EQUITABLE CLASSROOM PRACTICES and STRATEGIESfor STEM EDUCATION

Blanca Miller, B.S.Equity and Diversity SpecialistWashoe County School District

Mission StatementThe equity and diversity department….

Equity & Diversity Department

What Research Tells Us

• Why equity?• Why underrepresented groups in

STEM?• What are equitable school and

classroom practices?• What causes higher achievement for

all students in STEM? • What motivates students in the

classroom?• Cubic Expression & Murray’s Law

Lesson.

Why Equity

Equity means that every student is provided the support and resources they individually need to accomplish the same end-goal; graduation, and college- and career-readiness. The end-goal for all students is the same, but the process to get there differs.

Equitable Framework: School & Classroom Practices

1. Expectations: a culture of high expectations for every student, because every student is capable of learning.

2. Rigor: high caliber skills and learning take place to achieve high academic success.

3. Relevancy: curriculum is delivered by familiar and interesting content, so students are motivated to engage in the learning.

4. Relationships: to motivate students through connections of respect & understanding. Discuss: how are these 4 practices

incorporated into your classroom? How do your students know?

Warm-up with Kahoot!

1. Download Kahoot! App2. Open Kahoot!3. Game Pin: 539970

Discuss: How is this activity equitable? How can you incorporate this, or something similar, into your classroom? Is there something like this you already use in your classroom?

Kahoot! : Create Quizzes, Discussions, and Surveys

In your groups discuss:1. What is a cubed root?

Examples2. What is Murray’s Law?

The principle that relates the radii of daughter branches to the radii of parent branches.

Examples: Circulatory(blood), respiratory/breathing), and water transport systems(nature).

Cubic Expressions & Murray’s Law

Construction, Coloring, & Activity Sheet:• Murray’s Law for the 4 Areas• Clay & Pipe Cleaners

Murray’s Law: when a parent blood vessel branches into daughter vessels, the cube of the radius of the parent vessel is equal to the sum of the cubes of the radii of daughter blood vessels.

Discuss: How does this lesson reflect our equity framework? How would our students benefit?

Cubic Expressions & Murray’s Law

Underrepresented Groups in STEM

Minorities, Females, & Low-Socioeconomic Students: • Secondary STEM courses see significant

disproportionality in enrollment and achievement.• Females, on average, participate less in class than

their male counterparts.• College-level hard science degrees have seen little

shift/increase in enrollment for underrepresented groups; females, minorities, and low-socioeconomic.

• Significant disproportionality In STEM industry, especially hard science fields like physics, engineering, and computer science.

Minority Disproportionality

Gender Disproportionality

2013 SAT data reflects a direct relationship between income and score. The greater the family income, the higher the SAT Math Score.

Socioeconomic Disproportionality

STEM Higher Achievement & Motivation

Student centered activities provoke the higher achievement and motivation of all students, but most notably, underrepresented groups.

• Hands-on Material/Manipulatives: significant contributions have been found for all students’ math achievement, but most notably for females.

• Co-Operative Project-Based Activities: this supported both math and science achievement.

• Computers & Calculators: a significant contributor to science achievement for minority male and female students.

STEM Higher Achievement & Motivation

Student centered activities provoke the higher achievement and motivation of all students, but most notably, underrepresented groups.

• Self-Assessment: all students showed improvement in science achievement, but most notably, minorities and females benefited from the use of self-assessments.

• Interdisciplinary: science, technology, engineering, and math share common curricular goals. Integration motivates and helps students process information in a more comprehensive way.

How do these elements work together to produce classrooms characterized by equitable practices, high STEM achievement, and students that are motivated to learn?

Conclusion