STEM Blog
This blog is set up to give STEM Academy families tools to think about learning in positive ways both in and OUT of the classroom.

Recent Posts
December 
December is a great month to talk with your family about self-control.
Self-control
​I’m not just referring to resisting the urge to keep eating holiday sweets, or the desire of little kids to create long lists for of wants, but also to reflect on how to develop self-control. This character trait is both strength of heart, and strength of mind. Character lab defines self-control as controlling one's own responses so they align with short- and long-term goals. Self-control predicts academic, personal, health, and economic outcomes. The famous “marshmallow experiment” showed that preschool students who demonstrated more self-control had better academic and social outcomes decades later—including less drug use and higher SAT scores—than did those who demonstrated less self-control as young children. Check out the link to see some examples of observing self-control, an evidenced based tool for developing self-control called WOOP, which stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan. Also there are two short videos about what the research says about self-control.

Dr. Walter Mischel talks about Self-Control from Character Lab on Vimeo.

Dr. Ethan Kross, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, talks about Self-Control from Character Lab on Vimeo.

On a personal note I am working on exercising self-control as I train for the steelhead ½ ironman in Benton Harbor, Michigan on August 13th. I’ve never done this distance of triathlon (70.3 miles) I will be working on exercising self-control as I resist the snooze button, and stick to my training plan the next 9 months.
- Mr. Chopp
Posted by Chris Chopp  On Nov 30, 2016 at 1:15 PM 65 Comments
  
October 
In the first week of October I am asking that you watch, “The Adaptable Mind.” This short video explores the skills we need to flourish in the 21st Century. The film begins with a question to the world through social media: what’s a great example of a 21st century mind in action?



Of the hundreds of inspiring stories that flooded in, one stood out: Los Angeles-based professor and artist, Mary Beth Heffernan, was listening to coverage of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and how isolating and traumatic it must be for patients to interact only with hazmat suits for weeks on end. She thought, “what if they put pictures of their faces on the front of the suits?” Thousands of letters, grants, and hurdles later, Mary Beth’s story reveals that, while there is a lot of fear that technology is displacing our jobs, the skills we need most in the 21st Century — curiosity, creativity, taking initiative, multi-disciplinary thinking, and empathy — happen to be skills that machines don’t have; only humans have.

Share your thoughts on our FaceBook page or in the comments section below!
Posted by Jason Hall  On Nov 30, 2016 at 1:15 PM 35 Comments
  
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