It took 18 hours of travel, one plane ride, two local train rides through a dozen stops each and then finished on the Shinkasen Super Express (bullet Train). I will say I enjoyed the 40 minute ride at high speed on the spacious, smooth and quite bullet train, over a crowded, hot and stomach churning transcontinental plane any day!
It took a day of light food, several showers and some walking to recover and realize I was on another content a day ahead of where my body thinks it is; but I'm here working with colleagues from Minnesota and professors from Shizuoka University. Today we discussed options for research, collaboration and opportunities for our cities and schools to become possible sister sites. We spent a long time discussing our ideas about STEM and how we can bring schools systems, school sites and teachers into the pedagogy we envision for fully integrated and embedded STEM teaching and learning. Dr. Yoshisuke Kumano, Dr. Tomoki Saito and Dr. Takahiro Kayano shared with us their reports and dissertation that discussed STEM education and what they learned from the schools they visited. They are submitting a report to the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) as a framework for what Japan should adopt as a teaching methodology for STEM education. Our Owatonna schools: McKinley STEM Elementary, Willow Creek ESTEM and OJHS ESTEM had several pages dedicated to describing how STEM teaching and learning creates positive impacts on the learning and attitudes of both students and teachers.
Congratulations Owatonna Schools, we have officially become World Class Education by helping to provide a model of teaching and learning that could positively impact the lives of millions of students in years to come! (On at least two different continents)
It took a day of light food, several showers and some walking to recover and realize I was on another content a day ahead of where my body thinks it is; but I'm here working with colleagues from Minnesota and professors from Shizuoka University. Today we discussed options for research, collaboration and opportunities for our cities and schools to become possible sister sites. We spent a long time discussing our ideas about STEM and how we can bring schools systems, school sites and teachers into the pedagogy we envision for fully integrated and embedded STEM teaching and learning. Dr. Yoshisuke Kumano, Dr. Tomoki Saito and Dr. Takahiro Kayano shared with us their reports and dissertation that discussed STEM education and what they learned from the schools they visited. They are submitting a report to the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) as a framework for what Japan should adopt as a teaching methodology for STEM education. Our Owatonna schools: McKinley STEM Elementary, Willow Creek ESTEM and OJHS ESTEM had several pages dedicated to describing how STEM teaching and learning creates positive impacts on the learning and attitudes of both students and teachers.
Congratulations Owatonna Schools, we have officially become World Class Education by helping to provide a model of teaching and learning that could positively impact the lives of millions of students in years to come! (On at least two different continents)