STEM - Larry, Troy, and I: The last of nine

This past week I went to Ohio University's Voinovich Leadership school where I met with 2 fellow teachers that I have worked with the past three years along with 4 amazing people involved with OU and our STEM projects.

Summer 2009 I along with 8 other science teachers attended a workshop on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) in the classroom. We had a couple of days of great lectures and tours from OU staff and Athens industry. We toured Dr. Botte's lab where they are using the hydrogen from ammonia to 'fuel' Fuel cells, Dr. Bayless's coal research, and much more. Each teacher received a $1000 grant to take back to their school district to implement STEM projects in the classroom with their students.

Spring 2010 Dr. Johnson contacted everyone again to see if we were interested in 'doing it again'. I am not sure how many of us took her up on the offer, but you can bet I was onboard. This past year my students designed a flange to go around a wind turbine that was mounted to a mock residential roof. With a meeting from a local engineer and then again a Skye conference after they were done, the students were ready to present their project at the state Skills USA competition. The NEA (National Education Association) STEM grant helped fund this project and another in which my students tested the effects of UV radiation on E. coli contaminated water.


Spring 2011 Dr. Johnson once again contacted a group of the original STEM workshop teachers. I agreed as did Larry (Warren HS) and Troy (Vinton Co. HS). We met this past week and found out our grant budget quadrupled. I am so excited to implement more projects and to document the progress through photo and video accounts. This year we will be visited by a videotographer that will visit our schools and SouthEastern Ohio to record footage for this STEM videospot.