Personalized learning demands that we rethink the roles of teachers and learners and enable students to drive their own learning. This session will explore an Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO) model that puts students in the driver’s seat in developing, implementing, and evaluating a biology unit at Winnacunnet High School. In the “EvolvingSTEM” unit, students take on the roles of teachers, lab technicians, and microbiologists while replicating graduate-level research to find a treatment for cystic fibrosis.
Session participants will hear directly from students who have successfully personalized their educational experience at WHS. Presenters will share information about Winnacunnet’s partnerships in higher education and in the STEM professions, which have made classroom learning even more authentic, and will describe the role of data in shaping decision-making in this ELO model.
This session also will provide an overview of the specific curricular components of this ELO and will guide participants in developing an action plan to incorporate the model into their classrooms. Participants will also learn how to incorporate EvolvingSTEM into a biology curriculum or enrichment activity based on the Next Generation Science Standards.
