Recent Words

Blogs and Speaking Events

Blog Posts

Need concrete examples for how art and STEM work together?  Check out my newest video on using art pieces to bridge the STEAM subjects. 

Students have lost so much access and opportunity during COVID. Find out how can use integrated-STEAM instruction to accelerate students past COVID’s learning losses here.

A group of teachers in Virginia needed a plan for one last great integrated STEM design challenge. The problem is, all of the students are at home with different resources. Here’s our plan to use the engineering design process with your students to co-plan a capstone at-home integrated STEM challenge.

It’s all I can think about: Click here to learn how to make your own three-ply cloth face mask. All you need is a t-shirt and a stapler.

What challenges might a teacher K-16 teacher face when trying engineering? Read up on potential tradeoffs when trying engineering in core content classes.

Boston teacher Mark Soo asked me for help with a PBL project. Here’s my long-form response.

Selected Writing

Bosman, L. and Shirey, K. (2021). Bioengineering as a vehicle to increase the entrepreneurial mindset. In N. Rezaie (ed.), Integrated science: Science without borders. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-65273-9 Link

Shirey, K. and Canales, C. (2020) Transformative Professional Development Through Integrated STEM. Kaleidoscope: Educator Voices and Perspectives, Fall 2020. Link

Shirey, K. and Wild, A. (2020) Professional Learning with Teacher Communities the Knowles Way. American Physics Society’s Forum on Education Spring 2020 Newsletter: 11-12. PDF

Shirey, K. & Perry, A. (2019) How Our Ideals Influence Whom We Teach part 1, part 2. Knowles Teacher Initiative blog post.

Shirey, K. (2018) Breaking the Silos of Discipline for Integrated Student Learning: A Global STEM Course’s Curriculum Development[J]. Engineering, 2018, 4 (2): 170-174.

Shirey, K. (2017) Don’t panic: Fostering student engagement with engineering design. The Source AdvancED.

Recent Events

2021 Teaching for Change Black Lives Matter at School Virtual Curriculum Fair workshop, “Reshaping Classroom Engineering Design for Conscious Action.” January 30, 2021

American Society for Engineering Education Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Focus Friday workshop, “A Conversation with Past Winners About the Best Paper Award.” January 8, 2021  

2020 Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN) Congress and USERN Prize Awarding Festival (website). Invited workshop presented with Dr. Lisa Bosman on Bioengineering As A Vehicle To Increase The Entrepreneurial Mindset. November 9, 2020. 

Women in Engineering Day. The Athenian School, Danville, California. April 2020.

Careers in Physics. Physics teacher Preparation. Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CuWIP) The College of New Jersey, 2019.

Social Capital in Teacher Induction Support. PhysTEC Conference, Boston, NJ, 2019.

A Few Amazing Things You Can Do With a Physics Degree. University of Wisconsin, River Falls, 2018.

College of Education Commencement Speaker, University of Maryland, College Park, 2017.