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creating a STEM culture

Creating a STEM Culture and High-Quality Teacher Support with Nichole Austion from NMSI [STEM in Action Series] [ep.165]

Creating a STEM Culture and High-Quality Teacher Support with Nichole Austion from NMSI [STEM in Action Series] [ep.165]

creating a STEM culture

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Episode Summary

Are you tired of feeling like you don’t have enough time to implement effective STEM lessons in your classroom? Or maybe you haven’t been able to get your school on board with incorporating STEM curriculum into your classroom. Today’s guest, Nichole Austion can relate to both scenarios. In this episode, she shares some great tips for creating a STEM culture and getting support as a teacher who wants to bring STEM to your school. 

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How to create a STEM culture 
  • Why creating a STEM culture is important
  • Supports for effective implementation of STEM culture

Resources Mentioned:

Meet Nichole Austion:

Nichole Austion is the Vice President of Public Affairs at the National Math and Science Initiative where she leads marketing and government relations. With a focus on STEM advancement, she orchestrates strategic initiatives, bridging marketing and government relations to amplify NMSI’s impact nationwide. Austion’s expertise stems from global technology firms like Sabre Holdings and Teradata, where she drove multimillion-dollar revenue through innovative marketing strategies. She is the author of “Miles and the Math Monsters,” a children’s book that transforms math into a friendly presence, encouraging children to see it as a helpful companion intertwined with their everyday environment. She holds an engineering degree from Howard University and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.

Connect with Nichole:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

You are excited to implement STEM in your classroom or school building, but maybe you're feeling short on time, or you don't have enough training to plan effective lessons or even get your school on board, whatever that looks like for you. I definitely hear you. I have been in those exact same situations at various points in my career as a classroom teacher and also when I was a STEM teacher. So I completely understand where you're coming from, and I hear it all the time from you guys as well in my Instagram DMs and also in my email. So I definitely hear you and am here to help provide you support as always. And today's guest, Nicole Aschen, can resonate with what you're going through as well. She works with an organization that can help support your needs. Talking with Nicole was just so powerful because the National Math and Science Initiative, also NMSI, where Nicole is their vice president of public affairs, her philosophies and the things that she was talking about, what the organization stands for, really aligns with what I believe STEM education could be.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:21]:

And so we had a really, really awesome conversation, and it's one of those situations in the interview where you're just so glad that this is being recorded. There were some technical difficulties, but we're just so glad it's recorded because there's some really powerful stuff that you'll take away from our conversation. Nicole holds an engineering degree and focuses on STEM advancement, orchestrates strategic initiatives, and bridges marketing and government relations to amplify NMSI's impact nationwide. Nicole's experience stems from global technology firms, and she drove a multimillion-dollar revenue through innovative marketing strategies. She is also the author of Miles and the Math Monsters, which she does talk a little bit about, and I'm really excited for you to hear that part as well. The whole thing is great, but I also hear about that part too. Her book is a children's book that transforms math into a friendly presence, encouraging children to see it as a helpful companion intertwined with their everyday environment. Like I said, I'm so excited for you to hear today's interview and all the great takeaways you're gonna get for it in our STEM in Action series.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:42]:

And so, sit back, enjoy, and maybe take a few notes along the way.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:17]:

Alright. Well, thank you, Nicole, so much for being here today. We were chatting a little bit before we hit record, and once you guys watch the video version of this, Nicole has the best glasses on right now. They are beautiful. She's so beautiful, and then her glasses just accentuate that, but they're bright red. They're so cute. They're so cute. So you guys have to check out the video once that's posted, but thank you so much for being here.


Nichole Austion [00:03:45]:

Thank you for having me. I'm so pleased to be on your podcast today.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:49]:

I'm very excited to get into what we're gonna chat about today. But before we do that, if you want, thinking about you and just how you support STEM education and your background.


Nichole Austion [00:04:04]:

Absolutely. My name is Nicole Achin. I'm the vice president of public affairs for the National Math and Science Initiative. National Math and Science Initiative is a STEM solution provider, and we provide excellent quality STEM professional development for teachers in grades 3 through 12. I am a STEM woman in STEM. I have an engineering degree from Howard University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, which I thought at one point took me out of STEM. But the fact that I have, spent 20 years in technology companies made me realize that I am a woman in STEM and that I have spent my entire career doing that. In the last 6 years, I have been affiliated with the education industry.


Nichole Austion [00:04:56]:

I spent about 2 years with the Charter Management Organization working as their director of marketing, and I've been with the National Math and Science Initiative for 4 years. I'm also a mother and a wife, mother of a teenage son who has a little bit of math anxiety and is also neurodiverse.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:17]:

Well, I love how all of your experiences have blended together, and I sure help you so much with what you're currently doing with the organization that you are a part of because definitely having your background in STEM and then you worked in those companies, and now, helping out teachers with great training, which is definitely needed, hence why this podcast exists. I taught in the STEM classroom for 5 years and had limited supplies and zero curriculum. I personally didn't have a background in STEM. I ended up getting a master's in it, but I think it is so important with what you're doing and supporting teachers and, just with great high-quality professional development. So, what types of things with your professional development do you guys really focus on in terms of STEM? Like, what are the types of things that you really hope teachers will gain from the program that you're involved in?


Nichole Austion [00:06:21]:

That is such a great question, Naomi. So, at the National Math and Science Initiative, about 80% of our employees are former teachers. And being former teachers, they understand what quality professional development is and what professional development without quality is. And so we really wanna focus in on making sure that, number 1, we create community amongst the teachers. As a matter of fact, we are getting ready to have our content workshops in the Fort Worth area, where we'll have over 500 STEM teachers, and in Norfolk in the Virginia Beach area, sorry. Excuse me. Virginia Beach area, where we'll have over 300 STEM teachers. And so number 1 is we wanna create that community.


Nichole Austion [00:07:09]:

We want teachers to understand that they're not alone in the classroom. Secondly, we want to make sure that we have excellent content and pedagogy. We know that a lot of teachers come to STEM with a literacy lens, and they need the content and the pedagogy to be solid in their minds and build that confidence in them because there are so many other things to do within the classroom. Classroom data, try this one of my Yes.


Nichole Austion [00:07:36]:

Things that I hate the most. Right? But if you have that knowledge content and pedagogy knowledge, then you can focus on other things within the classroom. And then thirdly, and certainly not any less important than the other 2, are really creating a culture of STEM literacy. And we define STEM literacy as individuals who are critical thinkers who can apply concepts from science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the humanities to understand complex problems, innovate around those problems, and collaborate with others to solve them. And what we wanna emphasize is that that's not just a teacher thing. Right? That's a school culture thing. Yeah. That's a curriculum thing. Mhmm.


Nichole Austion [00:08:25]:

That's a career awareness thing. So we tend to put all of those things into our content workshops so that teachers have a broad view of and leaders have a broad view of how to create those STEM literate cultures in their schools, in their districts, and in their states.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:48]:

I think that's very important, and I think can be really tricky depending on what school you are at and even who your admin is. For me, personally, I had an admin who is super supportive of STEM and very, excited about it and, just that type of thinking, and then how to admin where that was not the case, then they never came into my classroom. So, I think that's really, really important as well. So, for people who might not have a strong STEM culture or have that type of support, what types of things does your program recommend for getting started and creating that type of community and support?


Nichole Austion [00:09:36]:

Absolutely. Thanks for that question. So we really do try to partner with districts and states in order to provide that STEM literacy culture. But if you are a teacher in an environment that does not have that support, one of the one of the ways you can really start doing that for your students is to present them with real world problems in the classroom. I think if you take a look at your teaching team, and you can work with your teaching team and present real world problems, things around climate change, how to grow food in a flood plain, how to get supplies to refugees. Those are examples of lessons that you can use cross-disciplinary, and interdisciplinary, and ways that you can start kind of introducing some of that critical thinking and problem-solving in the classroom. Another way that you can do that is to perhaps approach your administration about becoming a trainer. Right? So, train the trainer model.


Nichole Austion [00:10:46]:

So can I, a teacher, go and be trained on how to proliferate STEM literacy in our school and then bring that back? Right? That may be something that you can propose to your administration, in order for them to kind of see the benefits. Sometimes, they might wanna stick their toe in the water, just test it out a little bit, and then broaden that type of program. The other thing I think is critically important is really understanding the careers that we need in STEM. We are woefully short and will be woefully short for many decades to come in terms of the STEM professionals that we have. So get yourself well versed in what career options we need to staff up on in here in the United States and globally, and maybe hold a career fair. Introduce your students to different types of careers. And you can make that interdisciplinary as well. Yep.


Nichole Austion [00:11:47]:

But make sure you're exposing those kids to all of the breadth and depth that they could potentially have within the world of STEM. So those are just a few ways since you might be able to start.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:00]:

You are getting me so excited because, okay. Yes. Like, a 100%. I'm so glad you mentioned this because I was a classroom teacher for 6 years before getting into STEM, and my school did this. They did have, like, a train-the-trainer type of model. When we really focused on math that year, we started doing that with technology and, at the time it's technology, not so much stem, but still that project-based learning. So I a 100%, that's what we did. Then our teams, we had co-planning times, and we did plan those project-based learning experiences.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:39]:

And one of them even, like, your examples are so real, and they're so true and kids don't even know those exist and even things that happen in your own school. We did it even. The kids planned one of our parties, our class parties, and our fall party, and we actually used the data that we're learning about graphing and part, which is pretty cool.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:09]:

But I'm, yeah, so glad you said that because it can work. I've been in a school where it works, but also the STEM careers. Girl, I got a whole other podcast about STEM careers for kids.


Nichole Austion [00:13:20]:

That's fantastic.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:21]:

A whole other one.


Nichole Austion [00:13:22]:

Yeah.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:23]:

Yeah. So, if you guys haven't heard, it's the STEM Career Quest podcast, and I interview people in STEM and have done a whole series on this podcast about STEM career day. So I'm so glad we're aligned with this because I'm not just making this stuff up. Nicole is saying the things that are here, guys. This is real. This works.


Nichole Austion [00:13:44]:

Absolutely.


Nichole Austion [00:13:46]:

Absolutely. And I'll tell you, like, with this generation too, I love the idea of kind of that flipped classroom that you talked about, because as we all, you know, probably experience, these kids, especially when it comes to technology, they're so adept at such a young age. And what a great way to get them involved in their own learning. Present them with a project, you know, a project-based lesson that can flip that classroom and have them teach their peers or have them teach you about technology and having them presenting them with a real world problem that they can tap Alexa for with, you know, within ethics.


Nichole Austion [00:14:24]:

But how can we,


Nichole Austion [00:14:26]:

you know, how can we really engage them in the world that they're really gonna be growing up in, in a way that helps them to understand the linkages between what they, you know, like and love about STEM and those critical skills that they're gonna be building throughout the lab.


Nichole Austion [00:14:46]:

Mhmm.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:47]:

Really, Mark, and what you like with the program, the things that you're doing are more cross-curricular instead of being isolated, we are making this project, the end, like, everything kind of blends together and using all of those skills. Is that what you guys really focus on?


Nichole Austion [00:15:06]:

But we do wanna have that interdisciplinary approach. We also wanna make sure that we are helping teachers in terms of vertical teaming. Right? Mhmm. This was not a thing that I was aware of, having not been a formally trained educator, but you may sit, and you know this, you may sit in the 3rd grade.


Nichole Austion [00:15:28]:

Mhmm. You


Nichole Austion [00:15:28]:

don't have any idea what those kids need to know in 8th grade.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:32]:

Mhmm.


Nichole Austion [00:15:32]:

So what we'd like to focus on, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of what we train, We also wanna focus on that vertical team. Yeah. If you're sitting in a district, an elementary school, you need to know what those kids


Nichole Austion [00:15:47]:

have to


Nichole Austion [00:15:47]:

know when they get Yeah. In middle school.


Nichole Austion [00:15:49]:

You have


Nichole Austion [00:15:49]:

to have that communication along that vertical team. And it doesn't have to although we'd like for it to cross from elementary to middle, middle to high. But sometimes just within elementary school.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:01]:

Yeah. True.


Nichole Austion [00:16:02]:

Have to know: What do these kids absolutely have to know in order to be successful in the next grade, in the next grade, in the next grade? And everything that we teach in terms of our professional development is mapped back from AP standards. Now, that doesn't mean every kid is gonna take an AP class. Right? Yeah. But it's mapped from AP standards so that you understand as a teacher if this kid can grasp this, they can then perform in an AP class, and they can be ready to transition into a college-level course.


Nichole Austion [00:16:41]:

Mhmm.


Nichole Austion [00:16:41]:

So we really wanna make sure that that's solid in the minds of our teachers as they look to scaffold skills throughout the year.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:50]:

That is so important too that, yes, you're doing these really cool lessons, but why are you doing it? Like, how is this connected to the bigger picture? What standards are you relating this to? Because I hear that too when I talk with teachers and have done, like, professional development and group coaching. And even when I did coaching in my school, even classroom teachers might not always know what standards they're supposed to teach. And so it is important if you're doing even if you're doing hands-on things and engaging kids, it has a purpose, and it there's a reason why we're doing this. Like, it's a whole big thing. And so the standards like, maybe it's annoying, but it is important to understand what is this rooted in, how is this connected. You're not teaching to the test. It's that, can they achieve what's gonna be coming in the years to come? So, I'm so glad that you guys see that. When you work with teachers or even things that you have seen, are there any specific projects or cool things that you've done with teachers that they've really enjoyed, like STEM and project-based learning?


Nichole Austion [00:18:02]:

Yeah. The cool thing that we do are really hands on. Mhmm. I love watching some of the math and science teachers work with our teachers. At one of our recent new teacher academies here in Atlanta, we had a fabulous coach who was teaching about measurement in the middle grades. And as we went out into the foyer, all the teachers and the coach were out there. They were measuring things. I mean, they had actual projects that they were taking on and they would take back into the classroom, potentially.


Nichole Austion [00:18:38]:

And they were really thinking critically about how the project could be, executed. And it looked like they were the kids.


Nichole Austion [00:18:47]:

It was beautiful. Right? But they


Nichole Austion [00:18:49]:

were so engaged in, you know, making sure that, you know, they had the appropriate directions, that they, you know, where directions were missing, they could use those critical thinking skills. So I really like the fact that our coaches, who are current classroom teachers, which is wonderful, really provide lessons that are hands-on for our teachers so that they can experience being a student as well as experience being, have experience being the instructor, while they're doing their professional development. We've also partnered with some fabulous, organizations who are corporate organizations who want to provide information, and resources to to students. We currently work with Deloitte and their Smart Believers Factory project, where they provide rovers to our school. We develop the curriculum behind that particular program, and that's fun because it's a little robot,


Naomi Meredith [00:20:01]:

And


Nichole Austion [00:20:01]:

all of the curriculum is standards-aligned, but it's all about getting that rover working. And it was fun to see the teachers doing that, too.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:09]:

Like Does it look like a Mars rover? Does it look like a real rover?


Nichole Austion [00:20:14]:

It looks like a little rover, and there are exercises to help lights blink and get it actually moving and put it together. So we really love having some of our corporate partners who are leaning into that investment in STEM education and leaning into that quality professional development coming to us because they know that our program is curriculum agnostic and customizable, but it's it's a program that teachers love. Right? And that's the Yeah. Right? We want teachers to love the professional development that we provide. And let's face it. Mine have another 10 professional development. It's not fun. But we wanna make it fun and applicable for Oh, yeah.


Nichole Austion [00:20:57]:

Our


Naomi Meredith [00:20:58]:

Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I mean, if the teacher is bored, like, do they really wanna teach what they're saying? I would wanna teach about a rover, though.


Nichole Austion [00:21:06]:

Mhmm. For sure.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:09]:

So one thing with teachers, maybe you see this too because I know you have all sorts of teachers, like classroom teachers and maybe some who teach STEM. And some schools, like, I know there are teachers who listen to this. They don't have a STEM teacher, and that's okay. But I one thing I really hear is with the time, the limited time, and sometimes the projects are too long. Are there things that you guys recommend? Like, there are a lot of teachers who listen and only see their kids once a week for 1 hour. They see the whole school within the week. And so these longer projects, they really want to do, but then they don't have a lot of time. They're like, I only see them for 1 hour, and then I'll see them for 1 hour next week, and the kids forget.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:58]:

And how do I store everything? Are there projects you have in mind or things that you guys recommend where they are still doing these high-level things but just in a shorter amount of time?


Nichole Austion [00:22:08]:

Yeah. I think that is really where the interdisciplinary nature and teaming within the schools is gonna be critically important. Because if you can take a portion of a social studies lesson, right, And you can make it applicable, design a lesson in science or design a lesson I mean, math, probably not the right example, but biology or design a lesson, chemistry, that kind of goes along with that particular social studies lesson. You might be able to have more traction,


Nichole Austion [00:22:43]:

with


Nichole Austion [00:22:43]:

those students. And then working in your grade level team to integrate, you know, some of the concepts and things that you wanna teach in your particular STEM class into those that history class or that social studies class. And look, don't don't ignore physical education. Don't ignore Yeah. You know, some of your extracurricular types of activities. You know, make sure that you're learning, especially within STEM, is interdisciplinary because there are so many applications and so many ways to connect the dots for those Mhmm. Those students. So try as much as you can to work as a team if you only have that short period of time.


Nichole Austion [00:23:24]:

Yes. And then, once again, you know, make sure that you're doing things that could be really impactful, especially if it relates to culturally relevant education. Talk about


Nichole Austion [00:23:35]:

Mhmm.


Nichole Austion [00:23:36]:

Different cultures, ethnicities, and gender identities that are STEM Mhmm. Professional. Right? Try to bring in STEM professionals from your local, Yeah. Companies to talk to the kids. Right? Mhmm. Because there's nothing like seeing somebody in a profession, talking to somebody, in that profession to kind of spur that imagination about what a child would be.


Naomi Meredith [00:24:03]:

Mhmm. That's really, really good advice, and I love that too because I think, well, not that I know when I was, coming from a classroom to being a STEM specials teacher, I felt very isolated where I don't have I had a team, PER and music. However, I didn't know what the teachers were doing. I did co-teach for a while, but I think that's really helpful if you only see them once a week, like you said, that what they're doing in their regular classroom can help build that background knowledge. And even too, I know some teachers will have a like, it's just a lot teaching science, and don't teach science, but maybe you could take on, oh, maybe I can have a different stem to it. It's sort of like what I try to do with my projects that were standards-based and having a stem perspective, like, maybe you're learning about life cycles, but now we're gonna create a 3 d model of the life cycle that can be printed on our 3 d printer. So making those connections, I think, is so important because we're not teaching in silos. Like, you might be a different room, but we're all on the same team.


Nichole Austion [00:25:16]:

That's right. That's right. It's very important to remember that. Yep. Absolutely.


Naomi Meredith [00:25:21]:

Okay. So I'm gonna ask you, do you have any fun projects that you might be working on that might be helpful for teachers to your organization that you're a part of does amazing things? But is there anything in particular that you have going on that you wanna share?


Nichole Austion [00:25:40]:

So, I do have a project that I'm working on, so you can probably see a little bit of it in the video. I just produced and published a book called Miles and the Math Monsters. And it is all about a young man, a little boy named Miles, who has a bit of math anxiety. As most teachers and educators know, math was the 2023 word of the year designated by Education Week. Mhmm. And I Mhmm. I was inspired to write this particular book because I had a very math intensive journey as an engineer. There math I didn't have a choice, but math is interdisciplinary.


Nichole Austion [00:26:25]:

You showed up everywhere.


Naomi Meredith [00:26:27]:

Yes.


Nichole Austion [00:26:27]:

School. Right? And I have a child who struggles with math. And so I've had to be barely creative in trying to get him to understand certain concepts. He struggled a little bit with working memory, so we utilized things that he loved. So, he is a Fortnite fanatic. Right? And he's really good. Alright. So to get him to kind of understand the concept of addition and subtraction, he's in the game.


Nichole Austion [00:27:03]:

And if he's in the game, and he's one of 7 players left, okay. So, if you're one of 7 players left, how many players then do you have to eliminate? Right away. Right? So, utilizing things that are in his everyday life to really get him to understand the concepts of addition, subtraction, and multiplication, and then building upon his strengths. Now, I will tell you, he will struggle with certain concepts, but he does exponents like a champ, and most people don't.


Nichole Austion [00:27:37]:

Oh. Yeah.


Naomi Meredith [00:27:38]:

I know. 


Nichole Austion [00:27:40]:

That's hard.


Naomi Meredith [00:27:41]:

Good skill.


Nichole Austion [00:27:43]:

Yeah. He's really, really good with exponent and all of the operations with exponent. But really, I was inspired to write the book because of him. You know, we were kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum.


Nichole Austion [00:27:54]:

I had all this math. He struggles with math. And, I wanted to show, you know, young children that you don't have to be afraid of numbers. Numbers are everywhere. Math is a language, and it's a language we're all gonna be using for the rest of our lives. And there that may look scary on a board, but it doesn't look scary when you're ordering 2 scoops of ice cream or when you're counting players on the basketball court, the ones who are on the bench versus the ones who are playing. It's not scary to see the number of trees in your local park. You know, it's not scary when you recognize that numbers are everywhere and math is everywhere, and it's a part of our lives.


Nichole Austion [00:28:36]:

And so that was the inspiration for writing the book. I'm hoping that they'll become a series of books, around STEM. So that's one of my projects.


Naomi Meredith [00:28:47]:

Yeah. That's a great book. I know, Jers, we, especially in elementary, love using books and using that as a good talking point. And that's a great book for any time of year, but especially for back to school when we're talking about growth mindset and how we think through problems, especially math, and how math can be scary. But we're all math people. So, I love that. Put that in the show notes so teachers can grab it for their extra school bookshelves.


Nichole Austion [00:29:18]:

Absolutely. Absolutely.


Naomi Meredith [00:29:20]:

Well, thank you so much. Is there anything else that you would love to share that I missed out on or anything else that you think teachers should know?


Nichole Austion [00:29:29]:

I think what really I wanna emphasize is the fact that you know, you're not alone, teachers. Especially when we talk about the National Math and Science Initiative. We are here to help you build the content and pedagogy that you need. We understand that teaching is a valuable profession, and we treat it as such. Right? And I know there are so many challenges in the classroom these days, but I want teachers to understand that if they're looking for quality STEM professional development, they have allies. Right? You have allies outside of the National Math and Science Initiative, but certainly with our organization as well. And on our website, which is nms.org, we have free lessons that teachers can download. So if you go to our website, go to the resources page, we have a wealth of free lessons that you can utilize in your classroom, and this is really for teachers in 3 grades 3 through 12.


Nichole Austion [00:30:32]:

We also have culturally responsive lessons that we've put together with partners like 3 m and the Leiden Hill Institute. So check out our website. It can't hurt to have a free lesson, something to help you build that STEM literacy culture in your school and in your classroom.


Naomi Meredith [00:30:52]:

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing those, and, definitely, if teachers want to dive in this summer, if you're chilling this summer, look at it during back to school. That's fine, too. We'll link all of that for sure, but we appreciate your insights so much, Nicole, and what you're doing, helping support teachers through your book and also the organization that you're a part of. And, thank you so much for all of your insight today.


Nichole Austion [00:31:20]:

Thank you, Naomi. I really appreciate you having me on your platform.


Naomi Meredith [00:31:25]:

Thank you.

creating a STEM culture

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is an online K-5 STEM Coach in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. With over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate, Naomi helps teachers world-wide to navigate best practices, strategies and tools out there. 

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

What You’re Missing By Not Hosting a STEM Career Day Event [ep.144]

What You're Missing By Not Hosting a STEM Career Day Event [ep.144]

STEM career day event

Check out the full episode on What You're Missing By Not Hosting a STEM Career Day Event:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Last week, I shared how to host your own STEM Career Day Event at your school. Now, you may be wondering about the benefits of hosting a STEM Career Day Event, which is what I'm talking about today. I'll be diving into how a STEM Career Day Event can greatly benefit the students at your school, the significant impact these types of events can have on students, and more.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why students benefit from attending a STEM Career Day Event
  • Behind the scenes of the responses from both the students and guest speakers when I hosted a STEM Career Day Event
  • Why we should encourage students to start thinking about their future careers early

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

You want to host a STEM career day event for your students, but it just sounds like a lot of work. What are your students even missing out on anyway by not having a STEM career day? I hosted a STEM career day in my 5th year of teaching STEM, and this was the first time I had ever done this event for my students. And I was so bummed that I hadn't put on this event before. Well, what did my students even miss out on? Why was I so sad about it? Let me explain inside this episode. 


Naomi Meredith [00:01:13]:

In the last episode, episode 143, I talked about all the things that you need to do to set up your STEM career day for success. If you haven't taken a listen to that episode, make sure to go back and listen to it after you listen to this one. It's okay if you listen to them out of order. Now, an event like this, when it's something for your entire school, could be a lot of prep work when it comes to all of the little details, the scheduling, making sure everybody knows about it, communicating with your guest speakers, and getting the guest speakers. How do you organize it all on top of all of the lesson planning that you are already doing for your school and even all of those after-school clubs and everything in between? I totally understand and was 100% in your position, but also knew that this was extremely important for my students to experience in elementary. So, while I was planning my STEM career day event, I saved every single thing for you. Yep.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:22]:

I saved every template, system, routine, and even examples of what went on that day so you wouldn't have to go digging and figure it out on your own. You can just plug and play, adapt what you need, and have a successful event in no time. I am spilling all the secrets and letting you steal all my ideas for your own event, and you can find this in my audio workshop at naomimeredith.com/stemcareerdayworkshop. You don't need to join me live. It is audio only, so I will talk you through it in short segments. With all of those templates and all of that planning, you have me in your back pocket, and you will be on your way with this awesome day for your students. This is linked in the show notes for you so you don't miss out on this awesome resource. So, what are you missing out on anyway by not having a STEM Career Day? You don't have to put it on.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:23]:

It's probably not required of you. Why does it even matter? Why should you even do something extra? Who cares? Here's what your students are missing out on. The first thing that they are missing out on by not having a STEM career day is learning how to dream big. Okay. So maybe your kids are dreaming big already about the cool projects that you're doing, but dreaming big in a different way. I had a parent presenter at my STEM career day that I hosted for my students and she's actually a guest on my upcoming kid podcast that will be coming out sooner than later. But she was saying even in that episode that the first Experience that she had at a career day wasn't until early college, and she already had an idea of what she might have wanted to be when she grew up, but she had this experience, this career day experience, and it actually changed the trajectory of the career that she went into her pathway, and because of that career day, this is the job that she is actually doing today and is super passionate about it. Now, thankfully, that experience happened for her.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:37]:

Everything happens for a reason. But what if she had known? You never know. But what if she had known about this career and learned about it at a career day in elementary school? Our kids are already thinking about what they wanna be when they grow up. They're not waiting until college to think about what they wanna be when they grow up. This can definitely change. Absolutely. Jobs are going to change. But even as a little kid, they're not too young to think about the possibilities and the passions and the interests and the things that they might wanna do when they get older.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:20]:

And how cool is that where you're bringing in these different experiences and jobs that they might not have ever heard of and even jobs you might not have even heard of as an adult to help them dream big in these different ways. We're always hearing as teachers, and you are probably told this as a kid, that as teachers, we are preparing our students for jobs that don't even exist yet. And some of those jobs and those careers that are being presented on this day might not exist when your kids get to be older, but it doesn't mean you need not to have them come in. These jobs now that are currently happening are evolving, and they are changing and they are sparking new jobs that your students might be in whether they're ones that are being created or maybe they're they are a job that those students actually create. You never know what it's going to be like. My teachers never told me, hey, maybe one day you could be a podcaster. No. They never said that.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:27]:

I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher, but also I never knew as a kid there were all these other pathways and things that would end up putting me in this position of teaching in a different way with the involvement with technology and all of that. However, I did have experiences that led me to where I am today, so you never know what types of experiences are gonna Spark that passion and that interest for your students, and a STEM career day is a great way to do this. One of the parent presenters Even emailed me after the event, after we sent home all of the thank you notes. And one of the parent presenters sent me this really kind email, and they said, Thank you so much for putting all that work into STEM career day. My son and their cousins are all still talking about it. They were kids at the school. And that was also very sweet of the kids to write thank you notes for you to send them home with my son. They were fun to read.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:26]:

1 kid said, I would consider this a career option as I age. Hope you're enjoying your last couple weeks at the end of the school year. So it's pretty cool to hear that from one of the parent presenters that kids were thinking about what they were saying and presenting to them. The second thing that your students are missing out on by not having a STEM career day is having a different way to connect STEM to the real world. This can often be tricky in the elementary STEM space, thinking about, okay, we're doing these really cool hands-on projects, But how is this connecting to a bigger picture? Because our little kids their worlds are small to them. So, how can we make those STEM projects come to life in a way that actually makes sense? A STEM career day is a really great way to do this. You might even get that question all the time, why are we learning this? What does this have to do with anything? Why is this even important? A ton of my parent presenters, because I had the chance to go around and watch them, so many of them said how they use math and why math is important in their jobs. And so it was really cool to hear parents and their parents, But hearing them say, here's how I use this skill in my job.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:49]:

This is why it's important. Here's how I have to work together with others. Here's how I need to know how to present because I present projects all the time in front of a team and have to share my ideas in a way that makes sense to others. So those tidbits that all of the presenters were sharing were so important. Students had the opportunity to ask them questions about their jobs and the things that they do, and the things that are exciting for them. It wasn't just a set and get kind of day. Kids were able to interact with the presenters in all of these special ways. In one of the presentations, one of the parents is in finance, and she was talking about her job, but then she did an interactive activity where the students had a budget, and then they had to actually figure out where all of the different funds would go And thinking about rent and taxes and all of those things, they did a budgeting game and to see how much money was left over at the end.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:57]:

An absolute real life challenge. She paired it down definitely based on what she does for her job. But this was really cool, too, because in my STEM classroom, We also used a budget when it comes to purchasing Makerspace supplies and where the funds are allocated, how much money have left, how to make returns and get money back and change. So it was really awesome to hear her give this presentation and make it interactive because it definitely reiterated what I was doing in the STEM space, but, also, I know for a fact a lot of those math problems that classroom teachers were doing as well. So this was a really cool way to just really touch upon those real world examples. It's also cool in this STEM career day experience. It's twofold in a way when you're talking about how it all connects to the real world. First, students learn about projects that happen in the real world.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:56]:

So many of the parents shared, hey. This is what I work on in my career. And then they're also learning how the career is supporting the project, so they're hearing about the projects and how the career is supporting the projects. There was 1 session where there was a parent whose company is a STEM company, and her job isn't necessarily a STEM job, but it's supporting the STEM company. So her skills are really valuable in this company where she does marketing for this business and also works on creating content and podcasts and all of those types of things to help support what that company is doing in a STEM space. So that was really cool to hear that type of perspective where Not everything is a STEM job, but there are ways that those kinds of things can collide together based on the passions and the skills that you have. The third thing that your students are missing out on by not having a STEM career day is having a unique opportunity to learn from multiple perspectives. I hate to break it to you, but as a teacher and as a STEM teacher, you don't know everything.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:16]:

And guess what? Neither do I. I definitely don't. I do a lot of research on things, but I don't know everything either. And I can't share everybody's perspective of what they are experiencing in the STEM space. I can't. And oftentimes, there are a lot of people in STEM that we're constantly sharing about, but we're not broadening that perspective from students to learn from. And some of us might not even be sharing about other STEM careers and jobs at all. So this is really helping break out of, okay, I am the teacher in the classroom, I teach STEM, but I'm not the only person who knows about all these things.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:59]:

There are a lot more people out there who are way smarter than me and who can explain these topics and bring them to light in a way I could never dream possible. This type of event is so cool because it really is brought to life. It's in person. Students are learning from industry experts who are doing this in their day to day jobs. These people are doing this all the time, and so they get a break out of here's what I do all day, and you can learn more about it. That is pretty darn cool. Bringing this into your school building really provides that access for students where they were already there at school. It was during the school day.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:42]:

It wasn't an after-school opportunity. If you are in school that day and making good choices, you have to come to STEM career day. It was brought to them. We didn't have to go on a field trip. We didn't have to think about the funding. I planned everything out for them. They literally just had to show up with their classroom teacher. And so when you're thinking about all of those details, that's all inside the workshop for you.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:05]:

So it's all laid out. Not too bad. There is careful planning, but such a cool way for them to learn from people who are doing amazing things every single day. These people that you are bringing in are doing cool things, and they are immersed in this STEM space And they're using those up to date things where I probably don't know about all of them. For example, there was a parent who did a lot of coding in their job. And they were showing the kids how they use Computer coding, so that was actually pretty cool too to see some of the lines of code that he writes, so saying that advanced level of coding. But he was actually showing them how he uses the AI tool, chat g p t, to actually check his code, Make sure there are no bugs in it, and then it will actually give him suggestions on how to make the code better. This is also when chat g p t was, like, a really big buzzword.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:08]:

It Still is, but people are getting more accustomed to it and its capabilities. So not only did kids get to see real life code for a project, and the dad explained what it was and what it's used for and, like, kinda what he does in his job, but then also talked about A real life AI tool and show them how he uses it to check the code. I could not have done that. I never would have thought of doing that. I wouldn't have known how to talk about it. Now I can share about it because I watched it at STEM career day. But even something like That is something I could not give the kids as a teacher. And so it was just so cool where there were moments like this constantly throughout the day where something you never know is gonna stick with a kid, and they might want to explore that more.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:58]:

So It's just so cool that they can actually learn from these people and hear their passion in what they do And it really rubs off of them and helps those kids say, I never knew that was possible. Kids definitely need to see people like them doing amazing things. If we want our kids to get involved in STEM, we need to be providing diverse opportunities for diverse people so they can dream big. We can't wait until middle school or high school to provide opportunities like this. It could be too late. We never know. Better late than never, But why not start it in elementary? If you're thinking, we've never done an event like this, my school hadn't either, But I made it possible where, oh, this is something that we can do in the elementary space. I'm not gonna wait for somebody else to host it for us.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:59]:

I'm not gonna wait for my principal to give me the idea. You need to get it started. Be bold, Get an event like this up and running on the ground, and you'll be so thankful that you did and wish you did it before like I did because I wish that I had done this every single year because it was such a powerful, powerful day. As a recap, here are those Three major things that your students are missing out on by not hosting a STEM career day event. 1st is the opportunity to learn to dream big. Next is connecting the real world to STEM. And finally, students are missing out on that opportunity to learn from multiple perspectives. If you are nervous about all of those details skills, where do you even get started, and how do you fit this all in? I save you so much time inside of my STEM career day workshop, where you get all the planning templates, all of the emails that I wrote, all of the posters, and all the video examples where you don't have to think about this from scratch, you can edit and make this work from your school so that You will have a successful day for your students and an event that they will always remember.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:19]:

You can grab that link in the show notes or jump on in at naomimeredith.com/STEMcareerdayworkshop.

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is an online K-5 STEM Coach in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. With over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate, Naomi helps teachers world-wide to navigate best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!