In this episode of The STEM Space, we talk all about motivation. How can teachers engage uninterested students? Natasha & Claire chat about their own struggles with motivation and strategies they have tried to increase intrinsic motivation, curiosity, and engagement in their classrooms.

In this episode of The STEM Space, Natasha and Claire reflect on the first few weeks of school, including everyone getting sick! Claire shares her students’ reaction to the mysterious refilling water bottle and a new role she is taking on in addition to teaching STEM. Natasha shares an open-ended science inquiry activity that has students defining variables and collecting data. Teams then share their findings with other groups and quickly realize the importance of clear communication in science!

In this episode, Claire is back in her STEM classroom and focused on prototyping and troubleshooting for her kinder - 9th graders! Listen in as she and Natasha chat about a mysterious prototype, a STEM challenge intended to assess learning for back to school, and why her students asked if they could bring a dead cat to school.

Happy back to school! In this episode, Natasha shares her lessons and reflects on the first week of school. This includes two mystery box activities to get to know her students, establish expectations for classroom participation, and connect to the scientific process. She also shares how she introduced the teaching of science by having her students, who are undergraduate preservice teachers, complete ineffective science activities to highlight the challenges of promoting science knowledge.

In this episode, Natasha chats with one of her favorite people and classmates at Texas A&M University, Rachelle Pedersen! Natasha and Rachelle are both doctoral students in curriculum and instruction, and one of the few focused on engineering education. Rachelle shares her experiences teaching high school technology and engineering, including one of her favorite engineering design challenges. They also discuss the overwhelming expectations of STEM education and strategies to support teachers.

In this episode, Natasha has an incredible conversation with Nikole Collins-Puri, a social justice visionary and advocate who is the CEO of Techbridge Girls, a nonprofit organization that empowers girls from low-income communities to pursue STEM careers and achieve economic mobility and financial security as adults. Nikole shares her own journey in STEM, why belonging matters in STEM, and resources for educators.