Teaching STEM
Most teachers know that Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) are difficult subjects to teach. While we cannot change the materials, we can change how we teach to make them more interesting for students to learn.
I often start my class with the relevant reason (WHY) to keep students to pay attention. Relevance is something that is meaningful and interesting to the students. For example what problems they may face when they go to work? What mistakes people often make and why they are doing it? The intent is to let them know the reason why they need to learn the materials. To foster their curiosity and interest, I use current newspapers articles that are still fresh on their minds to explain why they need to know the materials. For example, few days ago there was a story about a big company that wasted several million dollars because owner did not know what happened in the company's project. I started the class by asking: “How many of you have read about “ABCD project” article in the newspapers today?” After few students raised their hands, I continued: “Can anyone tell me about the ABCD project problems?” I selected a student to summarize the article then asked: “What is the problem at ABCD?” I let several students to talk about the problem then started the class: “Now, let us looking more into this project management problem.” By this time, most students were already interested to learn more.
The next step is to explain the overview concepts (WHAT) that students need to know. For example, I explained the differences between the “Project management life cycle” (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Controlling and Closing) and the “Software development life cycle” (Requirements, Design, Code, Test and Release) to make sure that students understood both concepts as well as the differences between the two. After that, I focused on the detail (HOW). For example, Initiation phase begins when someone in an organization has a project idea; or the idea may come from customers. Initiation is complete when a preliminary requirements or scope statement have been prepared and a project manager has been assigned to the project. Planning phase begins with the development of the project plan (i.e., charter, requirements, schedule, estimates, costs, resources etc.) Execution phase cannot begin until the project plan is reviewed, approved and resources are available. Controlling phase is the act of making sure that the work being executed according to the plan. Controlling is complete when the final product meets the requirements and quality standards. Closing phase begins when the product is accepted by customers and all necessary paperworks are completed. During this phase, project team must discuss what they have learned in the project, what went right and what went wrong, and document them for future lessons learned.
Teachers must be conscious that not all students understand the materials well at this time. They may not remember the important factors and what they hear may get quickly forgotten. Teachers need to select some important facts that they want students to know and repeat them several times during class discussions. I often review the reasons (WHY) and the overview concepts (WHAT) then ask students to discuss in detail to ensure that they really understand the materials. For example, why ABCD company owners did not know about what happened in his company? Why they cannot rely on managers to accurately report project status? Students must come up with answers such as the reasons that cause project managers to lie about project status. (i.e., Bad planning, lack of controlling, overrun budget, low quality, and they are afraid of losing job etc.) The question then be asked on how do company owner monitors project performance, if they do not trust project managers? Students must come up with answers such as develop monitoring groups such as quality assurance or audit team. The discussion should get into the issue of what happen if quality assurance or audit team cannot overcome the effects of project misreporting by project managers. Students must understand the importance of trust between people who report project status and company leaders who receive the reports. The last question for discussion could be on what happen when company owners ignore bad news. Students must be able to articulate about how leaders should listen to their people and take the bad news seriously. If they do not, employees will be reluctant to report bad news until something really bad happened, such as in the case of ABCD Company.
I always believe that students should be required to do more than just remember facts. They should develop critical thinking to analyze any situation and apply their knowledge to do meaningful things. They must learn by doing, they must learn by listening, they must learn by discussing so they can explain and elaborate the concept further than what teachers teach in class. By having an active learning environment, it will encourage students to stay focused and engaged throughout the learning process and retain the information longer.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
