Blog 23: 2014 Interview

1.  Who did you interview and what house are they in?
Jackie Boyd, from East House. 
2.  What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
Skiing, or ski patrol because I am already volunteering with ski patrol. And I really like to ski. 
Here, I told Jackie that it is important to choose something that you will continue to enjoy throughout the year. 
3.  What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?
Well, I already did my required hours. I previously spoke to Purther, and he said that it was possible to do them in your second semester junior year. So I did it with ski patrol. 
Here, I asked that she was familiar with the place, and she was sure that the place would work for mentorship, and she said it would. She claimed to already have a mentor in mind. 
4.  What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?
Well, I know about the senior project, but I don't know about all of the components that go into it, so i'm a little curious to see those and how those work. And to just see how everything goes. 
5.  What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project?

• How hard is senior year? 
• It's not too hard. If you stay on top of it, you'll do fine. If you do what is expected of you when it's due, you'll do fine. Sometimes it does get a little hectic, but it's all very do-able, managing between homework, and senior project stuff, and senior year stuff. So I wouldn't say hard, but maybe a little hectic. 
• Would you say senior year is the hardest year? 
• I would say yes. Because of the severity of the amount of things going on at once, and the things you have to accomplish, I believe it is the hardest of the 4 years. 

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What is the best way to get elementary school children to voice an interest in STEM careers?

2. What is the best way to get kids' attention?
3. Do you feel that Science and Math are important topics to teach at the elementary grade levels?
4. What ways does the museum (Kidspace) teach math?
5. How can we include STEM-based education in elementary level classes?

6. What kind of role do you feel parents play in children's education?
7. Do you believe children would like to pursue careers in STEM if they knew what it was? 

8. What is your experience with math, and do you enjoy it?
9. How do you personally feel about teaching science to children? 
10. What kind of information do you feel is given to students regarding their future careers?
11. Are you familiar with the science standards for elementary schools, and do you know if the museum touches on those standards?

12. Do you believe children should be pursuing more careers in STEM? Why or why not?

13. Do you believe parent involvement can influence a child's future career, and why?
14. In what ways does the museum utilize hands-on learning?
15. How do you feel children learn the best?
16. What kind of science experiments do you believe could get children interested in science careers?

17. What kind of activities might get kids interested in math?

18. Do you believe children at young ages retain the information given to them?

19. How will the museum implement STEM-based education?

20. Are there any particular topics that are difficult to teach to children at the museum?

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

Post 10 open-ended questions for approval you want to ask an expert in the field of your senior project.  The first question should be your essential question and the other nine must be about the foundation of your essential question or help you answer your essential question.

1. What is the best way to get elementary school students to voice an interest in STEM careers?
2. What science experiments do you think will help students interested in Science Careers?
3. Why do you think the number of students interested in STEM careers are getting smaller and smaller?
4. How can we include STEM-based education into elementary level classes? 
5. What kind of resources are available to young students regarding their future careers?
6. How can educators encourage students to pursue STEM careers?
7. Do you believe the lack of students pursuing careers in STEM in our country is an issue? Why or why not?
8. What kind of projects do you think could be done to get students interested in Engineering careers, specifically?
9. Studies show that parent encouragement strongly affects the likelihood of a student pursuing a STEM career; why do you believe this is?
10. Why should students pursue more careers related to STEM?

Blog 6: Second Interview

Content: The purpose of the second interview is justify your mentor as an expert in the field.  Thus, you will be asking at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

• Have you always wanted to be a teacher? 
• What made you decide to become a teacher?
• Do you feel teaching as a whole has evolved over time? If so, in what ways has it changed? How is it the same?
• What was the first job you held as a teacher? Why did you leave?
• How did you come into your position here at Ekstrand Elementary?
• Would you recommend a career in teaching? Why or why not?

Blog 3: Interview Preperation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I plan to Interview my former 5th grade teacher, Catherine Rojas. I believe she has lots of information to share about Teaching, and will help to provide me with information and resources that can help me with my project. She is very active in the activities and events Ekstrand Elementary holds, and may be able to inform me of these events so I can help out with them. 

2.  You have to ask 5 questions.  What additional questions do you plan to ask? 

I'd like to ask Mrs. Rojas a few additional questions, which are listed below:

• How did you become a teacher?
• How did you fall into your position? 
• Did you choose the fifth grade? Why or why not?