Victoria Lowe

STEM Philosophy Statement

Introductory Paragraph
For many years, I have been working with children of all ages through church,
choirs, and other activities. I realized that teaching, and being with children, was
where my heart is. I want to be the kind of teacher that influences for good and
helps to build a better future. STEM education is a very important aspect of teaching.
Science, technology, engineering, and math are areas that must be taught
throughout a childs education. Personally, I have already learned so much from this
STEM way of teaching and learning.

STEM Experiences
My experiences as a learner of STEM have taught me so much. They have solidified
my knowledge in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. Our first
activity, bubble-ology, opened up my eyes to what a science experiment looks like in
depth. After completing my experience, I understood how to prepare science
lessons, present them, and assess whether the students were really grasping the
material or not. I absorbed everything we learned and did-learning how to measure,
learning how to find an average, and learning how to present the things we learned
to a class.
I had the opportunity to dive deeper into science and math when I attended a
zebrafish clinic at Mayo Clinic for a week. I got to see how science could be used in
the classroom. We observed the zebrafish, performed an experiment on whether hot
or cold increases or decreases the embryonic growth rate, and learned how to
effectively and appropriately incorporate dialogue in a scientific setting.

Content Knowledge
My level of content knowledge is constantly growing every day. I believe it is an
ongoing process. My bubble-ology experiences, and other experiences I will be
having soon, are helping shape my STEM content knowledge. I have learned the
difference between conceptual and procedural knowledge. It is important for
students to have a conceptual knowledge of things before they can really grasp the
procedural part. I have a good background in most areas of STEM, but I look forward
to increasing my engineering content knowledge.

Pedagogical Knowledge
I feel like my pedagogical knowledge is well on its way, too. I am especially strong in
areas of managing a classroom and guiding students to stay motivated and on-task. I
have had many opportunities that have led me to my strong leadership skills. STEM
in a classroom is a wonderful way to teach. It allows students to be taught, but also
to explore, question, and discover. I have seen and experienced its success in a
classroom throughout my clinical experiences in school. My learning is ongoing in
this area as well. I consider learning a never-ending story.

Role of Teacher
My role as a teacher, to support the best learning possible, will be to love my
students, be there for them, answer their questions to the best of my ability, respect
them as individuals, and foster a safe community for them to learn and grow in. I am
responsible for their education, and that is a big responsibility, but one I am excited
to take on. STEM has taught me to question for thinking, to push my students
minds, and to help them find answers to their questions. STEM provides a way for
them to experiment, think deeply, and really create a conceptual knowledge of the
topic they are learning at that moment.

Development Theories
I feel like there are several theories that support my philosophies on teaching. I am
in favor of the Piagetian outlook-the idea that students are constantly building their
understanding and ideas of the world, the Vygotskyian view- the idea that students
learn through experiences, and also the views from Skinner, Watson, and Pavlov-
the idea that students develop according to the stimuli they receive. Modeling, as
described by Albert Bandura, is another theory that relates to a classroom. I think it
depends on the situation, but all theories make sense and are applicable.

Additional Preparation
No one is ever done learning, and I still have skills I need to master. Things I can
work on would include patience, not being judgmental, and building my resources
for my classroom. I am usually a very patient person, but the other day in clinical I
was presented with my first trying situation. I sat down to do an assignment with a
little girl and she would not talk to me-not even one word. I found that I can handle
almost any behavior, but being completely ignored is something new I had to learn
to be patient with. Not being judgmental is the next thing I need to work on. I am
naturally a very honest person, and I never mean to judge, but sometimes I do. I
never state these things vocally, but I feel like it is something I can work on
inwardly. The final thing I can work on is building my supply of resources. I dont
have anything for a classroom yet, and I want to be able to have things at my
fingertips for my students.

Conclusion Paragraph
In conclusion, I am very excited to be a teacher. I am aware of my strengths and
weaknesses, and look forward to building my knowledge on how to become the best
teacher I can be. I have worked and taught children of all ages and I believe all of my
experiences will benefit me in the teaching world. I have explored the nature of
STEM and realized its importance in a classroom, had an opportunity to go to the
Mayo Clinic for a clinic, and have had many experiences outside of school such as
conducting choirs and teaching in other settings that have fostered my love for
being a teacher. Learning and teaching is an ongoing journey that I am eager to
embark on.