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
Clean-Shaven Science: Shock vs. Embrace
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How do you react when faced with dramatic change? When podcast host Andrew unveiled his freshly-shaven face after six years with a beard, his co-hosts' contrasting reactions—shock versus casual acceptance—perfectly mirrored how educators respond to implementing the new Steels science standards.
This lighthearted moment opens a thoughtful exploration of educational transformation. Just as Andrew's children barely recognized him without his beard, teachers implementing STEELS standards may find their classrooms looking unfamiliar. The 3-Dimensional approach of Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Cross-Cutting Concepts represents a fundamental shift in how science is taught and learned—not just another curriculum shuffle.
Yet beneath the apparent upheaval lies an encouraging truth: many excellent teachers discover they're already incorporating elements of the standards, just not intentionally. As one teacher shared after implementing changes: "This is exactly what I was doing before. I just added a few more pieces. I made sure every student spoke, reflected on questions, and put up a driving question board." The difference was intentionality, not complete reinvention.
Unlike many educational shifts that feel arbitrary, the STEELS standards represent research-based improvements designed to develop students who think deeply about science rather than merely memorizing facts. As you navigate this transition, remember that questions and skepticism are part of being a scientist—embrace the journey of discovery with your students.
Have you started implementing STEELS standards in your classroom? Share your experiences with us on Spotify and join our conversation about transforming science education one small change at a time.
Want to learn more about ChangED? Check out our website at: learn.mciu.org/changed
Welcome back to Change Ed. A podcast on a mission. Wait, we didn't say our things.
Speaker 2:You just kept plowing through this is not a democracy, you guys. It's something.
Speaker 1:We're a podcast on a mission to hear ourselves talk Changed Gosh, I'm going to drop a bomb like that and then just keep start.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm good, let me start over welcome back. No, it's kind of like he's not wrong.
Speaker 1:Changed, change it a podcast on a mission to hear ourselves talk that's our new tagline so far we've been successful with 125 plus episodes.
Speaker 2:Wait, do we really have 125 now?
Speaker 1:Ish by the time, people listen to this. Yes.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:Thank goodness that we added Patrice, because it would have been about five episodes.
Speaker 2:Thanks, tony. I think you're the only one that feels that way among this trio. I think Coon's like what did I do?
Speaker 1:Moving on. What did I do?
Speaker 2:Moving on. Okay, how long are we going to live in the suspense of the mask situation? Because I can't with it. You're fogging up Like I don't.
Speaker 1:So for our listeners, right now I'm wearing a mask because Because he wants this huge shock and awe Put my summer do on my face, and I've had a beard for six plus years and thought it was time to change my appearance.
Speaker 3:Interesting how he said that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now I hate it, so I'm wearing a mask. Actually, patricia had the opportunity to see yesterday. We were on a zoom call together and she saw it and I turned nine shades of red and asked what did you do? It's one of the few times that she's totally speechless, like she said nothing, and I'm like but we're podcasters, you're supposed to talk, this is where you know literally, literally.
Speaker 2:I get on and he's like I'm gonna hit record and I'm like hit record, like we're getting, we're having a conversation, like what's happening? He's like I did something and I'm like, uh, okay that could mean so many things right, right. He's like I want to show you something. And I have two young boys and when they say I want to show you something, it's usually something really gross.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Standard.
Speaker 2:So because I live with two teenage ish boys, I was like I don't want to see whatever he's going to show me. So then he like pops on it. But right before he popped it on I was like, oh God, he shaved his face. Get ready.
Speaker 3:Is that really why you're wearing the mask?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, you just wait, because he doesn't even look like him.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean shockingly, I do. Does neither one of you ever see me without a mask before it's?
Speaker 3:not going to be that big of a shock.
Speaker 1:Oh, ok, probably not, but you have to use your words, ok, it is you have to be a big boy and use your words.
Speaker 3:Can I that off? I haven't been clean shaven since high school when the nuns used to come around and go like this. And if they could hear your name tag, if they could hear the scratch you had to go in the bathroom did they really yeah. So since I went to college I've had some kind of facial hair, yeah, all right now I'm ready okay, here we go.
Speaker 2:Huh, it doesn't even look like him.
Speaker 3:I not that shocked are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:that's nice.
Speaker 1:He has no upper lip I should have started with tony with it yeah, like it's gonna take me five minutes yeah my kids. My kids still jump like if I come around the corner like whoa, and they say that I look like my brother and I'm like is it because you have facial hair?
Speaker 2:it's not that big of like a yeah, I think it is because like it's not right. No, I think I'm already used to it.
Speaker 3:What thank you, you are full of it. No, I swear, I think it is Because, like it's not right. No, I think I'm already used to it. What Thank you, tony, you are full of it. No, I swear, I think it is because I have facial hair that it's not that big of a shock, because I picture myself without. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, we just got evaluated to co-host.
Speaker 2:Tony's always been co-host, but now he's.
Speaker 1:Coco, not in a cocoa.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I love that you wore a mask, because you didn't like it, though that's my favorite. I thought you were like had some kind of terminal illness.
Speaker 2:I was very, very nervous for you Bringing in the COVID Look at that.
Speaker 1:Look at that. Covid's gone for a couple of years and now I have a terminal illness.
Speaker 3:I mean not a laughing matter, but yeah.
Speaker 2:So no, it's just, his face is very different.
Speaker 3:I'm glad that I kind of like the unveiling. That's very you yeah it is If you just came in here, normal, like my face is shaved.
Speaker 2:What's funny is I I feel like we have to have a picture of it though.
Speaker 3:It should be everywhere. The picture, yes.
Speaker 1:I stopped at our IU to pick up this equipment before I went and I talked to a number of people who said Did you see?
Speaker 3:DFG Nothing. People who said you see nothing. Nobody said anything. People that we see every day how long have? How long have you been clean shaven? I just did on 48 hours you already have like that's grown back, yeah, yeah what is it?
Speaker 1:what is it? You know? Make my angry face you look at least five years younger, yeah, um yeah, I just think my, I just think my kids are like all right, son, when are you going to high school next year?
Speaker 3:So it's a really big shock for you. I don't like it. I'll never shave now. Good For your reaction. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't like change.
Speaker 3:Change, that's fair, change it.
Speaker 2:I mean, I do like change but like the way he did it too was a little not nice. Right, like I show up, I needed some.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 2:Like he wanted he. He got what he wanted. He got the reaction of me that he wanted, because I was like this is not.
Speaker 3:What's what inspired? The change?
Speaker 1:Ed, are we talking about the podcast, or are we talking about my beard, your beard?
Speaker 3:Podcast is what it is.
Speaker 1:I went with my son to get our summer haircuts because I look like Wolfman. I mean I achieved that goal.
Speaker 2:Your hair was very puffy.
Speaker 3:Must be nice to grow hair. Go ahead Continue.
Speaker 1:I checked that off the bucket list and I was talking to him about it on the way. Actually, what I wish I had done is I originally had him shave everything except for my mustache, and I was rocking the Magnum PI and I was like, oh man, I look like him and he's like you, look like you're from the 80s, Dad. And he was rolling on the ground laughing. So I shaved it off and I'm like now I look like I just got my driver's license. Yeah, but it was just time for something different. It had been long enough. Why are the sideburns so long then?
Speaker 2:that's because my barber was like you're the coolest person I've ever met. Is that normal sideburns?
Speaker 1:like he said, to do them on a slant because it's a better style. I don't know. All right, there's lots of things I'm trying to work out here, okay, but I I want to use this as an analogy within our conversation. Of course you do.
Speaker 2:Is is with this shock value of you know, drastically clearly, drastically Clearly not as much for Tony as it is for me.
Speaker 1:Right, right. Well, tony's wearing sunglasses so he can't see it all as well.
Speaker 3:I'm also very far away from him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You want to get up in there?
Speaker 1:He's nearsighted, so he can't see it. That's right, but he probably thinks I still have a beard because I have this microphone in my face.
Speaker 3:That's great in front of my face.
Speaker 1:Could this be a comparison to what it's like for a lot of our teachers who had been teaching science one way forever and then steals came along? Is that like that, the same kind of shock value where you're like, what Wait, what you just totally changed the way that science looks. They could feel like we got rid of a bunch of stuff, or maybe that we added stuff. So maybe it was, I was clean, shaven and then I added this beard and you're like wait, I don't even know what your face looks like anymore. Could that be the same kind of shock and awe for our educators in this change that we're making moving to NGSS and moving to Steele's?
Speaker 2:I think if it's done right, yes. If it's looked at just another change in standards, then no. I think if we're looking only at the DCIs, if we're only looking at DCIs and not recognizing the SEPs and the cross-cutting, I don't think it would be as much of a drastic change. Yeah, we're just not teaching this in biology anymore, or we're not teaching this in chemistry anymore, but the addition of the science and engineering practices and the cross-cutting concepts could be that I think.
Speaker 3:I think our two reactions are exactly probably how teachers feel. There's some teachers that are like, oh my gosh, I can't do this. This is insane. Why are we changing again? Because we change something every five years when the state decides to something, every five years when the state decides to, right. But then there's probably some teachers that are like, all right, well, let's just, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Do it Roll with it. Yeah, and I'm also thinking that again, let's go from the analogy is having a beautiful, luscious beard to trimming it off and having a face that terrifies some and doesn't impact others.
Speaker 2:It didn't terrify me, it was just very different.
Speaker 1:Again, I want to use this analogy as, like there are different ways that people then absorb these new standards right. So it could just be this new process, this new philosophy in education, because if they're taking it just as standards, or maybe they're just going to trim their beard right, everything else stays the same. I just trimmed it a little closer, a little different than I normally do, so kind of appears a little different, but my beard's still there. No-transcript class next year, and over the summer you adopted everything with Steeles. Is this what it would feel like to me to be like I've never even been in this class, you've never done this? Is that how drastic it actually is, or is that just how it feels on the surface? When you're looking at it, it feels like, oh my gosh, this is. This is crazy.
Speaker 2:I feel like it depends on the teacher. I think there were some teachers that were already teaching using this mindset in terms of like the way in which they're approaching science. But for some it's going to feel. I think, like Tony said, it's hard to tell, hard to generalize.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think some people will just treat it like getting a new textbook. Here's something new. I'm going to learn it, I'm going to teach it and others. It's going to be a pain.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So part of what I'm hearing is like there is a drastic component to this, there is something different and it requires you to think differently, requires you to think differently, and for others as well. Like, I look in the mirror now and I'm like, oh my Lord, who is this stranger? And I said my kids are shocked when they see me. Like it's been a couple of days and it's still a like you know, it's been six years of their lives. For three of them it's been half or more than half of their life that they've identified seeing me that way.
Speaker 1:So when we think about teaching with the steals mindset, for a lot of these teachers it might even be half or more than or all of their career that they taught a certain way. So this will feel like a very drastic. It might take them a while to get used to this. Or every day you wake up and you're like, oh my gosh, this is how we're teaching now. This is what I'm doing, you know, like in questioning it and wondering. And I'm wondering, what do you think in your experience would help teachers alleviate them from that shock value where it always feels like, oh, you know something new, something surprising, or is that where we're meant to be with this? Is that really like? We're learning? They're learning, and that's what the rest of our careers look like. We're keeping it fresh. We're keeping it new. There's always something new coming out.
Speaker 3:This doesn't really go with the beard analogy. However, I think the more teachers know, the easier it is. When I had a really cool experience that I was in a fourth grade classroom, we kind of co-planned and then we were going to co-teach but they kind of just ran with it, which was awesome, and we debriefed afterwards and they're like this is exactly what I was doing before. I just added a few more pieces. Like I just changed my delivery. I made sure every student spoke, I made sure that we actually stopped and reflected on the questions that they had and put up a driving question board, so everything I was doing before. But now I just kind of make it, I put on the wall.
Speaker 2:It's kind of how she put it, a little more intentional yeah.
Speaker 3:Way more intentional. So I think the more they know, the more they see it, the more they do it. It will become easier. But like anything else, any other type of change, it's going to be difficult at first to wrap your head around and hopefully it's something that sticks. The more they know, I think, the easier it is were you connecting with them, the student-centered learning piece?
Speaker 2:it sounds like it was like trying to do a little bit of that, but not really. No, I'm not. Incidentally, incidentally yeah, that's kind of awesome.
Speaker 2:I just added a student-centered learning one with eric and it's interesting to see how much of that student-centered learning can and should be implemented into these classrooms to make sure that the steel standards are actually being implemented in the way that they were intended. It's interesting to see the interconnection and it's kind of cool how the state is putting out stuff not necessarily simultaneously but kind of sorta with the student-centered learning piece and the steel standards like the connections can be pretty strong.
Speaker 1:Tony, what you were just sharing made me think of an analogy. I know you're both shocked that that would happen, and what it was is that I, two weeks ago, switched out my bathroom mirrors. They were, I don't know, original with the house, and so they're 60 years old and it was time for new ones. And when we put up the new ones one of them we switched the direction with which the door opened, so it no longer opened left to right and now opened right to left.
Speaker 1:And when you were talking. That's what made me think of that. Maybe we're just changing the direction with which we open the door open the door to learning. Instead of opening it right to left, we're opening it left to right, and every time we go and instinctually, even now, it's been two weeks and I go to the left side and nothing happens. Right oh?
Speaker 2:yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think, in a lot of ways for us as educators, we got into that spot where it became muscle memory and now we have to retrain our muscles and so it will feel like work. It will feel like, oh, that's right. And then I open it and guess what? It's not laid out, the same, it's. Nothing is where it was. So it's almost like also reorganizing your spice cabinet and you're like, okay, well, I always go for this, but I moved where that is now, that's right, I moved it, and you like, think about it for a minute while you grab it, and then you then you go back and you're you kind of get back into your regular motion, you go and you do what you usually did.
Speaker 1:I think a big part of Steeles is forcing us to think about it different. How are we opening up the learning? How are we getting them into it? And that part needs to be different. A lot of the same ingredients are there, a lot of the same components are there, and we're actually going to add in some components so it makes it more flavorful, so that we can pull those flavors out more. I don't cook, I just consume. But, but, but in, in being a consumer, I know there are certain things that I can add to whatever this meal is to pull out a different flavor or to heighten my my experiences or my palate can taste them differently. So I think that's a big part of what we're doing as well is that we're adding in these things. We're adding in these components and we're planning for them intentionally so that our students can have a more meaningful experience, but also one that is more longer lasting, that they can then draw upon in the future.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think an important note too is that we're trying to change for the better. You're changing out your mirror, you're changing up your face, you know for hopefully the better right.
Speaker 3:But in like education, so many times we just changed because, okay, our textbook, our contract ran out, switched to something new, just because we had to switch to something new. But this is, this is research based, right, like there's a reason we're changing and we're trying to change for the better. We just have to give it time to take place. Like we've said since the beginning of this podcast, it's definitely not a marathon or definitely not a sprint. Yeah, cut that.
Speaker 2:Definitely not a sprint.
Speaker 1:It's a marathon. So when we change like this and you know it's going to take time to be part of a journey as educators across the country and the nation and the world because, guess what, We've had a listen in every single continent in the world Wow, At least one lesson.
Speaker 2:I thought you created it so we could hang out with Tony more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's when I had a beard.
Speaker 3:Now that's not the case but I kind of like being the only bearded one, so I appreciate you doing that.
Speaker 2:Now we can go into the beard. Well, you know what Weren't you called the beard for a little bit? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, since I'm not talent or brains, yeah, that's great I just got. I just got growth on my face. So rude. However, if I did shave, I would have done it in stages. I would have done Fu Manchu, for sure, and then the mustache.
Speaker 2:I kind of want to see that.
Speaker 3:Don't do it. No, I won't do that, but I would do it in stages, for yeah, yeah, anyway. So to reduce the shock value, I think, just because I could have it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just to have it wait. The fu manchu is what again?
Speaker 3:like the like the handlebar situation chin clean oh, yeah, clean chin why would we do? That for like a day. Okay, it's fun.
Speaker 2:You know, I really it's kind of crazy that you get to do like I can't do. I mean I guess I could try. I can't grow a beard, I don't have that I can't grow hair on my head, so it's like it's kind of fun that you can legit like I have to. I want to change my appearance. I have to dye my hair, which we all know. I dye my hair a lot for someone who doesn't have money.
Speaker 2:But like I dye my hair a lot, but like you can legitimately like change your entire appearance oh yeah in a day and then take maybe like two or three weeks to grow it back, to go back to what you were. That's crazy to me.
Speaker 3:My wife likes the beard more than I do, so that's why I don't shave it.
Speaker 2:I mean, at this point I'm just good man, right there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pot committed Something about. She's terrified to see your actual face.
Speaker 3:Oh, without a doubt, I'm terrified.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she told me she loved when we were wearing masks during COVID.
Speaker 2:That's when she was most attracted to me ever really talked to his wife I don't even know what she looks like okay, it's so rude I'm trying to look up the continent thing. That's pretty cool yeah, I felt like I was starting a final thought and then we got back on no I got extremely like it's kind of cool like you can legitimately change your entire appearance in a day and then grow back to like nothing happened.
Speaker 3:It's nuts next time we record, he will probably have a full beard again. Yeah, what is your take on it? Do you want growth back here?
Speaker 2:do you want a fu manchu?
Speaker 3:I feel, like I think you look sharp with a bow tie and a stash. I think that would be the ultimate, yeah I. I really wish I kept this tom sellick like tom sellick style or like a sin like no, not, then I have a picture of it because I if you're gonna do it, you might as well do it, tom Selleck, and I didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 2:Wait, that's like thick right, that's super thick.
Speaker 3:I just golf with the guy with the mustache and like his whole persona was like the stash. It was perfect. It's exactly what I would want him to act like the guy with the mustache, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't hate that.
Speaker 3:I don't mind that.
Speaker 2:I don't hate that at all, so I think that's what I'm going to re-group.
Speaker 3:You look like a state trooper and I love that Super trooper yes, I didn't want to say super.
Speaker 2:Wait, show it again.
Speaker 3:I wanted to say state, state trooper, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that's what I had and I was like I don't know. You should have. I actually thought about the Fu Manchu as well.
Speaker 2:But could you do the mustache with like a little bit of the stubbly stuff on this?
Speaker 3:Would that make it not great? Can you curl the ends? I would like to wrap up this podcast no stop. I need a picture with you fully dressed, please, please, dear God, with a bow tie and the stache only, and then I need it sent out, and that's a cover photo of the next podcast appreciate right now how you know andrew so well that you had to say fully dressed with the bow tie, because there would 1000 be an undershirt or yeah we don't have to go we don't need to go for a situation again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah so, while you said this is easy to edit, I am gonna wrap it up, because we both know that I'm actually gonna be the one editing it why is that?
Speaker 2:no, no, no, I'm editing this one oh really, there's. There's a lot of great content here.
Speaker 1:I would like to hear from each of you. Wait, are you?
Speaker 2:agreeing to edit podcasts.
Speaker 1:I've been editing podcasts.
Speaker 2:You know that. Well, not as many.
Speaker 3:I'd also like to reiterate the fan mail piece on Spotify Love that people are chiming in.
Speaker 2:I do too. Yeah, it's so fun.
Speaker 3:Please continue to do that. Tell us what you think. We'll put out Andrew's picture as well.
Speaker 1:Prepare for disappointment. So, we've been talking about steals. We talked about the change and what that looks like and from your perspectives. What's something that we haven't already shared about it or something that you want to reiterate to teachers about the impact of this change? We started off talking about the handsome host and his lack of a beard. We've talked about the shift from one side of the cabin to the other, how it opens. We talked about the spice rack Like what is it you notice?
Speaker 2:he's only talking about things he mentioned. Did you notice that?
Speaker 3:That's correct. What Nothing's changed in the two years we've done this podcast?
Speaker 1:What's something that you want to say to these teachers about these changes?
Speaker 2:I think that I'm going to say what I usually always say like you've got to be able to change a small amount of your practice to make it sustainable. You pick one thing you want to focus on. You focus on that, modify what you're doing to give it the most impact, and then you become consistent with that and then you add on to it. I think if you are approaching the standards in the way that I approached your face versus the way Tony approached your face, it could feel monumental, right, like it could feel like there's so much that I have to change, and maybe that's true. But if you look at it from the lens of what one or two things can I change so that I can start to ease into this? That's what I would say.
Speaker 3:Similar to what Patrice just said. Choose one strategy yeah. Driving question board yeah. Scientist circle yeah. Modeling yeah. Just choose one. Don't get overwhelmed. Work it in, see how it fits. Talk to your colleagues, tell them how it fit, how it didn't fit, work together and just slowly, slowly, slowly roll this out.
Speaker 2:Choose one and do it multiple times because it's not going to work the first time. Because we have to continue to help kids shift their way of approaching learning as well, Because it's not just you doing something different, it's helping kids shift their approach and how they're learning. Especially if they're not young elementary. They've got a lot of background knowledge on how this has always been done. So you got to give it time the one thing and give it time to actually work.
Speaker 1:The thing that's resonating with me. We've heard this from you before, so it's not anything new. But know better, do better, and I think that's really important for our teachers is now we know better.
Speaker 1:We've been hearing about how it can be better, how it can be different and specifically how we're engaging students in thinking like already, education, you know we have. We have the knowing part, we have the doing. There's a lot of strategies. A lot of strategies are beyond science, about how to engage students right, all of those based learning, so project-based, problem-based, inquiry-based, whatever it is. That's about the doing, but the thinking. We're trying to create human beings that can think deeply and meaningfully. So that comes back to us. That wasn't necessarily modeled for us as educators, and now we're looking to be pioneers in this space and to create this new frontier for learning. But it all starts with knowing better. And now that we know better, we have to choose. What does that mean? What does that look like? Am I going to go back to my muscle memory, what I've always known? I'm going to keep opening up the cabinet from the wrong side, or am I going to shift In just one small shift? I'm going to now open it up from the other side. Maybe everything inside stays the same, but I open it up differently and then, as you're saying, take that next step. Now, how about I rearrange the top rack. That's it and just that part and then take your time to make it meaningful and sustainable. So sustainability is a very, very big part of this. If you feel like you're being a phony in your own space, it's not going to last and you'll find all the reasons why you shouldn't do it. So being authentic and being genuine will allow you to find a way to maintain this and find reasons why it's going to work. So we choose how we react and it might take a little bit of time. Maybe you want to find some more research, maybe you want to look into it more.
Speaker 1:Having questions is not bad. Actually, that's what we encourage in science is that we should ask lots and lots of questions. So asking questions means you're being a scientist. Being skeptical about something means that you're again, you're being a scientist. You have lots of questions to understand. Not getting the answers you want doesn't mean that it doesn't work. It just means that maybe there are hard things to have conversations about, or maybe there's a different reality or we've shifted our focus. Maybe you know, something is more important than we've allowed it to be for a long time. We've been part of lots of conversations about assessments and the value of assessments and the value that we put on assessments. So it's something that we can all reflect on and think about and say what is most important. What do we care most about? What will change students' lives for the better? And for us as educators, I can tell you what will change your life for the better is-.
Speaker 2:More Change Ed.
Speaker 1:Always listening to Change Ed and sharing it with everyone you know Well said.
Speaker 2:I'd zone down a little bit. Shut up. Nope, shut up. You killed it you look so much like your mom now. You have your mom now I can't remember.
Speaker 1:No, but like just your profile that reminds me of the one when Tony's like you got a birdie mouth. You got a birdie mouth, Sorry.
Speaker 2:It was just the profile of it. I was like, oh, wow.