Professional Development

Project
Author: Rabia Omar

TITLE/Subtitle: Endeavor- STEM Career Exploration

How can we as educators inspire and excite students with
STEM activities? This workshop is to train educators and
allow them to familiarize themselves with the EVERFI
Higher order educational program.

Scenario (needs): This workshop is to train educators and allow them to

familiarize themselves with the EVERFI Higher order
educational program. The world around us has advanced
and has taken the face of stem, science, technology,
engineering and mathematics. As educators it is our job to
motivate our students and set them up to be college and
career ready! It is essential for us to build a STEM literate
generation. Students will gain knowledge from this
program will empower them to shape their future career
endeavors. Everfi is a program that promotes educators
engaging their students through content that reinforces
the key STEM skills. It is a program that allows students
to learn at their own pace, each program is differentiated
according to the student’s individual needs and
preferences. It provides students the freedom and
encouragement of self exploration while delivering them
an interactive learning experience.

Essential Question:  How to feed the curiosity of STEM explorers by

providing real word content and context?
 How to engage students that don’t identify
themselves as “STEM type”?
 How can STEM explorers use their strengths to
further build on STEM skills?
Goal: This workshop is created for 6th grade teachers. As
students transition from elementary school to middle
school it is our job to set learners up to be college and
career ready! Integration of technology in our science and
other classrooms not only makes learning fun and helps
educators differentiate instruction according to the needs
of students but also keeps their preferences in mind such
as if a student enjoys working independently or in a
group?
Do they like building or designing?

Objectives: Introduction Objectives:

 Educators will gain insight into their skills,
interests, and aptitudes (as if they were
students).
 Educators will identify STEM careers of interest
(as if they were students)
Connecting the Home of the Future (sample lesson from
everfi)
 Educators will define the Internet of Things and
describe its potential impact on day-to-day lives
 Educators will identify appropriate visual data
formats (scatter plot, line graph, bar graph, etc.)
for specific data sets
 Educators will Understand the steps necessary
to create a secure password
 Educators will Identify STEM careers that utilize
data literacy-related skills and identify one or
more that might be of interest
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES 1. We Learn by Doing: What Educators Get Wrong
About Bloom's Taxonomy: Students must have a
chance to apply what they're learning by Ron Berger
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/09/26/we-learn-
by-doing-what-educators-get.html
2. Sparking Interest in STEM Careers in Middle School
by Amy Cowen
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/middle-school-
STEM-career-exploration

3. Increasing Student Interest and Attitudes in STEM:

Professional Development and Activities to Engage
and Inspire Learners by Katherine Hayden
https://www.citejournal.org/volume-11/issue-1-11/science/i
ncreasing-student-interest-and-attitudes-in-stem-
professional-development-and-activities-to-engage-and-
inspire-learners/

4. 4 Ways to Encourage Your Students' Interest in

STEM blog by teachers https://study.com/blog/4-ways-to-
encourage-your-students-interest-in-stem.html
5. How schools can increase student interest in STEM
careers by Claire Johnson https://blog.labster.com/how-
schools-can-increase-student-interest-in-stem-careers/

Instructional Materials:  Smartboard or projector and screen

 Pamphlets
 Charged laptops set up for each member at the
workshop
 Everfi sample login information and account
 Index cards
 Pencils and Pens
 Powerpoint Slides
 Youtube and Vimeo for Videos

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES: *The Scenario, Goal and Essential questions will be

printed on a pamphlet and distributed at the beginning of
the workshop.*

This Workshop will be conducted in two parts.

Part One: To start the workshop off I would like to set

clear expectations for the members attending.

Use Presentation as you are speaking on the smart board

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BOhLJxCmgDdN
Vu1nOqu4m6ZObar4IbnYUVCPqwsSd9Y/edit?
usp=sharing
Purpose: Why is the integration of technology in
delivering instruction essential in today’s era?
Show video: Technology integration in schools

 Allow a members a moment to reflect, each

member will list 3 forms of technology they
integrate in their instruction on a given
index card. Members on the table will not
put their name on their card. Once done all
cards go in the middle. When told members
will shuffle the cards and go through each
others cards and check the ones they have
also used before.

Continue Presentation

How can we deliver effective and meaningful instruction

by using Bloom’s Taxonomy model in this age of digital
technology?

Show video: https://youtu.be/fqgTBwElPzU

What are we learning about today?:

We are here to learn about an interactive STEM career
exploration program.

Show video: https://vimeo.com/240829123

Why use Everfi?

The program uses interactive lessons in which

students engage with content that reinforces key
STEM skills and mindsets while enjoying the
freedom and motivation of self-exploration and an
interactive learning experience

1. Allow yourself to slip into the shoes of a 6th

grade student who has just transitioned from
elementary school to middle school. Each
person will use their sample login information,
and login to Everfi. The program will allow the
members to explore the program by giving them
a course introduction which will provide an
overview of what Everfi offers. Followed by the
introduction the members will take an
interactive self-assessment called the About
Me Quiz where they are able to touch base with
their interests, skills and aptitudes. This adds to
your STEM profile which further allows you to
connect your profile to various career
 opportunities.

Now once everyone has completed their assessment,

allow members on the table to discuss about their
interests and skills. Take a minute and think about how
self aware are you? Did you ever think how to make
connections between your interests and skills with career
opportunities that you could have opted for when you
were younger?

Part two:
In this part of the workshop we will go deeper into how a
specific lesson looks like. Workshop members will go
through the course exactly how students do so they are
able to help and provide support in running the program
smoothly through their lesson.

Each lesson will begin with an introduction which is then

followed by a five-question pre-assessment. Once
students have completed the pre assessment, the
students will have an understanding about their primary
objective for the lesson. Students then move on and
complete a short activity. After completing the mini
activity, the student will have an insight of the skill
practiced during the activity (for example, critical thinking),
and is connected to a related career that utilizes that skill.
After reviewing the Career Connection, the learner has
the option to add the highlighted career to their Field
Guide.

Students then continues through the lesson, completing

several additional tasks in the service of solving their
central mission. After they have successfully completed
the activity, they are asked to reflect on what they
enjoyed most about the preceding activity. Students are
directed to a Career Connection that relates to their stated
interest.
Students are also asked to indicate if they are interested
in a specific career. If they are, the career is added to their
learner’s Field Guide. If the student does not have a
preference they are directed to an additional career. This
process repeats up to three times total.

After the Career Connection, students tend to gain

awareness of the skills practiced during the lesson that
connect to Lesson Start Intro Activity Career Connection
Main Activity Reflection Career Connection Learner Field
Guide/ Lesson End potential career opportunities.
These skills that are practiced are then added to the
About Me section of the learners’ Field Guide. Each
lesson concluded with a ten-question post-assessment. At
the conclusion of the post-assessment, students receive
follow up information about the questions they answered
incorrectly. The passing score for each post assessment
is 70%. If students are not able to score a passing grade
they will have the opportunity to retake the post-
assessment from the Main Street home screen.
Lesson: Designing the Ultimate Prototype
In this lesson students explore advanced manufacturing
techniques by designing and rapidly prototyping a custom
 sneaker. Workshop members will explore advanced
manufacturing techniques by designing and rapidly
prototyping a custom sneaker. Through iterative design,
learners will link the design process to the high-tech
manufacturing techniques shaping the future of
production. Learners will connect these skills to STEM
careers in engineering and/or which require design and
programming skills.

Questions to answer on an index card once learning

activity is completed
2. How is the design process practiced in this
activity similar to other processes you have
used to create things in the past? How is it
different?
3. Imagine you are continuing to develop the
product you prototyped in this lesson: what
other steps might you need to take before
your design is ready for sale? What other
information would you need?

Answer as if you are the student.

Each group will then discuss their answers. Also they will
discuss what skills were practiced during this lesson?

Share Out: The skills practiced for this specific lesson

was critical thinking, time management and creativity.

PRODUCT Workshop members will be able to walk away with

understanding how essential it has become to integrate
technology in instruction for today’s generation. Also it is
to bring awareness to educators about the resources that
we can use to work on higher order thinking, critical
thinking, analyze and many other skills. Such programs
are extremely effective because differentiation takes place
and so does student preference. The program is moves
forward based on the student’s needs and preference.
Also it reinforces essential skills that will benefit students
in the future. It is a program that engages, motivates and
allows students to get in touch with their creative side.
ASSESSMENT: The discussions that are led by workshop members will
be closely observed. As the program is based off on
individual needs so every member will have a different
experience. Each member would be required to share
their experience at their table. The last activity would be
the two questions answered on the index card. Workshop
members will not only discuss but hand them in to the
facilitator along with the feedback form.

RUBRICS: Feedback Form.

FEEDBACK SURVEY

Criteria Rating
(1,2,3,or 4)
The goals and expectations for the PD were
clear.

The goals and expectations for the PD were

met.

The learning objective of this PD were met

successfully.

The research material provided was relevant

and helpful in gaining more insight about
workshop
The follow-up activities throughout the
workshop were appropriate, supportive and
effective.
This workshop will have a positive effect on
student learning in my classroom

The presenter and the presentation was

engaging, meaningful and effective

4- Strongly Agree
3- Agree
2- Disagree
1- Strongly Disagree