Elite science session an idea factory

Science, technology, engineering and math are the subject areas of STEM, an acronym that has moved to the forefront in education.

As careers in these fields grow, the supply of science, technology, math and engineering-educated Americans isn’t meeting the demand and companies have to look abroad.

Some organizations are working to change that by creating professional development opportunities for educators. One of these is the Siemens STEM Institute sponsored by the Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education and College Board.

Tom Berquist, Columbia Falls Junior High School eighth-grade science teacher, was one of 50 teachers selected nationally to participate in Siemens STEM Institute at the world headquarters of Discovery Communications.

He is now part of the Siemens STEM Academy, a community of about 150 educators who have attended the institute.

“It was phenomenal,” Berquist said. “One teacher said last year that it was like drinking from a fire hose [of ideas] and he wasn’t kidding.”

Berquist discovered the Siemens STEM Institute online while searching for material to use in his classroom.

 He decided to apply because of the concern to fill STEM-industry jobs with Americans and the institute offered an opportunity to help teachers better use science, technology, engineering and math principles in the classroom and get students excited about education and careers in those fields.

Berquist suggested thinking of science, technology, engineering and math as separate — but interrelated — strands bound together to make a single rope.

He also wanted to be prepared as new internationally benchmarked science standards are developed for kindergarten through 12th-grade education.

“The last science education standards were written in the ’90s,” Berquist said.

From July 29 through Aug. 3, Berquist worked with scientists, leaders and innovators whose work across science, technology, engineering and math disciplines shape and define the science world.

The goal of the institute was to create a group of ambassadors who can take what they learned this summer back into their classrooms and become key influencers in their schools and communities.

Berquist had the opportunity to listen to guest speakers, included Reed Timmer, Discovery Education’s chief meteorologist, and Roosevelt Johnson, deputy associate administrator for education at NASA,.

He also took a field trip to the White House and went behind the scenes at the National Museum of Natural History where teachers were introduced to real-world STEM applications.

Learning about using technology was one of the areas Berquist benefited.

“I plan to incorporate more technology, that’s where the institute was really helpful for me,” Berquist said.

Learning to collaborate through technology also was something Berquist took away from the institute.

“The ideas were constantly flowing,” Berquist said. There was a high level of energy and not much sleep.”

He is now part of an online community of professional educators called Edmodo and has networked with teachers across the globe. Collaboration is a big part of keeping up with new ideas.

“There’s no way to know it all, but hundreds of minds finding what’s working in their classroom and what’s not is helpful,” Berquist said.

Before the institute concluded, educators had to present a project they would do with students and later present results online.  

Berquist’s project involves collaborating with a teacher at an international school in Saigon. Both educators plan for students to write research proposals and then conduct objective peer reviews for each other.

“I’ve never done an international collaboration. Through a Wiki we can have a students submit experiment proposals and other students will look at it. Kids will go in and make meaningful comments on changes,” Berquist said. “It’s scary in a way. You’re not sure how it’s going to work. I am out of my comfort zone, but I’m going to dive into it.”

He hopes the peer reviews will make learning meaningful to students because “They are not just doing the research and reviews for the teacher.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.