STEM and Writing: A Super Combination

I brought a superhero into my classroom the other day. He wasn't wearing a cape. He didn't have an alias. But he had the greatest superpower of all: inspiration.

When you teach using project-based learning (PBL), one brings outside expertise into the classroom. My eighth graders begin the year creating science fiction based origin stories for original superhero characters as an introduction to a greater advocacy unit. Therefore, it seemed natural to bring in an actual scientist. Which brought me to CalTech and Dr. Spyridon Michalakis.

Besides having a name that, in itself, could have come straight out of the pages of a comic book, Spiros (as the kids could call him) himself has the perfect origin story. After all, he is a quantum physicist by day and a consultant on the new Marvel comic movie, Ant-man, by night. Perhaps I exaggerate, but the fact that he inspired my students, enriched their fact-based stories, and injected them with new enthusiasm for their characters, surely indicates a latent superpower.

We met for tea and spoke online before he came into my classroom, and our little chats soon moved beyond joyously geeking-out about the science of superheroes to more passionate discussions about the vital need for science and writing to co-exist.

We recently continued a more formal online conversation about the fact that STEM must be coupled with communication skills to bring out the greatest innovation and success from our students.

Read further at Edutopia.