Teach for America's Joe Koglin Leaves Corporate America for the STEM Classroom

STEMblog

Joe Koglin of Teach for America's Greater New Orleans Corps class of 2011 shared his story with STEMblog and we want to share it with you! After working in finance for a multinational conglomerate for six years, Koglin made the bold decision to leave corporate America for the classroom. 

As he writes in his post on STEMblog, "While my position had it all from the outside - the title, salary, and gravitas that comes with many STEM jobs - I craved something which would allow me to use my skills to help directly empower people and communities." 

After enough consideration to drive anyone crazy, Koglin wondered if he was even qualified to step into a classroom. "The answer was a resounding yes," he writes. "The vast majority of experiences from the STEM private sector transfer into classroom leadership." 

Koglin couldn't be more right. Or could he? He goes on to say that, "these skills are so incredibly needed in our country's classrooms." Yes, he just got even more right. 

Koglin's journey from financial suit to empowering STEM teacher is a story we need to hear more often in America. As we strive to be more competitive in STEM fields, it's STEM enthusiasts like Koglin who can help make that happen.

"STEM teachers are taking the societal changes they've encountered while teaching and tackling them head on. For STEM enthusiasts who want to change the world through innovation, there couldn't be a better place to start than the classroom."

Read Koglin's entire guest post on STEMblog.

Three Egg-cellent Science Experiments for Spring!

Easter is just around the corner, but before you start dyeing eggs, experiment with them first! Here are three egg-cellent science experiments from science-sparks.com just in time for spring.

Eggs always break so easily. Or so you thought. To make an egg unbreakable, all you need is cling wrap! Wrap the egg in cling wrap, place it in your palm and close your hand around it so your fingers are completely wrapped around the egg. Squeeze as hard as you can. The egg should remain in one piece and your hands should stay clean. If you're feeling bold, do the same thing without the cling wrap.

Age-old bouncy balls don't have anything on bouncy eggs. To make an egg bounce, place the egg in vinegar for a couple of days to remove the shell. Be careful when you remove the shell and wash the egg - if you puncture the membrane, it will break. To bounce it, drop it carefully from a low height and the egg should bounce back up from the surface. Try bouncing it on different surfaces. Better yet, try to figure our at what height the egg breaks.

Honey, I shrunk the egg! For this experiment you'll need two eggs, water, two glasses, vinegar, sugar and a pin. Get started by removing the shell of the egg after soaking it in vinegar for at least 24 hours as you did when creating a bouncy egg. After you've exposed the membrane, make up a concentrated sugar solution by dissolving sugar into water. Place one egg in water and the other in the sugar solution. Let them sit for 24 hours. You'll notice that the egg in the sugar solution looks much smaller than the one in the water. Prick the egg that was in the water glass with a fine needle and watch a jet of water shoot out! Put the shrunken egg in water and watch as it grows and reabsorbs water (this may take a few hours). 

For seven more eggy experiments, check out the Science Sparks website.

Back to School: Be STEM Ready

You want to be STEM ready this year but getting together all of the resources - like, say a brand new multi-million dollar facility, STEM-prepared training for your staff and a plethora of STEM materials to name a few - can be tricky to say the least. But there's good news: your school is not alone. Go ahead and categorize yourself with all of the other schools doing everything they can to just get this STEM thing off the ground.

Nevertheless, Anne Jolly shows you how you can ramp up for some great STEM learning by following advice gathered from educators who have been teaching STEM classes successfully for several years. Let's get started!

As Jolly explains, prepare yourself for a noisy classroom where multiple right answers abound and failure is regarded as a positive step toward discovery and successful solution. You'll need to get ready for your kiddos to work closely together, using hands-on methods to solve real-world problems. This also means being willing to take a step back and give your students enough room to kick off their journey toward becoming creative, innovative, critical thinkers. 

Take a look at this checklist of five questions that your school needs to consider to get ready for their STEM adventure.

1. Does everyone know why the school is implementing STEM and what STEM is designed to accomplish?
2. What type of STEM program will your school implement initially and what do you want this program to become?
3. How will you prepare and support teachers? What do teachers know/need to know, and how will they learn it?
4. What will your school do about STEM curriculum?
5. What resources are available?

Jolly cites answers to all five questions in her article on KQED's blog, Mind Shift. She even offers up multiple reasons or answers per question to make it easy for you to find one that applies to your school's situation. Check them out here.

In short: your school can be STEM-ready as long as you have a starting point and a long term goal. Jolly reminds us that the STEM initiative will keep growing with some visionary leadership. That being said, a knowledgeable and supportive school principal is the most important driver behind a STEM initiative. 

Another great Jolly suggestion: get a group of extra supportive parents to form a STEM booster club.