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Tag: Education
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5 powerful ways to link STEM lessons to real-world applications
Key points:
“Why are we learning this?”
This is a question every educator has faced before. To be fair, it’s a valid question. Students are naturally curious, and it’s normal for them to wonder about the knowledge that they’re acquiring. The real issue is how we, as educators, choose to respond to them.
In my experience, teachers have two standard replies to this question:
- They’ll try to explain the subject in detail, which results in a long-winded answer that confuses their students and doesn’t satisfy them.
- They’ll argue that the information is important because it’s on an upcoming test, which typically leaves students feeling frustrated and disengaged.
Either way, the result is the same: Students lose all legitimacy in the lesson and they’re unable to connect with the content.
If we want our students to engage with the material in a way that’s memorable, meaningful, and fun, then we need to help them discover why it is important. Teachers can accomplish this by introducing real-world connections into the lesson, which reveal how the information that students acquire can be practically applied to real-world problems.
Without building these connections between the concepts our students learn and real-world applications, students lose interest in what they are learning. Using the strategies below, you can start to build student investment into your classroom content.
The everyday enigma
Use everyday items that operate with mystery and frame your lesson around them. Your students’ curiosity will drive them to learn more about the object and how it functions. This allows students to see that the small concepts they are learning are leading to the understanding of an object that they interact with daily. When choosing an item, pick one that is familiar and one that has multiple STEM elements. For example, you could use a copper wire to discuss electrical currents, a piece of an automobile to explore chemistry and combustion, or shark teeth when teaching about animal adaptations and food chains.
Interest intersect
Connect your students’ personal hobbies to the subject matter. For instance, if you have a student who is really passionate about soccer, try having them create a mini poster that connects the sport to the concepts learned in class. This gets them to think creatively about the purpose of content. This strategy has the additional benefit of helping teachers learn more about their students, creating opportunities to build communication and rapport.
Get an expert
Invite professionals (scientists, engineers, etc.) to talk with your class. This gives students a first-hand account of how the concepts they are learning can be applied to different careers. If you’re teaching chemistry, consider inviting a nurse or doctor to share how this subject applies to human health. If you’re teaching math, a local architect can expound on how angles and equations literally shape the homes in which students live. Not only does this provide a real-world example of students, but it helps schools connect with their community, creating vital relationships in the process.
Problem to progress
Create an engineering investigation based on a local, real-world problem. For instance, I once knew a music teacher who was frustrated because pencils would regularly fall off his music stands. I challenged my 5th grade students to create a solution using the engineering design process. Not only did they succeed, but the experience allowed my students to see the real-world results of the inventions they created. When students understand that their work can make a tangible difference, it completely changes their relationship with the material.
Project-based learning
Project-based learning is driven by inquiry and student ownership. This allows students to make contributions to the real world through hands-on investigations. What makes these inquiry-focused lessons so useful is that students are the driving force behind them. They choose how to approach the information, what questions to pursue, and what solutions they want to test. This makes the learning intensely personal while taking advantage of students’ natural curiosity, creativity, and critical-thinking skills. If you need a little help getting started, consider using one of these Blue Apple projects from Inquiry Outpost.
By linking our STEM lessons to real-world experiences, teachers can provide a meaningful answer to the age-old question of, “Why are we learning this?” We can equip our students with the skills to not only navigate everyday challenges but also create positive change within their own communities. So, let’s empower young learners to see the relevance of STEM in their lives, and lay a strong learning foundation that will support them well beyond the classroom.
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This week in 5 numbers: Education Department puts 60 colleges on notice
The number of colleges put on notice this week by the Education Department over allegations of antisemitism. The agency warned the institutions via letters that it could take enforcement action against them if it determines that they aren’t sufficiently protecting Jewish students from discrimination, including by providing “uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.” -
3 ways to break down silos between general and special education
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.BALTIMORE — When educators operate with separate goals and don’t engage in authentic collaboration, it creates friction and can ultimately hurt student progress, said Casey Watts, an educator and team leadership expert, in the opening keynote address at the Council for Exceptional Children’s annual convention on Wednesday.
“I believe that people deserve to be part of collaborative teams that move forward, make an impact together and leave them feeling empowered, inspired and essential,” said Watts, who is also a pre-K-5 instructional coach at Hudson Independent School District in Lufkin, Texas.
When educators and administrators are siloed, there can be an “us versus them” mentality, she said. “I believe that when we function in silos as educators, we unintentionally create silos in our students.”
To dismantle barriers between general and special educators and between teachers and administrators, Watts recommends three core concepts:
Have an ‘elevator pitch’
Maintaining a strong sense of identity and purpose in your work can help eliminate ambiguities and assumptions others have of your role at school, Casey said. This goes for all educators in the school, including special education teachers, general education teachers, counselors, administrators and others.
To ensure clarity, educators should work on their “elevator pitch,” or a brief summary of their role in the school. “When you create an elevator pitch, what you are essentially doing is pulling people in to become the main character of the story, and you are addressing their pain points, and you’re giving them new narratives for your position, which in essence, is bridging the gaps that exist between us as adults in education,” Watts said.
In developing their elevator pitches, educators should think about how their role serves others in the school building and the skills they offer to educators and students.
Engage in authentic collaboration
Authentic collaboration is easier said than done, Watts said. And some “faux collaborations” can seem promising — such as an offer to share resources and materials — but really don’t break down barriers among educators.
True collaboration takes courage and vulnerability and can include difficult conversations. It also means using everyone’s strengths and listening to all voices, she said.
Establishing protocols where each person in the school community is a contributor can help break down silos, Watts said.
Bring clarity to goals
When everyone is on the same path, they know where the team is headed and how to get there. But when goals are unclear or the path is uncertain, people can get off track or operate independently, Watts said.
When that happens, teachers go into their classrooms, close the door and vow to do what’s best for their students. But that can lead to unintentional gaps in student learning.
“As I work with teams in districts across the nation, I hear so often leaders say ‘our teachers just won’t get on board,’” Watts said. “On the flip side of that, I’m hearing from teachers and staff who are saying the opposite: ‘We just never know what’s going on.’ There are two different narratives at play.”
A lack of clarity creates unproductive confusion, Watts said. As a result, educators and administrators might lack confidence and feel defeated, frustrated and distrustful, she said.
Setting out clear goals will boost confidence and capacity in educators, resulting in a collective efficacy, Watts said. That, in turn, will have “a significant impact on student learning,” she said.
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Promoting Student Engagement, Health Innovation With Grants
This past fall, Elon University in North Carolina offered students an opportunity to positively impact the campus community’s well-being through grant-funded projects.
The Andrew G. Bennett ’08 Student Wellness Innovation Grants recognized four student-led projects this winter, which will be implemented over the next year and beyond. The initiative supports student leadership in well-being work and also helps university leadership glean insight into what could impact student health and wellness.
How it works: Funds for the grant were previously endowed to support a safe ride program at the university, but the rise of ride-hailing apps has reduced the need for funding in that area, explains Anu Räisänen, director of HealthEU initiatives. University leaders worked with the donor to realign funds to spur innovation among students.
To be considered, the project had to align with HealthEU goals and address at least one of six dimensions of wellness—community, emotional, financial, physical, purpose and social.
The grant committee—chaired by Räisänen and supported by two graduate apprentices, a counselor and a professor of education—reviewed seven proposals this cycle. Each proposal was submitted by a student as an individual or as part of a group. Students were encouraged to find a department or student organization to co-sign the proposal to promote sustainability and continuation of efforts beyond the individual’s time at the university, Räisänen says.
Prior to submitting an application, students could opt to meet with Räisänen for a consultation to flesh out their idea, including brainstorming campus partners to support the effort after the individual graduates.
Applicants also provided a summary of how funding will be used and the intended impact on the community’s well-being.
The committee accepted and reviewed applications within Qualtrics, grading each proposal with a rubric that weighed feasibility, innovation and impact.
What’s next: Four proposals received $500 each in funding, the maximum amount available, including a puppy yoga event, an arts and crafts service initiative, a peer support program for nursing students, and renovation of the philosophy suite in the Spence Pavilion, an academic building on campus.
There was no one ideal project, and each grantee differed in terms of length of project and target population, Räisänen says.
This spring, students will submit an impact report describing the project status and the effects so far. Grant recipients will also present at HealthEU Day, which celebrates ongoing efforts to promote integrated wellness through fun events and education.
Students still enrolled will be asked to attend, and those who have graduated may provide a video discussing their project and the innovation fund.
“The goal is that students come and share their experience, like they would do with undergraduate research as well, and then we build that momentum” for student interest and engagement, Räisänen says. “The best way to get a message to students is word of mouth; you just need to find the right students to spread the word.”
In the future, Räisänen and her team are considering ways to provide larger grant awards to encourage students to think bigger about ways they could impact well-being on campus.
Seeking stories from campus leaders, faculty members and staff for our Student Success focus. Share here.
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More Colleges Freeze Hiring Amid Federal Funding Uncertainty
As the higher education sector grapples with federal funding cuts and other disruptions, a growing number of colleges across the country—from public flagships to Ivy League institutions—are freezing hiring and spending and pausing graduate student admissions.
This week, Brown University, Duke University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington and others joined the list of more than a dozen colleges that have temporarily paused hiring and vowed to hold off on some discretionary spending.
“It is meant to preserve our financial flexibility until we better understand how changes in federal policy will take shape and can assess the scale of their impact,” Harvard president Alan Garber wrote this week in a message to the campus community. “We plan to leave the pause in effect for the current semester but will revisit that decision as circumstances warrant.”
Garber added that Harvard will continue to advocate for higher education in Washington, D.C.
“Expanding access to higher education for all, preserving academic freedom, and supporting our community’s research, teaching, and learning will always be our highest priorities,” he wrote.
Colleges and universities started to curb costs last month after the National Institutes of Health said it plans to cap reimbursements for costs indirectly related to research—a move expected to cost colleges at least $4 billion. A federal judge has since blocked that proposal from moving forward, but the Trump administration has essentially stopped awarding new NIH grants, creating financial uncertainty for many colleges.
The latest wave of freezes comes after the Trump administration announced it was pulling $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University, warning that other universities could see a similar penalty as part of the government’s crackdown on alleged campus antisemitism. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was essentially shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has provided billions to colleges over the years. And the Education Department laid off nearly half its staff, which could cause disruptions for colleges, though the financial impact is not clear.
Congress is also considering proposals to put some colleges on the hook for unpaid student loans and to raise the endowment tax on wealthy institutions, among other ideas that could affect universities’ bottom lines.
Penn officials said this week that while the final impact of the federal changes and cuts isn’t yet clear, the university is already “experiencing reduced funding.” In addition to a hiring freeze, Penn is reducing noncompensation expenses by 5 percent and reviewing all spending on capital projects.
“The scope and pace of the possible disruptions we face may make them more severe than those of previous challenges, such as the 2008 financial crisis or the COVID pandemic,” Penn officials wrote in a letter. “With careful financial management, however, Penn is well-positioned to navigate them.”
At the University of Washington, officials are facing not only the federal policy changes but also potential state funding cuts. Officials have noted that the university is in a good financial position over all but said they need to take proactive measures—such as stopping all nonessential hiring, travel and training—to prepare for any losses.
“These risks together have the potential to jeopardize the full scope of our work, including existing and new research projects, patient care, instruction and basic operations,” university provost Tricia Serio wrote in a blog post.
Other colleges that have paused hiring or instituted other cost-cutting measures this month include Emory University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Vermont.
Beyond hiring freezes, some colleges continue to re-evaluate graduate student admissions, particularly for Ph.D. students who are typically supported by federal grants.
On Wednesday, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester rescinded provisional offers of acceptance to students who planned to pursue a doctorate, a spokesperson confirmed to Inside Higher Ed.
“With uncertainties related to the funding of biomedical research in this country, this difficult decision was made to ensure that our current students’ progress is not disrupted by the funding cuts and that we avoid matriculating students who may not have robust opportunities for dissertation research,” the spokesperson said. “All impacted applicants are being offered the opportunity to receive priority consideration without the requirement to reapply, should they wish to join our Ph.D. program in a future admissions cycle.”
Neither current students nor those at the medical school’s other graduate schools are affected.
Iowa State University also rescinded some acceptance offers, The Iowa Capital Dispatch reported, joining other colleges that made similar decisions in the last month.
As the list grows, academics worry about the long-term consequences of the cost-cutting measures. The hiring freezes and disruptions to graduate student admissions have thrown a wrench into the plans of early-career researchers, who are now looking to Europe and the private sector for job opportunities.
Puskar Mondal, a lecturer on math at Harvard and a research fellow, wrote in an opinion piece for The Harvard Crimson that the hiring freeze is “troubling.”
“The hiring freeze isn’t just a financial or administrative issue—it’s something that could have a ripple effect across all disciplines at Harvard,” Mondal wrote. “It could lead to fewer opportunities for students, more pressure on faculty, and a slowdown in research that could take years to recover from. And that’s not just bad for Harvard—it’s bad for all of us.”
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Sam Altman’s AI Hype Is Familiar
I think Sam Altman is too young to have been influenced by Rolling Stone magazine, but I feel like he’s learned something about retconning previously expressed hype in order to make room for fresh amazement from how Rolling Stone treated the new albums of the 1980s and 1990s by the Rolling Stones.
By that time, the Stones had established themselves as permanent rock royalty, but their music was undeniably less vital than their late-’60s, early-’70s heyday that produced all-time great work. Music tastes had changed, Mick and Keith were less interested in and less capable of breaking new ground, and so the work understandably suffered next to albums like Exile on Main Street or Sticky Fingers.
Not according to Rolling Stone, which could be relied on to wax rhapsodically about whatever the boys had produced upon the album’s release, declaring it a return to greatness after a previous fallow period. Unfortunately, you can only return to greatness once, so when the next album would arrive, they had to retroactively downgrade the previous album that had been dubbed a near masterpiece.
In 1983, Kurt Loder declared that Undercover “reassembles, in the manner of mature masters of every art, familiar elements into exciting new forms,” giving the album four and a half stars.
Undercover had one minor hit, “Undercover of the Night,” which sounds like second-rate Duran Duran, and has Charlie Watts playing electronic drums, an absolute offense against all that is good and holy. The idea that it is a near-perfect album is, literally, insane.
We move forward to 1989 and the Steel Wheels album, also given four and a half stars, this time by Anthony DeCurtis. The review opens with “Nothing reinvigorates Sixties icons like having something to prove. In the past few years the reverence typically shown both the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan has worn perilously thin. The Stones’ last two albums, Undercover and Dirty Work—not to mention Mick Jagger’s solo recordings—ranged from bad to ordinary” (emphasis mine).
It gets better. In 1994, Barbara O’Dair declared in her review of Voodoo Lounge, “Gone are the smooth moves, trend nods and lackluster songcraft of Dirty Work and Steel Wheels, the Rolling Stones’ last two studio discs. The band’s new album, Voodoo Lounge, is ragged and glorious, reveling in the quintessential rock & roll the Stones marked as their own some 30 years ago.”
But this time it’s true, the Rolling Stones really are back!
The popular explanation for all these rave reviews upon a new album’s release is that Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner and Stones lead singer Mick Jagger were close friends. But even that friendship could not stand up against the fact that over time, it became clear that these albums were duds, and so each review had to retroactively throw the previous effort under the bus.
Recently, on the platform I will only ever call Twitter, Sam Altman declared, “We trained a new model that is good at creative writing (not sure yet how/when it will get released). This is the first time I have been really struck by something written by AI.”
This is a strange statement, given that Altman has been relentlessly hyping this technology since its first public appearance in 2022, expressing personal marvel at its smarts, its empathy and now its creativity. One would think he’s been struck repeatedly by what his models produce, but apparently not—this is the first time.
Note that this model is not yet available for public consumption, so we cannot judge for ourselves if it is “good” at creative writing, except I am totally going to judge whether or not it is good at creative writing and say it isn’t.
Despite being well established in the skeptic camp about this technology, I think anyone who reads More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI would come away seeing that I am quite open to experimentation and exploration of this technology where it has the potential to enhance, as opposed to substitute for, human capacities.
But “creative writing” is clearly not an area in which large language models will excel, because I will go to my grave believing that the whole point of writing creatively is to attempt to capture the artistic intention of a single unique intelligence and then to share that intention with other unique intelligences. This challenge, which I have wrestled with over many, many hours of my life, is difficult, fascinating and very much worth doing even if the product of that wrestling never sees the light of day beyond the audience of the original author, which is something I’ve experienced rather often in my career.
Large language models are not unique intelligences. They are highly sophisticated, technologically amazing pattern-matching machines that generate syntax as their outputs. There is no intention behind this generation, therefore there is no creativity at work. It is not writing, not as I understand it, and not as I value it.
I know lots of people who are willing to argue about these things who will say that we’re in the midst of a “new” intelligence, blah blah blah. I’m happy for other people to wrestle with these thought experiments, but I know for a fact that the human experiences of reading and writing the creative work of other unique human intelligences is worth doing no matter what this technology—that cannot and never will work from an intentional place—is capable of.
Look, I imagine some of my frustration is starting to leak through, and I do not wish to outright dismiss those with other perspectives, though I wonder about folks who are not capable of seeing past Altman’s relentless hucksterism by now.
The thing is, thanks to More Than Words being in the world and having the opportunity to talk to lots of different people in lots of different contexts about what I have to say about writing in a world where large language models exist, it’s increasingly clear to me that in many cases, no one is asking for this stuff.
If no one is asking for it, we certainly have no responsibility to give it the time of day when it does arrive just because it’s shiny, new or amazing at the surface level.
The future is ours, not AI’s.
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States File Lawsuit Challenging Education Department Cuts
Twenty Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Trump administration for its massive job cuts at the Education Department, seeking to block what they say is “an effective dismantling” of the department.
The suit argues that by eliminating half the staff, the department is essentially abdicating its responsibility to deliver statutorily mandated programs, like federal student aid and civil rights investigations—many of which also affect state programs.
“This massive reduction in force is equivalent to incapacitating key, statutorily-mandated functions of the Department, causing immense damage to Plaintiff States and their educational systems,” the suit reads.
The plaintiffs include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
The lawsuit is at least the eighth to be filed against the Trump administration over its education policies in the past month. Follow Inside Higher Ed’s Trump Lawsuit Tracker for updates on the case.
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College Applications Rise, Especially From Minority Students
The number of students applying to college rose 4 percent this admission cycle, and applicants submitted 6 percent more applications over all, according to a new report from the Common App.
The increase was fueled by an especially large spike in the number of underrepresented minority applicants, which rose by 12 percent compared to non-URM applicants’ 2 percent increase. In addition, applicants from families below the median income level rose 8 percent, compared to 3 percent from above the median.
The increase could reflect the Common App’s addition of more community colleges and open-access institutions to its platform, expanding to include more institutions that primarily serve low-income students.
One striking finding in the report: Domestic applicant growth exceeded that of international students for the first time since 2019. Domestic applicants increased by 5 percent while the number of international applicants declined by 1 percent.
In addition, the number of applicants submitting test scores in 2024–25 grew by 11 percent, outpacing nonreporters for the first time since 2021. Some schools began returning to mandatory test requirements this application cycle, abandoning test-optional policies adopted during the pandemic.
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Record Number of U.S. Students Apply for U.K. Undergraduate Degrees
A record number of U.S. students have applied to study for undergraduate degrees in the U.K. next year, figures reveal.
Experts had previously suggested that U.K. institutions might benefit from international students being put off by Donald Trump’s new administration.
And analysis suggests campuses are already seeing an influx of applicants from the U.S. itself. Figures from the University and College Admissions Service, UCAS, show that 6,680 U.S. students applied to U.K. courses for 2025–26 by the main deadline at the end of January.
This was a 12 percent increase on the year before and the most since comparable records began in 2006. It surpasses the previous record of 6,670 set in 2021–22 and is more than double the demand in 2017.
Maddalaine Ansell, director of education at the British Council, said she was “delighted” by the 20-year high.
“It’s a testament to the quality of U.K. universities that so many people want to study here. Three-year degrees, lower tuition costs and poststudy work opportunities all increase the attractiveness of the U.K. offer,” she said.
“As well as adding to the vibrancy of their courses, we hope that these students will also take a lasting affection for the U.K. forward into their future careers and stay connected with us for years to come.”
Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of the applicants from the U.S. were 18 years old, and 61 percent were women.
The UCAS data covers undergraduate applicants, but separate figures show an uptick in demand at all levels—even before Trump’s second term began.
Recent Home Office statistics reveal that 15,274 U.S. main applicants were issued sponsored study visas in 2024.
This was a 5 percent increase on 2023 and also the highest level since at least 2009—despite total visa numbers from around the world falling.
Recent research by the British Council found that more international students would choose the U.K. over the U.S. as a result of Trump’s return to the White House.
Although he managed to generate a large swing toward the Republican Party among young voters, those aged 18 to 29 still largely backed Kamala Harris in November.
In the 78-year-old’s first six weeks in the Oval Office, he has pledged to shut down the Department of Education, block federal funding for institutions that allow “illegal” protests and launched a crackdown on spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Universities UK said the increase in demand to study in the U.K. is positive, following a turbulent period for international student recruitment.
“But it is too early to say whether this is the start of a longer-term trend,” added a spokesperson.
“What is important now is for universities and government to continue to work together to promote the U.K. as a welcoming destination, and to preserve our competitive offer to international students.”
Recent data also showed that a record number of Americans applied for U.K. citizenship last year, which immigration lawyers attributed to Trump’s presidential re-election bid and victory.
