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As part of the STEM Pioneers Teacher Corps, my main focus is to help elevate K-5 STEM in my state and across the country whenever possible.
Right now, my main focus is filling a gap to keep our youngest learners excited about STEM competitions. Last year, our Intermediate Unit (IU) hosted a K–12 Keystone Competition, and watching our K–4 students fall in love with teamwork and hands-on problem-solving was unforgettable. However, this year’s competition shifted to serve only grades 5–12.
Refusing to let our younger students lose that spark, I am working on creating a brand-new STEM competition tailored specifically for 1st–4th graders. I recently gauged interest across our county, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The demand is definitely there, and one way or another, we are going to make this happen!
I find immense joy in the excitement our elementary students exude. Last year we took several teams (1st -4th grade) to our Keystone Competition. This year the competition is only for 5th -12th graders. So I've decided to create a version of that competition within my county. There is a lot of interest, and I think our young students deserve a chance to display what the have learned!
As a STEM educator, I believe continuous learning is essential. With technology like AI rapidly expanding and scientific breakthroughs occurring daily, staying prepared requires ongoing professional growth. I actively seek out high-quality, job-specific professional development to keep my instruction current and relevant. Additionally, I intentionally over-plan my lessons; having extra content ensures I always have meaningful learning activities ready to carry over into the next rotation or class period.
My recent magical moment occurred last spring when we took three teams to the state-level competition for the very first time. One of our teams earned third place in the 4th–5th grade division while also taking home the Sustainability Award! Afterward, all three teams had the opportunity to present their experiences to our School Board.
I love having a few "tricks up my sleeve" for unexpected downtime. It doesn't happen often, but when a class finishes a project with just a few minutes left—not quite enough time to start anything new—I like to keep the students active and engaged. I found some fun videos that prompt them to move based on what they are watching. The students love them, and those last eight minutes fly by! Here is a link to one I use with K–2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2KXKJ3YVrg
I am thankful for the toolbox of 4Cs activities I have gathered over the years. One of my favorites is a "docking" game. Every student holds one string attached to a single metal ring (my initial version was made with a large binder ring). A ball is balanced on top of the ring, and working together, the class must transport it to land safely on an inverted Solo cup. It is amazing to watch an entire class move as one! Here is a quick video of this activity in action during a professional development workshop I helped lead for Engineering by Design: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mJfvU8-OlhTbkybSy7T9uB1_4nLKAeq7/view?usp=drive_link
Thank you so much for stopping by the blog, Jen! You are doing amazing work, and the rest of us certainly benefit from your ideas, links, and super tips. We appreciate you sharing.
If you'd like to follow Jen's STEM classroom activities, make sure you give her a follow over on LinkedIn or Instagram @PioneeringSTEM!
We welcome your comments, and as always, be sure to share this post using the links below!
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The Collazo Cove Always Wonder Blog is back up and running! Woohoo!
I'm starting things off with a STEM bang!
In addition to picking up where I left off with my bi-weekly STEM Picture Book series, I'm going to be introducing you to some amazing CURRENTLY PRACTICING STEM teacher spotlight interviews.
The new Snack-Sized STEM: Teacher to Teacher series will be just that. Bite-sized interviews where you can pick up relevant, interesting, and exciting ideas for your classroom right away!
Guided by the steps in the engineering design process, you will learn all about what they are ASKING, IMAGINING, PLANNING, CREATING, AND IMPROVING in their STEM-integrated classrooms!
Real teachers. Real classrooms. Real STEM in action.
Add the Collazo Cove Always Wonder Blog to your favorite reader app (www.collazocove.com/blog/feed) or check back often so you don't miss a thing.
And while you're at it, make sure you're subscribed to Collazo Cove's The Tide newsletter, where you'll be the first to hear about any new posts and upcoming picture book releases!
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As I was reading the advice, I couldn’t help but think about the perfect tie-in to how we scaffold learning through STEM activities. So here are my STEM takes on the six they discuss in their article.
The article describes how you should make sure your instructions and materials are designed to optimize student understanding and learning.
When we introduce an engineering activity to students this is so important.
Whether we are starting with a foundational picture book, relevant current event, or other hooks, we need to make sure we are walking the students through the process and actions we are expecting, and clearing up any questions they may have prior to beginning.
This allows them to see the big picture, sets the tone, and decreases negative behaviors that often come when students are confused or anxious.
I always use my guiding slide deck with the same engineering design process (EDP) image to provide clarity and better student understanding. Here’s an example:
#2 Build Background Knowledge
For me, this is where the IMAGINE step in the EDP is crucial.
In addition to children imagining how they will solve a problem, I use this step to show pictures or an effective video related to the challenge to promote discussions and provide that crucial background knowledge that many students may not have.
For example, when engineering “boats” for the Who Sank the Boat lesson, many students may not have first-hand experience with what different boats look like. So I share the images below and we talk about the materials, shapes, designs, and purposes of the various boats.
This provides at least a small bit of background knowledge prior to the actual challenge. Background knowledge can also be triggered through discussions the class has while reading a foundational picture book!
Ah, yes! STEM integration’s superpower!
By nature, engineering and hands-on science, math, and technology learning are multi-modal.
Children are asked to listen to a story, watch a video, or view a demonstration of a phenomenon.
They are then tasked with drawing out their plans to solve a problem.
Then comes the crucial building, manipulating, experimenting, and/or crafting.
And throughout that amazing process, they are continually communicating with their partner or team, sharing results at the end, and in many other ways stating what they have learned.
STEM is naturally multi-modal!
Whether in the regular classroom, the STEM lab, or the media center maker space, graphic organizers and anchor charts provide students with just that…an anchor for all the learning taking place.
The Edutopia article states that “In the early stages of learning—as students are grappling with unfamiliar information—it’s helpful to supply prompts, hints, or even partially completed anchor charts and graphic organizers to make learning more effective”
In my opinion, when conducting STEM activities, these anchor charts should first be filled with student discoveries, ideas, and conclusions. Then, through class discussion, if misconceptions related to content need to be clarified, additional information can be added.
We need to be careful to allow the students to work through failure without the crutch of constant hints or prompts about what WE think they should do.
As teachers this is hard; to step back even when we know they are making a mistake or their build won’t work. But this is where the best learning occurs, and building an anchor chart throughout the activity can support that.
Photos via https://www.playdoughtoplato.com/stem-project-straw-bridges/ and https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Media/Engineers-Week/
Although the article focuses on the more traditional content application of providing high-level quiz questions prior to the learning activity, my favorite pre-lesson activity when integrating STEM is reading a relevant well-written picture book, no matter what age the students are (high school students still love picture books!).
For great collections of picture books that are fantastic for STEM integration check out my constantly growing Pinterest Board HERE.
Shameless Plug!
One way I’ve found to keep myself from “helping” students too much during the engineering design process is to ask questions that help them develop their metacognition.
Questions/prompts like:
- Tell me about why you chose those materials for your plan.
- What do you think will happen now?
- Why do you think that didn’t work?
- Wow, I haven’t seen one like that! Tell me about your design.
- Can you explain how you think this will work?
- What do you think you could do differently?
- If you could do it again, would you switch any of the materials? Why?
