Elizabethtown College’s Science in Motion director, Wendy Martin, presented at the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Convention on Dec. 6, 2013. Her presentation topic, “Advancing Inquiry-based STEM Education,” was an overview of how Pennsylvania teachers can get involved in the STEM and Science in Motion programs.
The theme of the conference was “Engaging the Next Generation in Science,” and Martin integrated STEM into her sessions. “I’ve been involved with Pennsylvania Science Teachers
Association for over 15 years, and I used to be on the planning committee. Every year I do a different presentation or I help plan the conference,” she said. The attendees of the conference from year to year can range from 300 to sometimes over 1,000 teachers.
STEM is the learning technique that allows for science, technology, engineering and mathematics to be combined together in the classroom setting. Instead of focusing on one subject at a time, the STEM program believes that students can be at their highest learning potential when they are integrated. One of the STEM concepts is the Science in Motion (SIM) program. Working from a state grant, 12 different branches of this program have been established across the state. Etown’s SIM program is one of the newest, starting around five years ago, but works with about 20 different school districts in the area.
SIM allows for teachers from high schools to borrow research-quality equipment from a distribution center. It doesn’t break their budget and allows students to get a hands-on learning experience. The teachers can provide a “wish list” of resources and equipment that they would need for their classroom, and the most requested items are purchased and loaned from the distribution center. Martin is also a mobile educator who delivers the equipment and acts as a helpful aid.
Martin is in charge of getting the equipment that teachers need to the school, as well as helping them come up with new and innovative ideas to incorporate into STEM. “I never know who is going to call me up. One day it might be a teacher who needs equipment or helping them think of ideas for a lab or procedure. It’s never the same,” she said.
Students on campus are able to participate in the Science in Motion program. Etown students help her when dealing with equipment as well. “Elizabethtown College students, called tech preps, will help me. A lot of them are STEM majors, either biology or engineering. They help me to get labs and equipment ready, so it’s really a hands-on, real-work application for the Etown students,” Martin said. Not only do the students get benefits by being a part of the SIM program, but the College also reaps benefits as well. Since Science in Motion and STEM strive for high school students to move away from the textbook-style learning, the usage of actual equipment prepares the students for college.
