#STEMTheDivide
Democratic STEM Teaching
Democratic STEM teaching means student voices are centered and amplified in the classroom. Students come into learning with their own funds of knowledge that enrich the classroom. Classroom power dynamics directly influence how well students learn in a STEM classroom. This is especially true for historically marginalized and oppressed students.
Democratic STEM teaching reconfigures traditional classroom power structures - whether in-person or online - through innovative, justice-oriented teaching practices. Teachers are facilitators that share authority with their students; students are not simply vessels to be filled, but contributors to the learning and learning environment. The end goal for STEM students is to become critically literate thinkers who define problems and design solutions, ultimately creating a more just world. ​
Student Voice | Shared Authority | STEM Criticality
STEM Teacher Development
STEM Ed Innovators is "by teachers, for teachers". We help teachers apply our Democratic STEM Teaching Framework to thorny problems of STEM classroom practice. We believe how teachers learn and grow parallels how their students learn and grow; democratic STEM teacher development experiences lead to democratic STEM classrooms.
Teachers can take the thinking and practices modeled in the live workshops and use them in their classrooms. Ultimately this work becomes the foundation for teacher-driven systemic change in STEM education.
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1. democratic stem teaching FRamework
Teachers develop a conceptual understanding of Student Voice, Shared and Transformational Authority, and Critical STEM Literacy.
2. Empathetic instructional design
Teachers participate in a six module structured design process to develop innovative STEMocratic solutions to problems of practice in their STEM classrooms.
3. windows into stem classrooms
Teachers deliver public talks about their successful development of Democratic STEM Teaching practices, highlighting how their students will use STEM in service of a more just world.
4. stem ed innovators network
Teachers join a rich network of STEM Ed alumni dedicated to sustaining dialogue about Democratic STEM Teaching and recruiting promising new Fellows.
Democratic STEM Teaching Programs