If you love PBL (project-based lessons) and UDL (universal design for learning) you'll love Defined STEM!
Community Review for Defined Learning
My Take
I subscribe to the school of thought that says the teacher should be a facilitator. A facilitator is the person who assists a group of students in grasping at their common targets and in achieving them without any intervention on her behalf. Therefore, when we say the teacher has to play the role of a facilitator in the classroom, this means that the teacher should not be the queen who controls the activities of the learners. She should grant the learners some space to let in the spirits of creativity and innovation. In other words, the learners must get involved into an active participation that would be represented in argumentative discussions and teamwork activities, so that the process of learning becomes comprehensive.
How I Use It
I used this Defined STEM to facilitate student-driven assignments. Being a facilitator in a classroom means being a successful teacher. This means that one builds constructionist classes where there are mutual positive and active responses from the teacher and the learners ,and even among the learners themselves within the one classroom. Students worked in small groups and were divided according to ability or interest. The program allowed students to utilize their strengths and offset their weaknesses by other group members.