ChangED
ChangED is an educator based podcast for Pennsylvania teachers to learn more about the PA STEELS Standards and science in general. It is hosted by Andrew Kuhn and Patrice Semicek.
ChangED
Revolutionizing Science Education at NSTA Philly
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Stephanie Klixbull shares her remarkable journey from a celebrated elementary STEM teacher to helming the future of science education as President-Elect of the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association. Explore how Pennsylvania's innovative STEELS standards are reshaping the science curriculum by blending science, technology, engineering, environmental literacy, and sustainability in a way that resonates with local contexts. These standards, which align with the Next Generation Science Standards, are designed to inspire students from kindergarten through 12th grade, encouraging them to actively participate in scientific practices. Tune in to learn how these endeavors aim to foster a generation of thinkers and doers, at the NSTA conference in Philadelphia. Learn how you can leverage your time at NSTA Philly to network, learn and grow!
Experience more NSTA podcasts and learn about the Philly NSTA Conference by visiting nsta.org/podcast.
Want to learn more about ChangED? Check out our website at: learn.mciu.org/changed
Welcome back to the NSTA podcast, a series getting you ready for the upcoming conference in Philly. I'm Andrew Kuhn, one of the hosts of the ChangeEd podcast. I am an education consultant from the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit here in the Philadelphia region of pennsylvania, and here with me is patrice semacek, also an education consultant from the montgomery county intermediate unit and a co-host of change it patrice, for today's show. We have a psta member not just a member.
Speaker 1:The president-elect oh, yes, yes, we went high up in the ranks. This individual and she is going to shed light on this thing called steals in pennsylvania and why it is not as different as you think from ngss. Sounds good, thank you for coming on, and of course doing this.
Speaker 1:we feel very fortunate to be partnering with NSTA, to be creating these podcasts. Being from Pennsylvania, I think a great spin on like here's our perspective on NGSS and steals. And yeah, absolutely. If you don't mind, maybe just tell us a little bit about you and who is Stephanie Kilksbull? Am I saying that right, klicksbull? You tried.
Speaker 3:It's okay, it's, I married into it. It's an interesting one, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, same same. Mine is said semi-check and it's definitely not spelled that way.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, there you go I need to have a phonics issue, so like being on a podcast and saying people's names is like I just want to get the most anxiety.
Speaker 3:I'm like, oh man I got something I'm good there it's okay, i'mlexic, so I might throw in two words that don't even make sense.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to have a bunch of neurodivergent people in one room. It feels good yeah. Between the three of us we'll be good, there you go.
Speaker 1:So the question is who is Stephanie Klixpool?
Speaker 3:I was a elementary teacher, got to see every grade Really awesome opportunity in my career. I taught from pre-K-3 all the way to fifth grade and I taught math science as a homeroom teacher. And then I was a STEM teacher, focusing in engineering, and I did that actually in South Carolina, and I left the classroom in 2021 in the midst of COVID, after having a one-year-old too. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was just after I won Teacher of the Year for the state of South Carolina in the Independent Schools Association and I also had won an international award for my STEM curriculum in my classroom. And in 2021, I left. We relocated to Washington DC where I became Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, and that's an 11 month term that you serve. It's through the Department of Energy, but you're actually placed in a federal agency and you help with their initiatives in STEM education. So I was actually placed in the Department of Defense with the Navy, which is really funny because at first I said, why would they want an elementary teacher? You know, in the military.
Speaker 3:But it all made sense when I interviewed with them that they were actually trying to bring more when it came to elementary resources in STEM education.
Speaker 3:Being a huge elementary advocate, there's definitely a lack of resources when it comes to elementary science and I think that was their initiative to try and help that.
Speaker 3:And we at Penn State University, where I am now the elementary STEM specialist, k through eight for a center for the science in the schools, or short for CSATs, and what we do is we actually work on federal agency grants that are mainly focusing on broader impacts the research scientists to the school districts and the teachers and help develop professional development curriculum lessons, activities, programs, any way to connect what the top research and science is happening right now and bringing it into the classroom in the K-12 space. And in the midst of all of that, I was a member of the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association. I was a member of the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association, psta, and then became vice president and just recently became president elect. So it's been great the last couple of years getting familiar with our new science standards and obviously bringing PD to teachers about STEELs and obviously working with PSTA in our initiatives as well with process state looking at the new standards, so it's been a great ride so far. I've really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:You're kind of living my dream life.
Speaker 1:I feel like, yeah, yeah, hearing the most recent cliff note versions of your resume. I would just like to say that I would label myself as a professional slacker.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really she's won like 18 awards Stumbled into a podcast.
Speaker 1:Worked for Albert.
Speaker 2:Einstein stuff, I mean come on no, Honestly a science teacher.
Speaker 3:It was a wild ride, honestly. You know, you meet some Albert Einsteins and you read their resumes and they were teachers for like 35 years and yeah, I mean just amazing things that they have done and I think mind kind of catalyst off of that international award and it was just a wild ride for like three years and I was like what is going on? Like I didn't even expect this out of me, so I just caught the wave at the right time. I guess you could say I'm literally fangirling.
Speaker 2:So sorry, Stephanie.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, and just a little tiny side note, but as an elementary science STEM teacher, I used to in my classroom, have the cartoons with the safety goggles and the little white lab coats and stuff like that. And when I got to the Navy they placed me at what's called Carderock Naval Surface Warfare Center. It's in Bethesda, maryland, and their motto there is that's where the future fleet begins. So they are research scientists and engineers 2,000 of them civilian employees that work on the future fleet by doing modeled submarines and creating what could be future vehicles, whether it's submarines or ships. And that was my first time actually working with, and being right next to every day at work, real scientists and real engineers.
Speaker 3:And none of them were wearing lab coats. They were all wearing black jeans and like torn t-shirts and working with drills and tools and I was like, oh, if only I could go back to my classroom and tell my kids not all scientists wear lab coats, right, there might be some more kids interested in it, right?
Speaker 2:Like, if you get to work with drills and do cool stuff, I would have been more interested in that than thinking I'm in a lab all the time, right?
Speaker 3:So I say any elementary teacher should totally spend a day with a research scientist and actually get to see what the field is like, because it's all different from being at a farm right and looking at crops to working on a submarine. They're all different jobs and I hope more elementary science teachers get to do what I did and see that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I want to ask you this question, Stephanie, and I think this is really a lot of our listeners who are coming to this conference at SDA are saying, okay, what is this steals thing? They're going to see a lot of steals. What is this steals? What's?
Speaker 3:really interesting is if you look at our past science standards, they're at least over 20 years old and if you can imagine the amount of innovation that has happened within 20 years, right, I mean it's interesting if you look historically through humanity us for hundreds of years having no technology, and then when you look at the moment of the light bulb being invented, which was one of the first forms of electricity, to now that amount of time frame compared to all those years prior that we had no innovations like that we cannot catch up to the STEM fields or the science fields that are working on innovation. Currently we have a huge gap and we have to get our kids in the K through 12 space. I don't want to say up to date, but we definitely need to have a bigger push to help with science and really I want to say STEM, but science in the classroom to help with those future careers, because we definitely have gaps right now. I mean, in computer science.
Speaker 3:You know you don't want to talk about it because it's kind of daunting to hear about the fields that are open there, and I think STEALS was a great way to help with that initiative in the state of Pennsylvania. I think there was a need and they saw it and they're like we need to make a change. And I think that's what people need to understand is we're used to different states having English standards, science standards, math standards, and then we say something like SEALs.
Speaker 2:And you're like wait.
Speaker 3:What is that? For those who don't know who might be listening, it's an acronym short for science, technology, engineering, environmental literacy standards, and I think it's absolutely thrilling. I'm very excited. I know that there may be some teachers who might be used to their ways of teaching, especially if we got 20 year old standards. There might be some teachers out there who are used to teaching something for 20 years, right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And it's changed for sure because now we are trying to implement in that science time especially in the elementary space, where I'm from but technology standards, engineering standards, with those science standards and I'm even very excited, especially for this state environmental literacy and sustainability standards because our state has such a huge push in the jobs of agriculture and this is a great way to get our students more understanding of our state and the sciences that our state is used to or pushes for the US. I mean, we're the fourth largest grower for apple production but there's other crops that we have a huge focus and push for here. That helps the United States as a whole and so we really want to help with those environmental literacy standards. So I love to tell people that are new to Steele's One of the things they ask, like what's the difference between NGSS and Steeles? The environmental literacy is a very exciting moment for us, especially because they don't just start in high school or in middle school.
Speaker 3:They span from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade, and even in K through second. They're learning about how things are harvested and production of things and really starting to understand where does your food come from. So I'm all about it. I'm really excited.
Speaker 2:I love it too, because the environmental literacy and sustainability standards in Pennsylvania allows the science to be a little more accessible to our classrooms. Like there's stuff you can pull out basically anywhere around Pennsylvania that is related to ELNS and you. You can tie all of the other science-y standards into it, but you're showing them. I can go out and actually do science instead of reading about it only or of creating a fabrication of a model or something. So I love the fact that it brings science to their personal area and allows it to become a little more tangible to students, especially at the elementary level. I think it's a phenomenal addition to our standards.
Speaker 3:And I agree with you, and I think one of the things that I love showing is motivation to do more science practices in the classroom and having these students get a feel or an introduction of what an actual scientist does every day. Then, instead of just reading about it or memorizing, it's not that kind of focus anymore. It's more of the fact of having them do it and be part of it and using their hands to learn about it. I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:It's very exciting. We've been finding that a lot of educators are embracing the three dimensions of learning and are excited by it. We talk about the three dimensions of learning and are excited by it. We talk about the three dimensions from the aspect of knowing, thinking and doing. And when we talk to educators we say, okay, how did we learn? And they say, well, it was all about knowing. We had to know all this information. We said, well, that's interesting, because this body of knowledge in science expands exponentially every day and we can't possibly contain all of that in our own minds. And we say, okay, what do students want? And they always go over to doing. They just want to do. And we say, interesting.
Speaker 1:So there's this gap here and part of our job is like, how do we help them to think, not that they can't think on their own, but how do we help them to process through this information? And really that's where the work lies. We can already see this disparity that that exists culturally even. What I love about it is it acknowledges that, but also empowers us as educators to say like this is the awesome stuff and we're going to help them to build up that muscle to be able to think. So that's the thing I really appreciate about NGSS. And the other thing I was thinking, as you were talking about the environmental literacy and sustainability part is, I think, for us in Pennsylvania, that's what really localizes NGSS for us. Is us in Pennsylvania, that's what really localizes NGSS for us. That's the part and with what you were saying, patrice, that really hones it in for us, because even within Pennsylvania there's a lot of diversity geographically and it changes what's happening where.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because this is what the standards are for is for the kids not to memorize the butterfly cycle. It's actually now going outside and investigating and learning about why do monarch butterflies migrate. That's a phenomenon and what's happening there, and that's part of these standards and part of NGSS. So I yeah, absolutely I agree with you. It's more about having these kids actively do and the teachers, you know, implement.
Speaker 2:I think teachers like it too, because it's fun oh they loved it. Fun, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Science is fun and it's a great way to build that catalyst. So these kids continue in science.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the greatest gifts of NGSS is it gives you permission to be curious, and curiosity is really the gateway into exploring phenomenon and diving into the three dimensions. But you're allowed to not know it, you're allowed to not have the answer and you're allowed to ask questions. That, to me, is the greatest gift. So, stephanie, as our listeners are super excited to come to Pennsylvania and hear about Steeles, but also for this NMCA conference in Philly, which we're thrilled that it is in Pennsylvania to host it.
Speaker 2:I do also want to point out that if they see a session that is Steeles, it's still NGSS aligned, and so going to a session that says Steeles doesn't necessarily mean you're going to miss out on NGSS content.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and thank you for saying that the Steeles conference room is not like oh, you're not a Pennsylvania teacher, you're not welcome here. It's not like that at all.
Speaker 1:We'll just tell everybody now anywhere you go at the conference, the password is always Steeles. Just say Steeles, It'll get you into the bathroom.
Speaker 3:It will get you to the front of the line for the water fountain.
Speaker 1:So, stephanie, what is the thing that you would want to say to someone who's coming to this conference that is not from Pennsylvania, and they're coming here?
Speaker 3:Honestly.
Speaker 3:Ok, I'm going to say two things, so don't say I can't do one, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:I would say that I would take a glance at the standards if you're not familiar or if you're not from here, just so you could see how there are similarities and how you could use that also in your classroom if you're from New Jersey or Florida, and with that, when you look at those standards, you can see how what you just said, Andrew, how we have taken something that is similar to NGSS, but we also want our teachers to see how we are promoting science and science field jobs in our own state, and this was how we did that.
Speaker 3:I think that it was something I would promote to anyone that's not familiar to Seals or is outside our state. And I would say the second thing, though if you are coming to NSDA because I've been to a few NSDA conferences and I think I'm at a point now, though I've gone to so many where I feel like it's like coming home and connecting with teachers from across the US that I don't get to work with them every day, but we're great friends because we met at NSCA or we learned about an opportunity from an NSCA workshop and then went to it or applied and got in and reconnected that way and now we have a long life friendship or career friendship. This is a great way for this opportunity, so if you have been to NSCA before.
Speaker 3:This is an opportunity to go to as many workshops as you can and not only gain knowledge to bring back to your classroom, but network, connect, know that you're not reinventing the wheel, that you can work together and learn about future PD opportunities that are a lot of times free, just a way to become an expert in the field or learn about something that you're not used to and you might be uncomfortable.
Speaker 3:And these are great ways to open the door and just learn and then go from there and apply to new things and select and go to new PDs. I know you said at the beginning like, wow, look at your career. A lot of it has been from going to a workshop or going to NSTA, hearing about it and saying this is so for me, I'm going to apply. So when you go to NSTA, in the exhibit halls, for instance, the Albert Einstein Fellowship will have a booth you know what I mean and they'll be there to help promote for the future fellows that want to apply. So that's what I'm saying All these opportunities and the things that I've done. It's because of NSTA and conferences like NSTA, where I took a chance and went and learned, that I now get to do what I get to do now. So so two. I gave you two, I'm sorry, I think we'll leave both of them.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's very clear you're an overachiever. From your resume you read off the list Two-year answers Can't be one, it has to be two. I thought you were going to say make sure everybody grabs an apple Right. There are front pads on your hand.
Speaker 2:She's over here like dropping so much more knowledge.
Speaker 1:Better knowledge than that Grab an apple, I know hey.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, Grab an apple. They're not really technically our picking season. I was going to say they're so out of season.
Speaker 1:Here's what I'd like to say as like a wrap up for this, because there's a lot of really great knowledge in here and again, we are so excited to be able to host NSTA in Philly this conference all things NGSS. What I think I'm the most excited about is the opportunities for collaboration, because all these people coming from all over the country to Pennsylvania, to this spot that has newly adopted NGSS there is a lot for Pennsylvanians that we can learn, but also there's a lot of new perspective that can be offered right For those that have been doing it for a while. It's like you know, we're going to be asking new questions and I think there's a lot here that can be offered as well. We look forward to more gifts like that to come out of this conference so that we can learn from each other and expand the limits that we currently know for everyone in the science education world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and thank you, Andrew, and I agree with you and I have to say, as president-elect, it's part of my job to help promote that our own members come to NSTA. Our presence will be there. We will have a PSTA table by registration but we have a PSTA conference room that's within the NSTA conference halls. We will be there for any pre-service or new teachers that are not part of PSTA in the state of Pennsylvania. If you're at NCA, come find us. You can talk to us about PSCA and our opportunities. You can talk to us about our future conference.
Speaker 1:The other thing I want to say is that you heard it here first. If you go to the PSCA table, that's where you can get your apple. What no?
Speaker 3:We even talked about getting a bucket of apples. But now that you said it, andrew, you have to have it happen a bucket of apples. But now that you said it, andrew, it has to happen, to have it happen.
Speaker 1:I hope people show up. They're like where's the apple? Like you guys said, there was not. Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on, for all the work you do and your promotion of all things science, education and learning. We look forward to seeing you at NSDA and for all of our listeners, which is probably around 4000, getting their Apple from the BFC.
Speaker 3:I'll hope to have 4,000 ready in that bucket of mine. But, andrew and Patrice, thank you so much for having me too. It's been a pleasure and I'll reach out and connect with you guys there as well. I'll come say hi, sounds good, we'll have to find you.