Norma Sullivan, 6th grade math/science teacher at Oak Hill MS, believes kids need to get the STEM bug by the end of middle school — ideally by the end of 6th grade. She’s doing her part. Besides her LIFT2 professional learning program and summer internship and her classes’ early participation in the DIGITS program, she is engaging her students to explore STEM careers with these ideas:

Science From Scientists: In the Science from Scientists program, a real-world scientist comes to the classroom every other week to teach a hands-on module aligned with state standards. Scientists visiting Oak Hill this year are Brad Christoph (a pain research student at Tufts with a background in biology and industrial chemistry) and Holly Kohler (veterinarian with biology degree from Williams College and DVM from Cornell).

STEM Speaker Series: Oak Hill parents who have STEM-related careers are invited to speak to the class about their careers. These talks are videotaped and added to the classroom’s STEM blog.

STEM Career Poster: Sixth graders in her classes have researched over 150 STEM-related careers and developed a huge, hallway-length poster that highlights their key characteristics: Name of career, what is involved, what type of person would enjoy it, and what subjects to study in high school to prepare for it.