#308 – College and Career Connections: Women in STEM, with Dr. Carolyn Colley, Science Instructional Facilitator

Unpacking Education July 24, 2024 42 min

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Carolyn Colley, Science Instructional Facilitator at Sartori Elementary School in Renton, Washington. Dr. Colley shares insights and strategies for integrating more STEM education into the classroom, even if you are not a math or science teacher. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and her ideas are sure to get you thinking about how you can integrate STEM concepts into your daily teaching routine.

Dr. Carolyn Colley
Science instructional Facilitator, Sartori STEM Elementary, Renton Schools
Paul Beckermann
PreK–12 Digital Learning Specialist
Rena Clark
STEM Facilitator and Digital Learning Specialist
Dr. Winston Benjamin
Social Studies and English Language Arts Facilitator

We believe every student needs opportunity knowledge.

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Resources

The following resources are available from AVID and on AVID Open Access to explore related topics in more depth:

Integrating STEM

Dr. Colley works with teachers to integrate STEM into their instruction. She also reflects on her own experience as a classroom teacher, saying, “Kids love science, so I would make it fit throughout the day and kind of invent these integrated things to help meet our ELA minutes while also working on science things.”

She acknowledges that this is not easy for all teachers since many do not have a strong STEM background. Yet, she says that all teachers can bring elements of STEM into their learning environment. Dr. Colley explains how this works in her school with the core tenant of sensemaking. She says, “We are creating curiosity about our learning, wanting to go deeper, asking each other questions, or asking questions of a phenomena or another resource.” This core concept of being curious is something that can translate into every curricular area. Tune in to the full episode for more tips and integration ideas. The following are a few highlights from our conversation:

  • About Our Guest: Dr. Carolyn Colley is the Science Instructional Facilitator at Sartori Elementary School in Renton, Washington. In this role, she develops elementary science curriculum and facilitates professional learning for teachers to better support students’ science learning and their ability to make connections between their experiences and the ways our natural world works. Prior to her current position, she earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, with a focus on Elementary Science Education, from the University of Washington in Seattle and facilitated professional learning opportunities around Ambitious Science Teaching practices.
  • Destiny: Dr. Colley began her career journey studying architecture. However, after an insightful mentorship experience, she decided to switch her major to education. She jokingly says, “My story starts out with me rebelling against ever wanting to be a teacher.” Yet, that story ends with, “I could not escape my destiny.” Her career blends two of her passions and has transformed into “learning architecture and curriculum design.”
  • Science Education: While Dr. Colley was always interested in science and STEM education, she soon realized that not all teachers had a similar experience or interest. She recalls, “I didn’t realize how much other people were not teaching science.” This led her to ask, “Why aren’t other people doing it?”
  • Core Principles of Effective Science Teaching: While Ambitious Science Teaching was originally focused on secondary teaching, Dr. Colley feels that it applies just as well to elementary education. She says, “A big core of the Ambitious Science Teaching practices hinges on creating a classroom learning culture that invites students to listen to each other, and build, and refine, and revise ideas together, and have these public models.” Those skills apply to all ages of learners. In fact, she says that “it’s almost easier” with elementary students because those teachers are typically with the same students all day.
  • Sensemaking: As mentioned above, another core tenant to Dr. Colley’s work is sensemaking. She says, “We are creating curiosity about our learning, wanting to go deeper, asking each other questions, or asking questions of a phenomena or another resource.” She adds, “A core principle is creating this classroom learning community where students are accustomed to listening to each other, taking risks with ideas, and doing so in ways that grow and revise ideas together.”
  • Challenges: Not all teachers receive training or background in STEM education. Dr. Colley says, “One big challenge is helping teachers . . . build a vision for what is possible with students, and then helping them kind of create their path.”
  • Going Alongside: Dr. Colley likes to practice what she preaches, and that mindset shapes her coaching practices. She says that she aims for “going alongside and joining in with the teacher, and being curious with that teacher about what their students think about a given phenomenon or unit of study, and that lays the foundation for what instructional practices we might work on together.”
  • Bidirectional Impact: Even though her job is to help other teachers improve their craft, Dr. Colley also finds herself on the receiving end of new learning. When she sees teachers doing amazing things in their classrooms, she is able to add those approaches to her own toolkit, enabling her to share those strategies with others.
  • Applying Current Strategies to STEM: One of the best ways for teachers to integrate more STEM education into their classrooms is to apply approaches that they’re already using. Dr. Colley explains, “Teachers have amazing routines and expectations that translate easily to science. They’re not science-specific, but they foster science learning.” She adds an important follow-up question that she likes to pose to teachers: “What if we did that for science?”
  • Community Involvement: Dr. Colley strives to leverage the unique assets of her local community. She keeps her ears open for opportunities to collaborate or bring in guest speakers.
  • POWER Hour: POWER Hour stands for Promoting Outstanding Wellness Education for our Ravens, which is the school mascot at Sartori Elementary. Fifth graders get to spend 1 hour per week learning about something new and interesting. This exploratory experience helps them to open new doors and also explore current interests.
  • Future of STEM Education: Dr. Colley acknowledges that there are many ways to approach STEM education. For her, she is currently focusing on authentic integration into other content areas, and she is especially interested in data literacy skills.
  • Entry Points: Dr. Colley suggests starting small, perhaps by applying a comfortable, current practice to a STEM or science context. This may include having students practice listening, asking questions, and responding to others. It might also mean starting with a question, researching to find an answer, and then asking even more questions based on what has been learned.
  • Keys to Success: Dr. Colley emphasizes that it’s important to get “kids to be curious.” She talks about “sparking that curiosity and being open to what kids say . . . ‘What are you thinking?’ I just think kids like being heard. They like being listened to and being taken seriously, and so, I think that’s really the first step and then helping them kind of pursue those questions.” She emphasizes the importance of “letting students have a little agency to empower them to solve these questions.”
  • Toolkit: Dr. Colley shares her toolkit item, saying, “I would like to give people a challenge, a toolbox challenge. Stop and look at something you walk by every day. Slow down and really look.” She adds that it’s important for everyone to “notice and wonder.”
  • One Thing: Dr. Colley offers her one thing, saying that for her, it’s “holding that space to really listen, and see students, and use their names, and just listen to them and not shut them down. And sometimes, that feels hard because we’re so busy all the time.”

Guiding Questions

If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:

  • What do you know about STEM and science education?
  • How might science and STEM topics be integrated into other content areas?
  • What role does asking questions play in sensemaking?
  • What instructional strategies might be applied effectively to science and STEM contexts?
  • What are the keys to successful science and STEM education?
  • What is your biggest takeaway from today’s episode?

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