STEM is the new hot topic in education. Everyone is eager to jump on this wagon and start building engineers. But how do you really implement STEM in the classroom? What do I need? How do I make it purposeful? These are some questions I get all the time. I will go through some easy things you can do to implement STEM in the classroom.
Mindset
First, teachers need to change their mindset. You are able to turn most concepts into a STEM concept. How is that done? Instead of driving instruction, ask students questions to guide their thinking. In Social Studies, why did the Pilgrims leave their lands? What was the purpose? How could it have been done better? WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
You’re reading a book to the class, what is the problem in the story? Why was this a problem? What could help solve this problem? WHAT CAN YOU DO TO FIX THE PROBLEM?
Think outside your box. A problem is surrounding us everywhere!
Materials
Now that you have adjusted your thinking as a teacher, students need materials to create their solutions to these problems. This DOES NOT need to be complicated. I keep a few bins in my classroom of pretty common supplies. These are a few I include:
- LEGOS
- Q-tips
- Pipe Cleaners
- Paper clips
- Toilet Paper rolls
- Straws
- Play-Doh
You do not need to spend an abundance of money. This is all about students coming up with a solution given the materials at hand. And trust me, they will come up with some crazy ways with different materials!
Technology
Tech is an important part to STEM but I don’t want you to get caught up on technology = computers. Technology is all around us. It could be as simple as using scissors or a projector during their project!
I do like my students to research what they are going to build first to takeaway key components. For example, if they are building a bridge, I will show them some pictures on the overhead of bridges. If you have Ipads, they can Google “bridges.” Either way is acceptable.
Process
I like my students to know that STEM is a process. It’s about designing, building, reflecting and MODIFYING. Boy….. do they not like that last part! Modifying is such an important part in this process because NOTHING is completed correctly the first time. I always like to tie this back to any learning that we are doing.
If I have groups working together at one time, I like my students to let me know where they are in the process. That way I can easily tell how much time was devoted to each area.
You can grab my design process posters
HERE.
Math
I feel like the missing component in a lot of STEM activities is this math portion. It isn’t all about designing, but also collecting and interpreting data. How far did something go? What can we do to make it go further? How would we change this? or
Why did this last only 2 minutes? What can we do to make it last longer?
If students do not connect a math component to their projects, sometimes it will be hard to reflect on what needs to modified, or changed, and they are missing out of a huge portion of the design process.
Plus…. this turns everything into a competition! As if you didn’t have buy-in before, you surely do now!
If you are interested in trying STEM in your classroom, you may want to read my post “Easy STEM Activity to get Students Excited.” You will be able to download a freebie of exactly what I use in the classroom to showcase all the steps. Happy building!
If you are interested in more STEM, you can check out my holiday STEM activities in my TeachersPayTeachers store for purchase.
