STEM traditionally stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. In Davis School District (DSD), STEM has been refined to focus on students experiencing wonder, sense making, and problem solving across all content areas in a collaborative, creative, and real-world environment. Davis School District strives for students to experience something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable every day.
Annual STEM-Centered Learning Report:
STEM-centered learning focuses student thinking and discussion around real-world phenomena, problems, issues, or events across all content areas with the purpose of students collaborating in order to make sense of the world and persevere in solving problems.
Teachers guide students to wonder about the world around them by engaging them in real-world problems, tasks, natural phenomenon, issues, or events allowing student questions to drive the learning. Students engage in exploratory inquiries, gain an understanding of gathered information, and assign meaning to perceived randomness. Additionally, students will focus on patterns for prediction to understand phenomenon. In DSD problem solving is a collaborative process of discovering solutions to difficult or complex issues. When students work together on a problem they must think critically and creatively while also building self- awareness, self-management, and personal responsibility to the group. The problem-solving process requires students to utilize prior knowledge, analyze facts and gather data. By engaging students in creative problem solving we will equip students with vital skills for future success.
Davis School District’s mission is Learning First. Everything in DSD is done to fuel student learning. Teachers are constantly learning and growing to meet the ever-diverse needs of our students. STEM in DSD incorporates eight key indicators: wonder, sense making, problem solving, creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and grit. Together, these eight indicators shape instruction in DSD to support student success and growth.
IN A WORLD THAT’S BECOMING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX, WHERE SUCCESS IS DRIVEN NOT ONLY BY WHAT YOU KNOW, BUT BY WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW, IT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER FOR OUR YOUTH TO BE EQUIPPED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TO SOLVE TOUGH PROBLEMS, GATHER AND EVALUATE EVIDENCE, AND MAKE SENSE OF INFORMATION.
-US Department of Education
