Jose Garcia is the STEM Education Director for Greene County Schools. He has worked there for 20 years and has focused on curriculum development for the last 10.
He says traditionally most schools utilize this type of lesson format: lecture, PowerPoint notes, and worksheets. And while he knows it is difficult to shift away from that, he and Greene County Schools have worked very hard to change it up.
What does that “change up” look like? An innovative STEM curriculum that has been customized for the students. There are “Grand Challenges,” which Garcia defines as project-based learning in teams, with an engineering and design focus. The teams are governed by the students and if someone isn’t pulling their weight they can be asked to leave the group. When Garcia saw…