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UNDERWATER ROBOTICS LESSONS BRING STEM TO LIFE FOR TEACHERS IN GUAM
In spring 2014, education leaders from across Micronesia came together on the island of Guam to learn about underwater robotics and Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE), a program based at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, California.
Participants listened intently as they learned about building and participating in competitions with Remotely Operating Vehicles (ROVs) outfitted with tools that could capture images underwater, collect water samples, and gather artifacts from the bottoms of swimming pools.
Underwater robotics may not seem that exciting to educators in landlocked areas, but for this group, it sounded like a perfect way to build students' content knowledge in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and GreenSTEM (STEM focused on environmental sustainability) to learn skills that can be applied in the real world.
In Guam and across Micronesia - where students haven't had many opportunities to pursue STEM careers - underwater robotics engineers are often hired from off-island to maintain or repair underwater installations. Also, such engineers are in demand globally to work as underwater robotics technicians, mechanical ocean engineers, engineer scientists, and marine machinists and welders.
Encouraged by the potential of the marine technology program, and armed with the results of a needs-sensing survey that showed high interest in STEM education and careers across Micronesia, educators focused on two critical questions:
1. Will the marine technology curriculum and competition engage middle and high school students from Pacific Island nations and increase the number of students interested in pursuing STEM learning and careers?
2. Can STEM teaching and learning - and programs like MATE - be modified to effectively incorporate indigenous learning and the cultural and natural environment of students, teachers, and the community?
For Guam's Department of Education, the answers were yes. But in the weeks that followed, it became clear that, although teachers had already had several STEM trainings and the district had three STEM-designated schools, the Department of Education and teachers across the district still had questions: What exactly was STEM, how could it be implemented effectively, and what professional learning practices were needed to sustain a STEM initiative?
To get clarity, the Department of Education knew it needed to be strategic about its approach, and so district...