Running head: PROJECT SUMMARY AND IMPACT 1

Project Summary and Impact

Carina Weidenbach

Arizona State University

Lori Lovitt

TEL 311

March 31, 2019

PROJECT SUMMARY AND IMPACT 2

Project Summary

As years trickle on, more and more schools are shifting to greater Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Math (STEM) based courses, activities, and curriculum. While students become

inspired, motivated, and deeply captivated through the ability to invent and engineer new ways to

complete tasks in their daily life, they often bypass the implications of such creations. This project

brings a conscious eye to the subject as students are asked, “How will the ability to design future

humans affect society?”

Students within Gilbert Public Schools, specifically Greenfield JH, have access to endless

STEM electives and activities which allow their ideas and creative minds to flourish. There is a need

for these students to become aware of the footprint they leave behind them as they expand their

STEM abilities. A need to inspire new career paths and allow students to find their place and

meaning within their adolescence and in their life. This project creates a foundation of critical

thinking, research-based development, and cautious societal impact within each student.

Over the course of 4 weeks, students will develop a position on the growing issue of genetic

engineering, conduct interviews, gather research, and present their findings to a board of medical

doctors, nurses, and genetic scientists. Students will start this project in a room-transformation

activity in which students will simulate the process of developing a genetically natural child as well

as a genetically engineered child and compare the difference between the two processes.

Students will be actively engaged as they conduct research on mini subtopics of their

choosing, connecting their findings to their personal story and experience of being a genetically

natural child. Students will gather information and conduct interviews in a more adult-like setting

than they ever have before, providing them with a more mature learning setting and holding them to

higher expectations. The project is presented with various components to engage each child’s

interest, from data collection, news anchor interviews, videography, debating using law practices, all

while conducting research of their own interest.

PROJECT SUMMARY AND IMPACT 3

Project Impact

Students

During the first year conducting this real-world project, only approximately 140 students will

participate, the students of my 5 science classes. After tweaks and adjustments have been made to the

project requirements, curriculum, and community connection, the project will be opened to all 8th

grade science classes, as well as 7th grade STEM elective classes, with a projected 350 students

participating in 2-3 years. This will excite their learning by engaging in content that connects to their

personal lives and interests. They will learn to work effectively with their peers to meet a deadline

and develop such pride when they succeed together.

Teachers

As an educator, fusing creative connections between students’ interests, personal lives, and

course curriculum is my main priority. By teaching a unit through a project-based assessment, I will

improve my teaching practices by aiding in a vast assortment of preferred learning techniques rather

than forcing a specific learning method. Not only does this provide me with creative new strategies to

teach further curriculum, it allows me to form better connections with my students, community, and

brainstorm with my coworkers.

Community

Connections will be made between the local hospital as well as nearby college of ASU

through the production of this project. This will open connections for other teachers to utilize when

planning curriculum, such as creating real-world math lessons during a statistics unit, as well as

involvement with other elective courses. The Gilbert Public School District may develop further

elective classes connecting with the hospital, such as a pre-nursing program that allows students to

gain access interning in a hospital to see if the pre-med track is right for them. Parents may become

more actively involved and excited about the new steps the district is taking for student engagement

and creativity, wanting to watch their student grow and mature.