STEM by Choice: Embedding Career Challenges in Classrooms and Communities

According to a recent report published by the 114th Partnership,

• Some 20 million students will graduate by 2020.
• Most will never have tackled a real-world problem.
• Although 77 percent of high school students report wanting to simulate real-world scenarios, only 12 percent report having the opportunity to do so.
• The total number of publicly offered internships is declining steadily, down 10 percent from 2014.

All students need options for learning about viable careers and critical skills, and STEM educators need high-quality resources in order to help students navigate their professional pathway, as schools (secondary and postsecondary) are increasingly tasked to help students explore potential careers and to integrate more job-related experiences into their courses.

In this informative webinar, ASCD's STEM by Choice master teachers Douglas Hodum and Tammie Schrader will share how educators can use the ASCD STEM by Choice Universal Guide in their grades 6–12 STEM classrooms and schools. The ASCD STEM by Choice Universal Guide aims to support STEM integration in classrooms using Spark 101 STEM Skills Videos. Spark 101, a program of the 114th Partnership, engages students in authentic problem solving and features real, "on-the-job" professional challenges in a format that allows students to apply their own creativity and skills.

Before you watch the webinar, we encourage you to learn more about the STEM by Choice program and download the ASCD STEM by Choice Universal Guide to follow along and participate in this hands-on experience.

Douglas Hodum is a biology and environmental science teacher at Mt. Blue Campus in Farmington, Maine. He has been teaching for 16 years and served as the science department head from 2008 to 2016. In 2010, he was named to the third cohort of the Maine Governor’s Academy for Teacher Leadership in Mathematics and Science, and in 2013, he was named a Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellow. Hodum has also served as the vice president and president of the Maine Science Teachers Association. In 2016, Hodum was named as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, where he served in a personal legislative office and a committee office on Capitol Hill. He is currently the District II Director for the National Science Teachers Association.

Tammie Schrader is the regional computer science and science coordinator for the Northeast Washington Education Service District 101, serving 59 school districts. Prior to this, Schrader taught science and career and technical education classes to middle school students in Cheney, Washington, for 15 years. She also teaches science methods classes at Whitworth University and Gonzaga University. Schrader contributed on a National Science Foundation grant with Filament Games working on implementing educational video games in science classes and spoke at the White House Game Jam in 2014. Schrader is a National Board certified teacher and served as a U.S. Department of Education Fellow in 2008–2009.