Tagged Rural

Grant Writing = Remodeling: Need or Want?

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This is the sixth of a series of posts comparing grant writing to house remodeling.

As mentioned in an earlier post, remodeling and grant writing are not linear processes.  As you are doing your research, conducting your assessments,  and developing your strategic plan, you will begin the process of creating your program and identifying your wants and needs.

Our small crowded kitchen

Our small crowded kitchen

While doing research, Kevin and I conducted an assessment of our needs and wants. We drew up our master remodel plan and divided the remodel project into three phases (strategic plan).  We determined the most important need we had was remodeling the kitchen.  That was Phase One, and where I will focus for this piece.  Once we decided the kitchen remodel was the highest priority, we looked at elements – the needs and wants – of the kitchen remodel (objectives and strategies). Below are a few examples of the needs and wants we addressed.

We wanted a larger kitchen/dining area and our assessment supported that we needed a larger kitchen/dining area.  We like to cook, bake, can the fruits of our garden, and entertain.  The original kitchen was so small that it was crowded with two people!  And where do people hang out when they come over – the kitchen.  The adjacent dining area was barely large enough for a table with four chairs. In this situation the want and need were both supported by our assessment– we added on to the house.

In assessing the appliances, we wanted all new appliances.  However, to stay within the budget, we determined that the only appliance that needed updating was the stove.

Our completed kitchen/dining addition

Our completed kitchen/dining addition

We wanted cherry cabinets, but only needed cabinets that were of good quality. Through research we found a cost effective way to have quality cabinets that had a unique design and looked like antiqued cherry.  In fact, the company that made our cabinets added them to their selection, and is a popular choice for their customers.

We wanted granite counter tops, but needed to stay within the budget. We chose tile. We  receive lots of compliments on both the cabinets and tile counter top!

While doing your research and developing your strategic plan, a needs assessment needs to be done to ensure you are addressing the real needs, and not perceived needs.  Just as Kevin and I worked together to determine our needs and wants, it is important to include all who are part of your organization in determining the real needs and of course, their wants. You will want to include your clients, staff, board members, other organizations who provide services similar to your organization, government and more.  It is important to learn directly from the clients you serve what they believe are their needs – do not assume you know their needs, or wants. Nor assume which need is the priority. Learn from your constituents. Below are a few examples of needs and wants.

The library wanted to purchase ten new computers. However to stay within the budget they determined that five computers sufficiently met the need.

The organization wanted a van to transport its clients to the main building. After the assessment of its clients, the need was to meet with clients at their home.

XYZ non-profit wanted and needed to hire five tutors.  To stay within budget, they researched and collaborated with the library to share resources. This has become a model program for similar non-profits.

Discerning your need from your wants helps ensure an effective use of resources and the budget; something funders always look for in the programs they fund.

STEM Professional Development for Informal Educators: Takeaway Four

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This is the fourth in a series of posts on takeaways in facilitating STEM professional development for informal educators.

4.  Informal educators want long-term professional development

NASA Education Specialist

NASA Education Specialist

South Dakota is a very rural and geographically large state, making travel a challenge in both time and expense for both the participants and the facilitators. Recognizing the importance of making that personal connection with the informal educators, we offered face-to-face professional development a variety of times and in multiple regions throughout the state. What we found is that those participating in the face-to-face workshops were hungry for more, and they wanted the staff who were not able to attend, to learn about and experience the wonderful STEM resources.   They wanted more than a “shot-in-the-arm” model of professional development.  Just what we, the facilitators, were hoping would be the result.

To address this, we worked with a NASA curriculum specialist to provide webinars. The webinars were consistently offered and repeated at different times during the day to accommodate schedules.  These webinars were “informal” in their presentation. This resulted in a HIGHLY interactive experience that had many laughs along with the learning. Participants in these webinars developed an awesome STEM support network they continue to access.  Video-conferencing also was utilized.

Offering professional development in a hybrid format provided the informal educators an opportunity to learn and experience STEM in small amounts. This allowed time for reflection and application of what they learned without the feeling of being overwhelmed. This definitely contributed to building their confidence to teach STEM.

STEM Professional Development for Informal Educators: Takeaway Three

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This is the third in a series of posts on takeaways in facilitating STEM professional development for informal educators.

3.  Informal educators understand the importance of STEM standards.

Informal educators understand and appreciate their role in extending science learning beyond the classroom. During our workshops, we often talked about standards and how they can guide STEM programming in the informal setting. Standards for all content areas were usually discussed.  There was much discussion about the Next Generation Science Standards and the framework on which they were built.

Many informal educators are making efforts to align their STEM teaching to what is happening in the classroom, thus reinforcing the standards. They are willing to work with the classroom teacher to extend the scientific concepts and practices introduced during the school day.  They view this extension as a means to help students more deeply realize how STEM permeates nearly everything in their lives, now and in the future.

STEM Professional Development for Informal Educators: Takeaway Two

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This is the second in a series of posts on takeaways in facilitating STEM professional development for informal educators.

2. Informal educators are eager to learn content and methodology

As discussed in the previous post, most informal educators (and classroom teachers I might add) experience anxiety when it comes to teaching STEM. In addition to their personal STEM learning experiences, much of this anxiety comes from two sources: fear of not knowing the content and not understanding how to effectively teach STEM. This means they are facing two challenges simultaneously: Subject matter and content-based teaching methodology.

Most of the informal educators participating in the NASA SD Summer of Innovation program do not have a strong background in STEM. Right or wrong, the initial focus was simply doing activities with some content support. Once the educators were comfortable “doing” science, more background and in-depth content was added along with methodology. They moved from a “show me an activity to do” thought process to “help me to more deeply understand what I am doing” thought process. They wanted a meaningful learning experience in STEM.

Rovers

Rovers

Gaining confidence in STEM content knowledge, they were ready to learn content-based teaching knowledge. They want their students to have meaningful experiences in STEM. Generally speaking, informal educators participating in the NASA SD Summer of Innovation program do not have education degrees. As confidence grew among the educators, they asked questions related to content-specific methodology. Although we modeled effective teaching strategies from the start using the 5-E Model as our foundation, we became more deliberate in explaining STEM teaching strategies.

What an experience it is to watch the educators move from simply “doing” activities to completing design challenges. They are now deliberately implementing the engineering design process into their programs. The educators, and their students, produced some awesome products!

STEM Professional Development for Informal Educators: Takeaway One

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This is the first in a series of posts on takeaways in facilitating STEM professional development for informal educators.

  1. Informal educators are up to the challenge of learning STEM

For many of the informal educators, STEM was not something they were comfortable teaching. Consequently, STEM was not regularly included in their programs. One of the reasons for their anxiety was due to their personal experiences when learning STEM during their K-12 school years. Understanding the importance of STEM in today’s work world and the need to regularly include it in their program, they came ready to address their anxiety of teaching STEM. They became active learners as they accepted the challenge of learning STEM by doing and thinking STEM; learning from their failures and their successes. They laughed at themselves, challenged each other, and had many “aha” moments. It was awesome to see their excitement – and their confidence – grow as they experienced STEM.

Next: Just doing or learning?

Designing and Developing STEM Professional Development for Informal Educators

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In May of 2011 I received a call from Kristie Maher, Ex. Dir., SD Discovery Center, asking if I would be interested in managing their Summer of Innovation (SoI) program, a four year NASA grant they were just awarded. With STEM education being one of my passions, I naturally said yes to this wonderful opportunity.

The Summer of Innovation program is NASA’s response to a national need for improvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education. This NASA project is designed to improve the skills and enhance the engagement of American students in STEM with a focus on informal education. After piloting the program in 2010, NASA put out a call for proposals to expand the program. The SD Discovery Center, located in Pierre, SD, was one of only eight grants that were awarded nationwide.

Having many years of experience in working with pre-service and in-service educators, this was the first time in which I worked with informal educators on an extensive basis. It has been a great journey of growth for me and the educators. In the next several posts I will share some takeaways in designing and developing STEM professional development for informal educators, particularly in a rural setting.