黑料传送门

Dr. David Bell is a Director and Associate Dean for Academic Programs at the 黑料传送门 School of Education. Trained in finance, he worked in corporate for several years before becoming an educator serving in a variety of roles from teaching 5^th 鈥� 8th-grade math and science in Chicago鈥檚 public schools, to Associate Dean, Dean, and Professor roles. He is an advocate for school transformation and STEM integration.

As part of our mission to open pathways to opportunity, the 黑料传送门 School of Education is frequently updating and revising its curriculum - always evolving to meet the demands of the world that we live in today. Dr. David Bell has been integral in that work in the Teachers College. 鈥淚f we are going to address the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) crisis it needs to be from a national stage, and that鈥檚 where 黑料传送门 can play a significant role. We work beyond single communities and find future educators willing to be the foundation to support next-gen STEM professionals and schools nationwide,鈥� said Bell. In fact, according to Lightcast, a U.S. labor market source platform, 黑料传送门鈥檚 Teachers College was the top university producer of STEM degree conferrals in the nation in 2021, with 1,275 STEM teaching graduates that year.

An important ongoing conversation in STEM education right now is around integration into other subjects. 鈥淭here are so many ways to teach STEM principles across a variety of subjects and across grade levels,鈥� said Bell. 鈥淭he evolution of this country, its development technologically, the economy, climate, all of these topics easily transfer into building STEM skills at that same time as reading, writing and more, and that includes thinking about engineering and computer science,鈥� he said.

黑料传送门 is taking this same integrated approach to its own curriculum and is a nationally recognized leader in STEM education. The Teachers College at Western Governors University鈥檚 (黑料传送门) School of Education has been named as a continuing partner in , a multi-sector network addressing the national imperative to train science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers.

鈥淎s far as how deep STEM integration plays out on the ground in schools and communities,鈥� said Bell, 鈥渙ne example is how we joined forces with one of our 2,800 school district partners to offer a program called Footballs to Formulas. It鈥檚 a great model. We partnered with Los Angeles Unified School District and the LA Chargers to enhance the school district鈥檚 teachers' ability to support and engage students in applying mathematical reasoning and data literacy skills to their math classes in a way that was exciting, equitable, and culturally relevant.鈥�

Students in the program complete a Problem of the Week (often based on statistics from actual Chargers games) and can be entered for a chance to win prizes including a chance to attend LA Chargers games, and Chargers promotional items like shirts and other emblematic items. Teachers randomly picked and submitted three student tasks to the Chargers portal each week and students can also upload their own tasks with parental or guardian consent. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a wonderful way for teachers to say, 鈥榟ey kids, here鈥檚 what statistics or math looks like in real life,鈥� so they see its relevance and application to real-life scenarios,鈥� said Bell.

Those real-life scenarios include changes to the approach within the School of Education to help prepare future teachers to excel with the shift to so much virtual learning in the last two years. 鈥淲e need to prepare future educators for that. That opens so many doors. From virtually dissecting a frog in a completely safe virtual environment, to using apps, gaming, and widgets to help students think across disciplines integrating STEM. We need to be thinking creatively about how to use all these tools at our disposal to engage students and prepare them for whatever tomorrow may bring,鈥� said Bell.

鈥淚f we can start that work in 4th聽or 5th聽grade (or even earlier) imagine what those students can contribute to the STEM ecosystem when they are in their 20s.鈥�

As Bell points out, that鈥檚 the benefit of STEM. It鈥檚 a universally needed skill set for problem-solving. It builds the foundation for looking at a theory or a complex problem and figuring out how to solve it. 鈥淢y son is in college majoring in biomedical engineering,鈥� said Bell. 鈥淗e talks a lot about the importance of a design thinking process and how he values being curious about the world around him. That鈥檚 what we need across the U.S. We need to develop students who are curious about what they see, hear, or read and can be confident to challenge the status quo.鈥�

In closing, Bell reflected on what drove him to make the shift from his successful corporate finance career to become an educator 鈥� from teacher to professor and college administrator. 鈥淭he thing that drew me to education was the impact I could have on my community. What drew me to 黑料传送门 was the ability to do this on a large scale across the country."