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Teacher's Corner

Personal stories about how educators are bringing the real world into classrooms.

I’m Bringing Duct Tape on a Desert Island

1/28/2022

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I know there are many great answers to the question, “what would you bring with you if you were stranded on a desert island?” Let me tell you why I’m bringing duct tape.
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The most surprising thing I discovered when I worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the amount of duct tape that was used across the campus. I’m not sure what I expected when I first started working at NASA, but based on my imagination and what I’d seen in the movies, I was anticipating state of the art equipment, fancy lab supplies, and blinking upgraded technology.
What I found was duct tape. Duct tape holding corners of bookshelves together, duct tape in the clean room, duct tape being sent into space! I was shocked that there were so many uses for duct tape. I was also really inspired by the creativity and ingenuity in the ways that duct tape was used by the engineers at NASA. It was remarkable to see that my expectations for the fancy lab set up at JPL was completely different from my experience working there.
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What the heck is project-based learning?

1/20/2022

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That's exactly what I asked myself when I was asked to start my student teaching at a project-based learning school. Project-based learning (or PBL for short) is a method of teaching that allows for multiple access points for diverse student learners. It's pretty much that simple. Depending on the school or method of instructional practice, PBL comes in all shapes and sizes. I'm going to share my version of project-based learning with you.

Through the project launch, students become initially engaged in the overall problem or question being addressed by the project and then work in collaborative teams to design and iterate solutions through feedback and refinement. The focus for project-based learning is on skill mastery through deep dives instead of broad content coverage. In true project-based learning environments, students are thirsty for more information and will even ask the teacher to provide more information in order to complete a task. This can be an authentic inquiry moment or pre-planned by Jedi mind tricking kids into asking you to teach them content.

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Lab to Table: The Future of Agriculture Immersed with Project-Based Learning

1/14/2022

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Guest Blogger: Stephanie Klixbull, M.Ed.
Stephanie is an Elementary STEM education specialist from Summerville, South Carolina. During her time as a teacher, Stephanie received multiple prestigious awards such as Teacher of the Year for the state of South Carolina Independent Schools, 2019 and an International STEM education award for her STEM curriculum for early childhood education. Recently, Stephanie has left the classroom to complete a fellowship with the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator program with the Department of Defense in Washington D.C. 
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The power of speech is amazing. Someone else's words can uplift you or give you the motivation to make a difference. For me, I was inspired by a TED Talk at an educational conference. The first words from the speaker told the truth about our produce in our grocery stores. He said, “Did you know that the average apple at the grocery store is anywhere from 6-14 months old from the time it was picked off a tree.” At that moment, I was hooked. I kept listening and I couldn’t believe the engrossing facts about our food. In fact, I didn’t want to believe it and so I did my research. Sure enough, the presenter was right. 

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“I didn’t know girls could do that”

1/6/2022

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It’s hard to imagine in the 21st century that there are young women in the United States who don’t know that girls can become scientists. That was my belief, anyway. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to women who taught science classes, women who had professions in the medical field, and women who were experts in their field guiding me through my undergraduate research experiences. There was no doubt to me that a woman could become a scientist. Challenging? Sure. Unique? Sometimes. But I never considered that there were young girls in the world who had no idea that women could become scientists. 
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It was 2011, and I had just returned from a research experience in South Africa studying great white sharks for the summer. My friend invited me to share my research with his high school students and I jumped at the chance to show off my pictures and share my stories. After class, one of the girls asked if it was really me in the picture on the screen. When I told her that it was me, she responded, “I didn’t know girls could do that.”

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    Lesley Anderson

    With over a decade of experience as an educator, I want to share some of the best practices that I've discovered for bringing the real world into the classroom. 

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  • Home
  • Our Projects
    • The Aerospace Corporation Aerospace Curriculum
    • Dept of Navy Cybersecurity Curriculum
    • Edily Learning App
    • FutureLab+ Biotech Curriculum
    • Learning is Expanding Afterschool Curriculum
    • Lockheed Martin Aerospace Curriculum
    • SEMI Workforce Development Curriculum
    • Space Prize Textbook and Speaker Series
    • TMA BlueTech Curriculum
  • Our Team
    • About Lesley >
      • Professional Highlights
      • Teaching Experience
  • Our Impact
  • Internal Job Board
  • Blog