STEM Labs: Technology changing the way we think about teaching and learning
On the last teacher workday of the year, I was fortunate to take an impromptu trip to Stenstrom Elementary, one of Seminole County's schools with a working STEM Lab model. They have two of these tech-heavy classrooms, and construction begins this summer for two more. As a teacher slated to receive my own STEM Lab at Carillon next year, I was quite curious to see what this 21st century classroom looked like. After spending the previous three days packing up my own "stuff" from my classroom, I was in awe: where was this teacher's "stuff"? The room was completely empty, and with the exception of a small stack of student cubbies and some minimal cabinetry, there was no place to put anything. Where would our pencils go? Notebooks? Textbooks? Manipulatives? I asked the media specialist who led our tour what solutions these teachers had found in regards to supplies and storage. Did teachers use caddies? Provide additional storage? "No, actuall