Teacher Case Study: Todd Hornseth

Ninety-One K-8 School (OR)

A Defined STEM Learning Experience From:

Todd Hornseth

7th & 8th Grade Science Teacher

Ninety-One K-8 School (OR)


Performance Tasks: 

Better Structures for Earthquakes & Mount Vesuvius


Here’s What We Did:

For our volcanoes and earthquakes unit I used Defined STEM to wrap up the unit on plate tectonics. Defined STEM makes a real world STEM connection to the content that the students have been learning about. It was a great way to connect the content in a meaningful way to the students, especially out here in Oregon where we have potential for earthquakes and volcanoes.


The students were very motivated by the Defined STEM lessons. The way the lessons are connected to the real world gets the students wanting to learn about the content. Defined STEM gave clear guidelines on what all students needed accomplish but provide additional sources for those students who want to go more in-depth.


The students had fun with the tasks but many said they were challenging, which is a good thing.


Why Defined STEM Was the Perfect Fit:

One of the purposes of the STEM push in schools right now is to connect the content to actual situations and actual jobs. Defined STEM really hits on that with the way the lessons are worded to get the students in the mind frame of the task being an actual task in the real world.