uses two examples of different young girls and their genius hour projects. One project was reading a book of her choosing every week instead of a teacher assigned book, and the other project was the other girl research different running shoes. Both girls had to learn and adapt to the different styles of learning and make something special with each of their projects. Selling the idea to students is the next section of the article explored by several more students and their genius hour projects. One student had the motto,"I will learn, I will work, and I will share." The article tells of how the hardest part for genius hour is coming up with the initial idea and continuing on with it. Creating a list of ideas was one way a teacher and students could pick an idea. The last part of the section states about an example of a young girl and her project. She had to draw fifty pictures in fifty days and write a story about what she drew at the end. This boasted her confidence, and the message at the end made it clear that this freedom from normal classroom work is the central idea of genius hour. Everything I have learned in this article can be beneficial to me in my Genius Hour project and how I approach this project. From the start to the finish of the article, I have the impression to take risks and not be afraid to try different ideas. Also from the next section, I feel I know how to best teach myself on my project and how to go about implementing it that will make my project most successful. Coming up with the initial idea, I realized how hard finding a topic was and how hard it is to meet deadlines. However, I feel that because I am passionate about my project, I have already gained confidence and some measure of freedom from starting. Throughout this project, I know I will not be afraid to try something new, and I will not be afraid to fail. Detail exactly what you intend to accomplish with your Genius Hour Project in the month of October, November, and December. This is your itinerary for completion of your Project by January 10, 2017.For my Genius Hour Project, my goal is to create multiple stories that are all linked together from one character to the next. Every story will be set during World War II, and it will start from a short period before the war and continue until the end of the war in the Pacific. By January 10th, I hope to have created every story and posted them onto my Stories page.
To accomplish my goal, I will first collect various resources from different websites and books I own on the subject. My plan for October is to have multiple stories written and posted from the rise of the Third Reich and the start of the war in 1939 to just before the United States entered the war in 1941. How I will do this is by reading a short span in history, taking notes on the important events, and writing a story centering around a character as though he or she lived through the event. Every Friday, I hope to have completed two or more stories to be added onto my page. During the month of November, I wish to complete the time period of the United States entry in 1941 to just before the major campaigns in Western Europe and the Pacific theater in 1943. With the entry of the United States, I will also start to create stories centered around characters in the Pacific, but I will also continue with stories from the European theater. Because of the increased events from a two-front war, my goal is to write three or more stories to be posted every Friday. Having completed at least two-third of my stories for December, my next goal is to finish all the other stories from the major campaigns on both fronts in 1943 until the ending of the European war in 1945 and the dropping of the atomic bombs later in 1945. The war is heightened in this time period with longer lasting events than the previous year, so I will make the stories longer per event. Also, I plan to decrease the amount of stories I need completed by each Friday to two or more, but I plan to be more flexible as I come to an end. I wish to have every story posted by the end of December and proofread for the deadline in January. |
AuthorMy name is Heather Harris and I am a senior at Kingsford High School. Archives
March 2017
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