STEM Education with a Narrative Edge

In recent months, I’ve read a lot of articles outlining the positive impact of STEM education on student learning.  While some articles discuss variations on the STEM approach by adding in the Arts, a recent article from the KQED MindShift blog, highlights and interesting approach to the standard STEM formula by asking the question Could Storytelling Be the Secret Sauce to STEM Education?    

Katrina Schwartz, a journalist and staff writer for KQED’s education blog MindShift, shares the story of New York City public school teacher Lev Fruchter and his novel approach to teaching STEM education.  “[Fruchter] is convinced," according to Schwartz, that “literature is a great way to excite learners about STEM.”

Fruchter, having taught English and Math, realized that “stories are a great way to make science, technology, engineering and math ideas accessible and concrete to learners who might not think those kind of technical studies are for them.” Highlighting Fruchter’s use of stories like “The Lady, or the Tiger,” Schwartz explains that while Fruchter is able to help students interpret and write about literature, he is also able to provide students with options to “interpret a math problem in multiple ways, showing solutions in various ways, using functions and factoring.”  The story is the lens through which the students view the complex math and engineering problems that are customary in STEM education. 

As a former English teacher, I’m hopeful that I will someday step into a classroom and see students reading Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains.” This is certainly one of my favorite short stories and full of options to explore, especially with a project based STEM approach.   

To read more of Schwartz’s article and to see examples of texts used by Fruchter, go to http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/06/05/could-storytelling-be-the-secret-sauce-to-stem-education/ or click on the title in the first paragraph of this post. 

Leave a comment and let me know the texts you use in your classroom and how they could be used as a lens for the STEM approach to teaching and learning.