Illinois district tries new approach for STEM education

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Dive Brief:

• Despite his district’s track record of success, Dr. David Bain, a superintendent in Lake County, IL, decided to replace his district’s STEM curriculum, in an effort to keep pace with the new Next Generation Science Standards.
• Under the "Defined STEM" curriculum adopted by the district, students are encouraged to ask questions and answer them in ways that mimic the scientific method, and the new curriculum includes examples of less-traditional STEM careers, such as building rooftop gardens.
• The curriculum is also digital-first, which makes the experience smoother for his technologically-adept students and easy to incorporate in the classroom for the district’s teachers.

Dive Insight:

Adopting high-quality curriculum and assessments has emerged as one of the key hurdles to successful Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards implementation. Much of the curriculum on the market is not properly aligned with the standards and fails to truly change students’ classroom experiences. Bain says Defined STEM helps resolve many of the issues he found in the district’s previous curriculum and the other options on the market. Still, for other districts considering adopting Defined STEM, it’s worth noting that part of Bain’s success may be due to the already-existing conditions in the district.

“Our community values science and the district has always been innovative in our instruction,” Bain, a former scientist, told eSchool News.