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Common Sense Media - Online Digital Literacy Lessons

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Common Sense Media - Online Digital Literacy Lessons

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Our website for families provides reviews and ratings of movies, books, games, apps, and other media to help parents and families make informed decisions about the media their children use.

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find our free K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum, reviews of popular edtech apps, tips on teaching responsible AI use, and resources for protecting student privacy and online safety.

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English Language Arts | PBS LearningMedia

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Explore teaching resources for English Language Arts. Inspire your students with videos, games, and activities aligned to state and national standards.

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Find supplementary resources designed with mathematics for kids in mind. Motivate your K to 8 students with videos, games, and activities activities aligned to state and national standards.

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SEL Lessons - Personal, Mental & Emotional Health

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SEL Lessons - Personal, Mental & Emotional Health

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Personal, Mental, and Emotional Health | PBS LearningMedia

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Find lessons on Personal, Mental, and Emotional Health for all grades. Free interactive resources and activities for the classroom and home.

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SEL Lessons - Self, Family Environment, and Society

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SEL Lessons - Self, Family Environment, and Society

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Self, Family, Environment, and Society | PBS LearningMedia

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How English Teachers Can Utilize STEAM in their Classrooms | Resilient Educator

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The advent and expansion of STEAM doesn't mean a movement away from language arts. On the contrary, scientists, engineers, technologists, artists, and mathematicians all need literacy skills, an appreciation and understanding of the human experience, and strong writing abilities. English language arts doesn't sit apart from STEAM.

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NEW K-8 Math Lessons Now Available

Get instant access to hours of fun, standards-based videos, reading material, quiz games, simple DIY activities & more.

Get instant access to hours of fun, standards-based videos, reading material, quiz games, simple DIY activities & more.

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Get instant access to hours of fun, standards-based learning videos, lesson plans, activities, quizzes & more.

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NEW K-8 Math Lessons Now Available

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Our science videos for kids cover all major topics in grades K-8 and come with lesson plans, activities, quizzes, vocabulary & more. Try it free.

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Welcome to Edutopia's YouTube channel. We create videos about what's working in preK - 12 education. Whether you're curious about about project-based learning, integrating tech tools, or social and emotional learning practices, we've got you covered. And don't miss our Schools That Work series, which focuses on evidence-based strategies that you can bring to *your* classroom.

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STEM in English Language Arts Class - Building Book Love

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It wasn’t until my Assistant Director of Schools tweeted a picture I sent out with the caption, “Mrs. Bible using STEM in ELA,” that I realized I was even doing STEM at all. I just thought I was doing a really fun tiny house project! Ha! After that, I was all like: If this is STEM, ... Read More abo…

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The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM

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Susan Riley | September 2017

One of the things that confounds teachers about STEAM is whether or not literacy is a part of the approach. After all, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math. What about reading and writing? Do we just drop them completely, or do we move to something else and call it STREAM (adding "reading" into the acronym)? And then... aren't we back to teaching everything?

These are all excellent questions. And the answers come down to two deep understandings:

1. Literacy is a part of every content area - always. You can be literate in math, art, reading, social studies, music and science. Literacy is an action with common components that are embedded into how we consume and share information. As such, it is naturally a part of STEAM.

2. STEAM is the intentional alignment of standards within these identified content areas and includes equitable assessment of both areas in the lesson. It's guided by inquiry and is focused on application, creation and evaluation. Adding another letter isn't the point.

With those understandings in mind, there are many ways to integrate literacy and STEAM intentionally in your classroom. Here are some examples that you may find helpful in your planning for this year.

Visual Thinking

Utilizing visual thinking is drawing upon the foundation of literacy itself. You can read a piece of art or music, the same way you can read a piece of traditional text. Visual thinking strategies are a terrific way to introduce this concept to your students and to practice literacy across all content areas.

A well-known VTS is looking at a piece of text (arts, fiction, informational, etc) and asking these three questions:

1. What's going on in this text/image/process?

2. What do you see/hear that makes you say that?

3. What more can we find?

The foundation to visual thinking is in the questions that are asked and in listening to student responses. These are also the hallmarks of STEAM, so visual thinking and literacy makes sense.

Here are some additional Visual Thinking resources to help you get started:
OpenThink: Visual Thinking Strategies 10 Visual Thinking Literacy Strategies The Visual Thinking Strategies Website
Embodying Text

Being able to make personal meaning requires moving from the abstract to the literal. Many of the STEM areas deal with abstract concepts which are hard to visualize or feel. This can be done quickly and easily through movement. Using dance as a tool to explore a concept and then translate that into a literal interpretation is a form of writing. Just because it's done with the body doesn't make it any less of a composition.

Here are some specific strategies that use dance composition as a medium for STEAM:
Inspiring Dance Literacy
Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal teaching is all about using comprehension strategies to have formal conversations about text. If the text is a piece of art, or if it's a scientific finding, the reciprocal teaching strategy will work regardless of content. Here's the steps you need:

Start by asking students to predict an outcome based on a problem, process, or artistic prompt. Then, ask some guiding questions and encourage your students to ask each other questions about the work. Students can then point out elements of the problem, process, or arts prompt that they don't understand. They can then research answers to these questions and summarize their findings. This strategy is often used to analyze traditional text and is a core component of literacy, but can easily be applied to any content area.

STEAM and Literacy don't have to be on opposite sides of the education fence. They truly do work hand in hand to deepen learning for students and to encourage exploration and a creative mindset !

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Susan Riley | September 2017 3 Ways To Integrate Literacy and STEAM One of the things that confounds teachers about STEAM is whether or not literacy is a part of the approach. After all, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering,

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Learning mathematics cannot be achieved through memorization alone. Manipulatives provide a physical representation of the issue being addressed, leading to a more meaningful, hands-on experience. They're very beneficial for real-world math problems.

Throughout history, physical objects have been used to represent abstract concepts and ideas. Ancient forms of the manipulative resembled counting systems resembling an abacus. In the early 19th century, geometric shape manipulatives transformed the way people looked at their world by introducing them to more than just numbers.

Benefits of manipulatives in teaching math

Math is more than just words, symbols, letters and numbers - it also has practical applications. Unfortunately, there can sometimes be a lack of understanding or connection between the theoretical concepts of math and how they function in real-life scenarios. When students are presented with the opportunity to interact with math through manipulatives, they can make a connection between the problem and its practical application.

When used in teaching math, manipulatives can:

Help students construct physical models of the problem to be solved

Build confidence by taking abstract ideas and making them concrete

Provide a tangible way to test a theory through trial and error

Mimic real-world experiences, such as scale models and prototypes

Engage and excite learners with colorful shapes and objects over monochromatic letters and numbers

Break down complicated concepts into recognizable parts

Increase the enjoyment of working with math, which often translates into greater proficiency

Establish concrete understanding, which leads to stronger abstract comprehension

Manipulatives help build a foundation for understanding math concepts, allowing the students to grasp the material and develop problem solving skills. By utilizing manipulatives during math instruction, your classes will become an enjoyable atmosphere of learning and exploration.

Manipulatives by grade level

Ideal manipulatives for preschool and kindergarten

Math is an essential part of education, and its first building blocks are established in early childhood. For many kids, the foundation for this discipline begins with parents or caregivers who interact with them by counting fingers and toes and teaching them catchy rhymes.

Setting small items such as food onto a plate, into a bowl, or directly handing them to the child can provide an opportunity to count and practice math skills. Establishing this foundation while they are still young will ensure that their knowledge and understanding of mathematics is firmly cemented.

Manipulatives are an incredibly valuable tool for preschool- and kindergarten-aged children who aren't yet able to communicate their ideas clearly. These objects provide a universal way of expressing and understanding concepts when words alone cannot explain them. When selecting manipulatives, look for ones that are interesting and engaging. Other suggestions::

Easy to grasp and hold

Large and easy to see (e.g., DUPLO bricks)

Lacking small pieces that might get swallowed or lost

Brightly colored

Slightly rounded or smooth on the edges

Made in familiar patterns and shapes (e.g., pattern blocks)

You can also create homemade manipulatives from everyday items. Make use of the following:

Magnet balls or gems

Uncooked pasta (you can dye it with Kool-Aid to add a classification aspect)

Popsicle sticks

Beads

Buttons

Erasers

Cotton balls

Q-tips

Coins

Marshmallows (both mini and regular size)

Marbles

Board game pieces

Beans

Corn kernels

If you're looking to kickstart your math manipulative collection, there are many places to begin your search. Thrift stores, yard sales and online third-party marketplaces can be great sources, while educational websites may also provide helpful guidance. However, always remember that when starting out, less is more.

No matter how you use them, store your manipulatives in containers that are convenient and easy to access. When storing small pieces, ensure the lids are securely fastened. This protects the contents from spilling or being accessed by unsupervised youngsters. Food storage containers are very useful and can be found in most stores, while specialty stores (like those selling gaming items) provide more specialized, creative solutions.

Ideal manipulatives for Grades 1-3

Children at the early elementary levels come into these grades with a rudimentary knowledge of math. However, they might not have prior experience with manipulatives used specifically for mathematical purposes. Nevertheless, fine motor skills are more developed at this age, so you can use items that are more refined. These can include:

As little ones explore their world, provide them with opportunities for investigation and discovery. Math centers filled with enriching activities can promote cognitive development and engender in children a love of learning. Such experiences can also encourage the development of self-confidence as they interact with their physical surroundings.

Ideal manipulatives for Grades 4-6

Engaging with hands-on materials isn't just for younger grades - older students benefit from them, too! By building upon their existing base knowledge, manipulatives allow for more in-depth learning as these students focus on harder core subjects. Consider including:

Pattern blocks for fraction skills

Base ten blocks for volume, place value and decimals

Rolling dice for mastering fast facts in basic math

Protractors

Analog clocks to explore elapsed time

Graph paper

Dry-erase tablets

Ideal manipulatives for middle and high school students

At these grade levels, creative expression is often minimized in favor of achieving academic requirements. Manipulatives offer an opportunity for continued tactile learning that engages both hemispheres of the brain. With these materials in hand, students can explore and discover within an established framework.

Balance scales to teach measurement and equality on both sides of an equation

LEGO for area and perimeter exercises

Algebra tiles for factoring polynomials

Paper plates to explore the facets of the unit circle

Transparent geometric solids for volume and measurement

Spinners for probability, data and statistics

Butcher paper to cover desks and tables for group collaboration exercises

Popular math manipulatives

Manipulatives may be commonplace in the classroom setting, however they have far more applications than what we typically assume. Anything could serve this purpose and there are certain products readily available that have come to be recognized for aiding in teaching various topics. For instance, they help simplify intricate processes like basic arithmetic operations and more advanced strategies like decimal division. Furthermore, their utility is not restricted merely to children or classrooms; these resources can prove advantageous to any person regardless of age or educational environment.

Base Ten Blocks

Base ten blocks are a super useful tool for understanding place value, number sense, and regrouping. Most common sets feature light blue small cubes, rods representing 10 conjoined cubes, one square that's equal to 100 cubes, and one large cube for 1,000 cubes. Some companies have created multiple color sets as well.

Fractions

Fraction bars/tiles

These hands-on pieces help learners explore the concept of parts of a whole. They're packaged in a set of color-coded pieces; within the set are pieces representing wholes, halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths and twelfths. The set comes with a tray and a booklet that contains recommended activities. You can buy them from Learning Resources or make them yourself.

Counters

Cuisenaire Rods

These rods offer a unique way to learn essential math concepts! Coming in 10 distinct colors, with every hue corresponding to a number between 1-10, these rods can assist with adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. They form a staircase-like pattern when assembled- making them an engaging tool for mastering fundamental math skills.

Animal-shape counters

From an array of animals ranging from bears to chickens, these plastic toys can be found in most educational or children's toy sections. Whether you are looking for a tiny monkey or a gigantic cow, with the selection of varying shapes and sizes, there's something for everyone!

Circle counters

Versatile and brightly colored, basic counters are a great choice for bingo chips and more. These primary-hued pegs, made of transparent plastic, come in two-sided circles that are red on one side, yellow on the other - ideal for counting activities.

Very similar to the abacus, this Dutch version contains strings attached to wood with a variety of beads hanging on the strings. Learners can move themleft and right as they tick off a counting sequence.

Algebra tiles

Plastic, magnetic or foam tiles

Algebra tiles look similar to base ten blocks, only they don't have markings that help with basic counting. These tiles depict various components of algebraic equations and are labeled as unit, x, y, xy, x² and y² pieces.

Shapes and geometry

Create your own designs with a standard square pegboard! Featuring either single or two-sided styles, this pegboard provides a fun and easy way to explore angles, fractions, symmetry, shape recognition and construction. With thin pegs arranged in a variety of arrays, simply stretch rubber bands across the pegs to create your own masterpieces!

Tangrams, commonly known as pattern blocks, feature six distinct shapes representing one of six colors. It entertains learners with cards that contain colorful designs, which must be replicated using the pieces in a set.

Plane geometry never tasted so sweet! These innovative new manipulatives, which snap together like popsicle sticks held by a brass pin, give students a fun way to explore different aspects of planes, angles, and shapes. With six unique lengths available, they bring an exciting element to mathematics lessons!

Math cubes

Unifix cubes

These interlocking counting cubes, the gold standard in math manipulatives, are ideal for instruction in counting, patterns, and basic operations. Offering fantastic versatility, they come in ten distinct colors and can be purchased from almost any store.

Money

Plastic, wooden or paper coins

Adding coins to learning activities can enhance the enthusiasm and focus of learners. Blank coins come in various sizes and colors, manufactured or printed - either plastic or wooden discs that last even longer. They provide a creative way to test the knowledge of students, making learning an enjoyable and participatory experience!

Pretend money is usually constructed from thin plastic or laminated paper, however, you could always use board game currency. Generally, pretend money is smaller in size than real cash; however, a typical set includes notes of one, five, ten, twenty and hundred dollar denominations.

Basic math

Dice come in many shapes and colors, from a typical six-sided cube with numbers one through six, to those with more variety. You can use these adaptable objects for common arithmetic such as adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing; or for other activities where you need a decision-maker.

Dominoes are an excellent way to explore basic math, probability, and estimation. This classic game has 28 tiles featuring combinations of blanks and dots from one to six, similar to dice but with two combinations per tile face. Problem-solving and calculation challenges make dominoes engaging and provide multiple learning opportunities for young minds - making it a perfect fit for classroom curriculum.

A standard ruler displays inches, centimeters and millimeters, but you can use a yard/meter stick and even a ruler with only 6 inches in length. They're useful for number line counting, skip counting, and all basic math functions.

The abacus has been used for centuries and remains a popular method of counting today. Originating with the ancient Romans, this counting frame comes in multiple styles and designs. With a wooden frame holding parallel rods, movable counting objects are strung on the rod and can slide back and forth.

Mastering math with manipulatives

Despite textbook writers' best efforts, teaching abstract math concepts without manipulatives is a tough task. Most students have difficulty comprehending this type of two-dimensional, text-based learning. Although some may easily process it, the majority prefer to engage with math through physical interaction. For these reasons, using manipulatives in lessons can significantly help learners better understand complicated mathematics topics.

Using math manipulatives offers students a comprehensive, multi-sensory experience that provides an opportunity for creative exploration. Furthermore, it allows students to personalize their education in mathematics, fostering self-confidence and mastery not achievable through traditional textbook practices.

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Top Manipulatives for Teaching Math | Resilient Educator

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Chemistry Projects that promote STEAM learning

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Chemistry Projects that promote STEAM learning

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The science of chemistry is much more than observing reactions when combining two or more different types of chemicals. Our understanding of the universe, our planet, and humans as electrochemical beings is fundamentally based on understanding the principles of chemistry. This makes learning about chemical processes through experimentation vital to the concepts of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). Student exposure to the fascinating world of chemistry is imperative to cultivating tomorrow's doctors, physicists, researchers, and scientists. Here are some chemistry project ideas to foster students' curiosity.

Elementary classroom chemistry projects

Invisible ink

Sympathetic ink substances disappear and then reappear when heated.

Ink types: milk, lemon juice, vinegar, grapefruit juice, Windex, and cobalt chloride

Dip a paintbrush or Q-tip in lemon juice. Write something on a small piece of white paper. Let the "ink" dry before holding the paper over a toaster. Heat will magically cause the secret writing to appear.

Instructions for this project here.

Fizz inflator for balloons

Mixing vinegar and baking soda causes a reaction that creates carbon dioxide.

Supplies needed:

Instructions for this project here.

Lava flowing in the classroom

Oil floats in water because it is less dense than water. However, salt sinks in water with oil because salt is more dense than oil.

Supplies needed:

Instructions for this project here.

Make ice cream from scratch

This experiment shows an endothermic chemical process that allows ice cream to form out of the following ingredients:

A bag of ice

4 oz of vitamin D milk

4 oz of cream

4 tsp of white sugar

1/4 tsp of vanilla flavoring

1/2 cup of rock salt

Small and large Ziploc freezer bags

Instructions for this project here.

Fun with slime

This chemical experiment shows the unique quality of this compound to be both a liquid and a solid.

Supplies needed:

Two disposable cups

Elmer's or white craft glue

Food coloring

Borax powder

Water

Tablespoon and plastic tsp for measuring and stirring

Instructions for this project here.

Heat-producing chemical reactions

How common household items produce heat when combined.
Supplies needed:
Instructions for this project here.

Middle school classroom chemistry projects

Growing crystals

Chemical reactions needed to create crystals involve making a solution that cause solute particles to coalesce and build a nucleus.

Supplies needed:

Instructions for this project here.

Never-ending lava lamp

A heat source causes oil to expand faster than alcohol and then cool, demonstrating changes in density caused by thermal expansion.

Supplies needed:

Glass container that can be sealed

Baby or mineral oil

70% and 90% alcohol

Incandescent light bulb

Instructions for this project here.

Separating salt and sand

This experiment investigates the concepts of solubility and insolubility.

Supplies needed:

Instructions for this project here.

Hot ice

Explore exothermic chemical reactions, crystallization, and the science behind supercooling.

Supplies needed:

4 Tbl of baking soda

One liter of clear vinegar

Instructions for this project here.

Mini lemon volcano

Explore chemical reactions involving baking soda and citric acid. Stirring baking soda and citric acid increases frothiness.

Supplies needed:

Two lemons to make one volcano

Baking soda

Food coloring

Dish soap

Craft sticks

Spoons and cups

Medium-sized tray

Instructions for this project here.

Fizzing bath bombs

Students can explore the chemical concept of neutralization while doing this experiment.

Supplies needed:

Kitchen scales

Spray bottle

Water

Citric acid

Bicarbonate of soda

Cornflower

Lavender oil

Tennis ball (optional)

Instructions for this project here.

High school classroom chemistry projects

Luminescent chemical reaction

How a specific chemical reaction produces light energy without creating heat.

Supplies needed:

Water

Anhydrous sodium carbonate

Sodium bicarbonate

Luminol

Ammonium carbonate monohydrate

3% hydrogen peroxide

Copper sulfate

Funnel, flask, and spiral condenser

Instructions for this project here.

How to make a pH indicator

Understand what a pH scale is and why it is an essential part of learning about chemistry by having students make their own pH indicator.

Supplies needed:

Two cups of chopped red cabbage

One cup of water

Instructions for this project here.

Magic trick: Burning a one-dollar bill (not really!)

Explore the chemical reactions among paper money, alcohol, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

Supplies needed:

Instructions for this project here.

POP! goes the nitrogen triiodide

When iodine crystals react with concentrated ammonia, it creates nitrogen triiodide and a loud popping sound.

Supplies needed:

Instructions for this project here.

Splitting water molecules: Electrolysis of water

This project allows students to explore the concept of battery energy used to induce chemical reactions that do not occur spontaneously.

Supplies needed:

Water

9-volt battery

Metal thumbtacks

Clean, clear plastic water bottle

Epsom salt

Scissors

Plastic cup or beaker

Black permanent marker

Modeling clay or paper towels

Instructions for this project here.

Revealing different pigment chemicals in leaves

Students learn about chromatography and the chemical concept of solubility.

Supplies needed:

Fresh, green leaves or fresh spinach leaves

Food processor or mortar and pestle

Scissors

Ceramic or glass cup

Coffee filters

Isopropyl alcohol

Straw or pencil

Tape

Instructions for this project here.

For further information about teaching the concepts of STEAM, visit our STEAM Teaching resource page for more fascinating and fun activity ideas.

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15+ Chemistry Project Ideas That Reinforce STEAM Learning | Resilient Educator

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The science of chemistry is much more than observing reactions when combining two or more different types of chemicals. Our understanding of the universe, our

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The Smithsonian Science Education Center

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The Smithsonian Science Education Center

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Smithsonian Science Education Academies for Teachers

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100 STEAM Projects for Teachers: This is a collection of 100 STEAM Projects created for teachers and educators to do with youth. Each project encourages exploration, modification, and students to pursue their own ideas and curiosities. They are also meant to be accessible, both in …

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Discover information, examples, and tools related to incorporating aspects of the arts, design, and the humanities into STEM-based school activities.

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Educators, you can spark student curiosity using a variety of lesson plans and hands-on experiments that teach STEM concepts.

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Have you seen a STEM lesson, maybe on Pinterest, and thought, "Wow, the person who wrote that lesson is so creative. I wish I could be that creative."
Your wish is about to come true.
The problem with writing a great STEM lesson is that it's so big, has so many parts, and can feel overwhelming. But once you break it down into smaller parts, your brain can focus on creativity. So let's break this STEM thing down into it's parts. Then use the FREE STEM Lesson Plan Template to plan your own amazing STEM lessons!
*This is a guest post from Danielle at Blessedly Busy.
Layer 1: An Inquiry Based Question
What? We're not going to start with science?
In order to make a good STEM lesson, we need good bones. An inquiry based question will give us those bones.

What do I mean by "inquiry based"?

An inquiry based question causes the student to stop and think. It is impossible to answer with a one syllable answer. It also has:

Multiple solutions

Multiple ways of getting to the solution

Interest

Is the question "What is 9 + 5" inquiry based? No, this question is fact based. The student can answer in one syllable. In this case 14.
A better question would be "How many ways can you make 14?"
The example problem we are going to use is "How many rectangles can you make that have an area of 24?"

While the interest isn't super high on this problem, it's a lot higher than a worksheet with the instructions "find the area".

I almost always use math as my starting point because I'm a math teacher. It's what I know. But you could easily start with any of the other subjects.

For example:

S - "How do plants grow?" or a more specific example, "What is the best fertilizer to grow tomatoes?"

T - "Let's make a computer game!"

E - "What is the best shape to make a tower out of?"

M - "Let's budget and plan a vacation."

Bonus subject A (art) - "Do different colors elicit different emotions?"

Once you have the basic question hammered out, it becomes easy to add the different subjects in.

How Does Science Fit in the STEM Lesson:

Scientists observe the natural world. Thinking about your starter problem, what can you add to that lesson that would help your students observe the world around them? Or how can you relate your problem to the world around them?

With my example problem, I might think about why someone would care about different size rectangles.

Maybe we are building flower beds and want to know the best shape for a flower bed.

As a bonus for me ( because I homeschool) we could actually build the flower bed. Now our project ties into the real world, and it's something someone might actually need to do.

And if I actually build the flower bed, we add even more science by observing our plants and noticing what makes them thrive, or not.

Some key words to think about when thinking about science, what can my students:

How Does Technology Fit in the STEM Lesson:

Technology can sometimes be a hard one to fit into a lesson. Especially if you are not tech friendly.

Start with the technology that you use that enhances your life. My idea of using technology for this lesson would be to have them take a picture of their finished plans and share it on Facebook. That's technology, right?
Well, it's better than nothing.
As lesson designers, we also need to keep our students' experience in mind. For my students (who are younger than 10), posting something to Facebook is a new experience and might be a valuable add to the lesson. If you're teaching teenagers on the other hand...

It might help to make a list of what we could do with technology.

I would encourage you to add technology to lessons that require doing on the students' part.

While watching a movie is technically technology, they aren't really gaining any technological understanding by watching it.

Here are some examples of some programs that might be helpful for a student to learn to use:

Publisher

Excel

PowerPoint

Video editing software

Picture editing software

Graphing calculator

I find it easiest to add technology in two places: gathering and organizing data and sharing results.

Perhaps with our problem, we will have students make an advertisement on publisher for the size of flower bed they want to create with a goal of mom picking their size.

For more ideas on incorporating technology, see this introduction to exploring with graphing calculators.

How Does Engineering Fit in the STEM Lesson:

Engineers design. They have an emphasis on testing limits: the highest, strongest, longest lasting, etc...

The engineering in STEM also refers to following the Engineering Design Process.

It looks a lot like the Scientific Method that I grew up with. Basically, you define the problem, then try a bunch of stuff until you find the solution.

If you want details (in a handy flow chart no less) visit Science Buddies.
Engineers:
In my problem, I might add a secondary problem. Which size is going to be the strongest? Or perhaps, the most efficient?

Then my students could build models and test their theories.

How Does Math Fit in the STEM Lesson:

Mathematics is the study of patterns.

Does that definition surprise you? Our current education model has math as a skill set for solving problems. And it certainly has that too. But the reason for that skill set is in finding patterns.

Ask yourself, is there a pattern we can discover with the lesson I am creating?

In my lesson, I would want my students to figure out a quick way to find the area of a rectangle.

So, a question I would have as part of their lesson is, "How did you find the area of this rectangle, now, how can you apply that information to all rectangles?"

Bonus Subject: Art

Artists are also designers.

But unlike their engineering counterpart, their focus is on communicating ideas and beauty.

Like technology, the easiest place to add art is in the end when it's time to communicate findings.

In my lesson, I already have art 🙂

Under the technology section, I decided I would have my students create a poster to convince me of which size garden to create.

Perhaps though, I would do the poster in stages.

Stage 1: Get your ideas on the poster.

Stage 2: Make it beautiful.

Putting a STEM Lesson Together:

Now that you have all of the pieces on your STEM lesson plan template, it's time to put them in a sentence or two and see how they sit.

My focus for this lesson is: Students will test, design, and create a flower bed that has an area of 24 feet. Using Canva, they will create a persuasive poster to sell their idea to the class and myself.

So simple and yet so much learning will take place during this lesson.

To make it easier for you to write your own STEM lesson, I have two free products.

The first is a STEM lesson plan template for you to keep track of the focus and all of the little pieces. ( see below)

The second can by found at my blog and is a STEM poster with helpful questions to ask yourself for each letter of STEAM.
I hope you find them helpful! And check out these other FREE STEM lesson ideas: Danielle is a homeschooling mamma of 5. She is committed to making life with young children easier and sharing her passion for math. If you would like to learn more about teaching math to multiple age groups visit Blessedly Busy or follow her on: Facebook Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter.

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Plan Engaging STEM Lessons: STEM Lesson Plan Template {FREE}

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Have you seen a STEM lesson, maybe on Pinterest, and thought, "Wow, the person who wrote that lesson is so creative. I wish I could be that creative." Your wish is about to come true. The problem with writing a great STEM lesson is that it's so big, has so many parts, and can feel overwhelming.

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory - 24 quick STEM/STEAM Lessons

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory - 24 quick STEM/STEAM Lessons

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Calling all teachers pressed for time, substitutes looking for classroom activities that don't require a lot of prep, and others hoping to keep students learning in especially chaotic times: We've got a new collection of lessons and activities that you can quickly deploy.

Read on to explore our collection of Quick and Easy STEM lessons and student activities, organized by grade band. Get everything you need to guide students through standards-aligned lessons featuring connections to real NASA missions and science as well as links to student projects, which can be led by teachers or assigned as independent activities.

Grades K-2

Grades 3-5

Grades 6-8

Grades 9-12

Explore More

Find our full collection of more than 250 STEM educator guides and student activities in Teach and Learn.

For games, articles, and more activities from NASA for kids in upper-elementary grades, visit NASA Space Place and NASA Climate Kids.

Explore more educational resources and opportunities for students and educators from NASA STEM Engagement.
TAGS: Lessons, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Substitutes, Activities, Students, Science, Engineering, Quick and Easy

Kim Orr, Web Producer, NASA-JPL Education Office

Kim Orr is a web and content producer for the Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her pastimes are laughing and going on Indiana Jones style adventures.

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24 STEM Lessons You Can Quickly Deploy in the Classroom - Edu News | NASA/JPL Edu

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Calling all teachers pressed for time, substitutes looking for classroom activities that don't require a lot of prep, and others hoping to keep students learning in especially chaotic times: We've got a new collection of lessons and activities that you can quickly deploy.

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Edutopia - Building Critical Thinking with STEAM

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Edutopia - Building Critical Thinking with STEAM

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One innovative way to foster critical thinking in STEM is to add a bit of history. STEM was born from the desire to emulate how life actually operates by merging four core disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and math. In the real world, these disciplines often work together seamlessly, and with little fanfare.

But if we want to prepare children to be future scientists, we need to inform them about the past. By doing so, we demystify scientific advancements by revealing their messy historical reality; we show students how science is actually conducted; and we have the opportunity to spotlight scientists who have been written out of history-and thus invite more students into the world of science.

The Power of Science Stories

One of the best ways to share science from a historical point of view is to tell great science stories. Stories are sticky: The research shows that humans are hardwired for them, and that scaffolding information-by bundling scientific discoveries with a compelling narrative, for example-helps the brain incorporate new concepts. In this way, stories act like conveyor belts, making lessons more exciting and carrying crucial information along with them.

But good stories can serve another purpose, too. By seeing how an invention of the past impacts life in the present, students learn to think holistically. For example, if they are shown how clocks accelerated life, or how computers changed how humans think, then they can see how technology shapes culture or even changes our sense of time. In this way, STEM expands beyond its typical limits and becomes interconnected in students' minds-not just to other technologies, but to all disciplines and fields of inquiry.

Uncovering the Unintended Consequences of Inventions

For over a decade, I looked for a book to provide both the historical and societal context of inventions-to tell the stories of science-but didn't have much luck. I felt so strongly about this missing approach to nurture critical thinkers that I decided to write The Alchemy of Us, which is a book about inventions and how they changed life and society. In it, the lives of a diverse cast of little-known inventors-from pastor Hannibal Goodwin to housewife Bessie Littleton-are unfolded, and the many ways in which those everyday inventions changed life are highlighted.

Sometimes the outcomes of these inventions were intended, and in many more cases they were not. For example, students will see that the telegraph used electricity to shuttle messages over long distances quickly. But they will also come to realize that the telegraph had a shortcoming: It could not handle many messages at a time. Customers at the telegraph office were encouraged to keep their messages brief. Soon, newspapers used telegraphs in their newsrooms, and editors told reporters to write succinctly. The use of short declarative sentences was a newspaper style that was embraced by one reporter who went on to write many famous books-his name was Ernest Hemingway.

Here, then, is a case of how a technology, the telegraph, altered language and led to one of the world's most celebrated literary styles-and this lesson of cascading and unpredictable outcomes can be extended to how Twitter and text messages are altering language now. When history is included in STEM, students learn science, but they also learn about the much broader impact of science.

Shaping the Future by Using the Past: An Exercise

One way that we can build critical thinking skills is to put technology under the microscope. Have students think about inventions, like their cell phones or Instagram or the internet, and consider how they make an impact on life more broadly. Students can create lists of all the changes-ask them to think about not only changes to the material world, but changes to less tangible ideas and concepts, like human psychology and belief systems-and break students into small groups to discuss and share out their findings. Alternatively, you can pose a counterfactual: Ask students to create a timeline of the invention's history, along with a second timeline as if that invention never happened. What happens if the cell phone was never invented?

Obviously, there are no right or wrong answers, but the tasks require your students to observe the world with more wonder-and more skepticism-and condition their minds to think about causes and effects.

To take a deeper look: Let's say you asked your students to examine the effect of the internet on modern life. The internet has certainly changed life significantly. For starters, we can listen to music, watch videos, access information, and contact each other easily. Have your students discuss life before and after the internet in groups and then create a drawing or write a short essay. They could answer questions like these: How did people get their news? How did they hear from each other? How did people listen to music? Where was information about different topics stored before the internet? The next step might be to look at the pros and cons of the internet, specifically social media. Does being more connected help or hurt us? Does the internet bring us together or divide us? Does the internet make it easier or harder to find the truth?

Once students are warmed up to thinking about technology in this way, you might have them try on the role of futurists. Ask them to consider thought-provoking questions like: If social media is based on "likes" and "follows," what kind of society will we be in the future? Will we listen to popular celebrities with millions of followers, or will we listen to experts with fewer followers? Will it be easier to spread false information? Students can then draw a picture, write an essay, or create a video reflecting on the societal impact of the internet and what life could be like in the future with or without their proposed solutions.

Engaging Future Citizens

While STEM skills are themselves increasingly important in our technologically rich world, STEM is also a pathway to engage students as critical thinkers, and even as future citizens. By placing science in the broader context of history and culture, we can remind students of how scientific inventions play a role in our evolving cultural and even moral belief systems. And by giving students the space to critique inventions, we give them the skills to shape the future.

To get kids asking hard questions, however, the key first step is to give them good science stories. Once students are more engaged with how STEM is part of a larger fabric, they will have the skills to see the world more clearly and the lens they need to start posing tough questions. This approach aligns with the wisdom of William Shakespeare, who said centuries ago, "What's past is prologue." He was absolutely right, because if we're attentive observers, the old stories provide us with a good map to what lies ahead.
Ainissa Ramirez is a materials scientist and the author of "The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another (MIT Press).

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Building Critical Thinkers by Combining STEM With History

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One innovative way to foster critical thinking in STEM is to add a bit of history. STEM was born from the desire to emulate how life actually operates by merging four core disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and math. In the real world, these disciplines often work together seamlessly, and with little fanfare.

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NGSS, STEM, STEAM, and Common Core all speak of the importance of the integration of science with ELA, math, and art. However, we are missing one more layer needed to achieve the goal of total integration. We should also look at the integration of social studies and history with science.

Let's step back for a moment and take a look at science and our world. We'll begin this perspective at the altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level. Our world and our lives are controlled by science. Take away astronomy, chemistry, biology, botany, meteorology, geology, physics, and others, and there is no planet Earth. Take away engineering and technology, and we have no advancement. Looking through the lens of history, we can see the planet's natural history is driven by science and humanity's history is driven by science, technology, engineering, and math.

This idea is clearly reflected in our performing and visual arts, and documented through the writing of playwrights, poets, authors, and scientists of our various time periods. Examples of this are exposed in the art and oral stories of our indigenous people, the evolution of technology and architecture of the Egyptians, the advancement of medicine during the Renaissance period, and links science application and engineering which catapulted countries into the Industrial Revolution. We see it in the notebooks of our scientists and engineers in which they have documented their thoughts and ideas, and we can demonstrate to our students the impact these scientists, engineers, and pioneers have had on our history and our lives. One of my favorite books to share with my students is Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings by Jessica Fries-Gaithersburg. The book highlights scientists and their notebooks with actual photographs of pages from these notebooks. Through the integration of history with science, students can learn how our tools and technology have evolved, how our understanding of the human body has advanced medicine, how our quest for the moon has brought us beyond what we thought possible. Most importantly, our students can gain a clear understanding that success is achieved through mistakes and perseverance. To teach STEM in conjunction with history allows our students to understand the webbing of science, technology, engineering, and math at a much higher level. For, through the integration of STEM, our students will be able to visualize the application of science, and gain the understandings needed to solve a problem or meet a need through engineering. Let's look at the topic of plastics. We found a need and solved it. However, we now realize the ramifications of this invention. Through this lens, students have the ability to reflect on the future human impact of engineering design.

Integrating history and social studies with STEM is very impactful when it is presented on a local level. My students perform water quality testing on our local river. Teaching them the local history of our area, allows them to see the impact of mining gold, forestry, and agriculture on the river, and we discuss the future of the river and its needs in preserving it from future impact. Our river supplies a city twenty-three miles from our small, rural town with about sixty-five percent of its water. The diversion dam is located in our town. Its was built in 1899 and needed to be reconstructed. My students performed a human impact study on the reconstruction of the dam. We studied the history of the town and the dam including a major flooding incident. We were given a tour of the pump house which was also built in 1899 and was in its original state. The pump house still housed all of the pumps from 1899 to the present. The students were amazed at the advancement of the mechanics and the decrease in the sizes of the pumps.

Through social studies, we are able to study people by looking at the natural resources they use. We study their climate and weather, vegetation, renewable and non-renewable resources, customs and traditions, and their stories. In other words, we are studying the geology, meteorology, biology, hydrology, agriculture, and numerous other sciences to obtain a better understanding of our world and theirs.

Many elementary students have a love for dinosaurs and this history can link your students to a career path as a paleontologist or as an archaeologist studying the peoples of the past linking engineering, technology, and science. Studying space and space travel can also link your students to STEM and many inventions and discoveries.

Below are just a few of the NGSS that can be used for integrating history and social studies with STEM. Whenever you look at the Disciplinary Core Ideas, reflect on how you can integrate history and social studies with them. There are many other standards that can be used opening many possibilities!

How have you the integrated history and social studies with science in your classroom? I'd love for you to share!

K-2-ETS1-1 Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
K-ESS3-1 Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live. K-ESS3-3 Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air and/or other living things in the local environment. 3-3ESS3-1 Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of weather-related hazard. 4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment. 4-ESS3-2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans. 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment. Judy Boyle is the K-8 teacher at Divide School in Divide, Montana. She is the president of the Montana Science Teachers Association and serves on the NSTA Board of Directors as the Preschool/Elementary Division DIrector. She is an MPRES/NESSP Teacher Trainer providing professional learning on the NGSS and its Framework to teachers in Montana. She is Montana's 2016 Presidential Awards of Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST) awardee for science, and a 2018 Montana Teacher of the Year finalist. Find her on Twitter @sagemountaintr2

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History and Social Studies Integration with STEM

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NGSS, STEM, STEAM, and Common Core all speak of the importance of the integration of science with ELA, math, and art. However, we are missing one more layer needed to achieve the goal of total integration. We should also look at the integration of social studies and history with science.

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As teachers, we love when our students understand the importance of learning the history of the world. In total honesty, many students will say they find history boring. They feel it happened so long ago, and it is not important to know about. Of course, this is not the case at all. The past truly shapes the world we live in today. Likewise, the choices we make today impact the future. Teachers can work to incorporate hands-on learning activities into history lessons. This is a great way to help students understand the lessons. These historical STEM activities and challenges for the classroom are the perfect way to bring learning alive!

Ancient Civilization Challenges

Ancient civilizations can be among the most challenging topics to draw students into. When they hear the word "ancient," they want to tune out. However, this period contains some of the most exciting challenges and solutions! For instance, one of the most dangerous sporting events occurred during this time- chariot races! Students are always fascinated to learn how horse teams pulled two-wheeled chariots with intense turns in Ancient Greece! Additionally, they love learning how Canopic Jars were part of the mummification process in Ancient Egypt. Students never want the class to end when learning about mummification.

U.S. History Challenges

Since students live in the United States, they do not always see past and current challenges. For example, students may not realize how Native American tribes had to learn to survive in all different climates. Likewise, they had to design intricate communication systems. As time progressed, societies had to learn to make their own items to adapt to the evolving world. For instance, this helped people see the importance of the spinning wheel. When learning about US History challenges, students even learn how different wars began and progressed.

Medieval Times Challenges

There is so much fascinating information to learn about Medieval Times! Students are always eager to learn more from the Renaissance to the Reformation. This includes learning about how people built transportation in Early Islam, and how people searched for gold in West Africa. Likewise, it includes learning about treasure ships in Medieval China. The Medieval Times endured many challenges while people learned to explore and communicate. Ultimately, these challenges ensure students are interested in every lesson.

The bundle creates the perfect way to add so much excitement to lessons. As students learn about challenges during Ancient Civilizations, there are hands-on STEM projects for students to complete. Specifically, there are 15 STEM challenges. This is an incredible way to help students understand the course material. Additionally, the activities show students how difficult it can be to develop the right solution. For instance, there is a pyramid challenge when learning about Ancient Egypt and a Masada fortress challenge for Ancient Israel. Every STEM challenge has detailed directions, photo examples, a list of materials, and several worksheets. This includes options for brainstorming, trials, and reflection.

The Medieval Times contains many incredible historical STEM activities and challenges for the classroom! For instance, students will build a Zen garden to understand its importance in Medieval Japan. Additionally, students will design a zipline apparatus for a Norimono vehicle to travel. They will even create a watermill like the ones used during Medieval Europe. Every STEM challenge has detailed directions, photo examples, a list of materials, and several worksheets. This includes options for brainstorming, trials, and reflection.

There is so much to learn about in World History. Whether studying long ago or in the past twenty years, students will love learning about discoveries, advancements, and challenges. Best of all, the history STEM activities and challenges for the classroom ensure students have a hands-on way to learn the material.

If you do not want to miss any upcoming lessons, join my email list to be notified! By joining the email list, you will also receive freebies for blog exclusive subscribers!

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History STEM Activities and Challenges for the Classroom

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History STEM activities and challenges for the classroom ensure students have a hands-on way to learn history material of the world.

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We have a bit of a tradition here at Left Brain Craft Brain. Every February when the winter seems like it will never end, we warm things up with a bit of STEAM. And STEM, too, with 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids. Be sure to follow along this month as I share 60+ Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math projects that will get your kids and your classrooms excited about learning again. I've partnered with a huge crew of creative bloggers and we'll be sharing the coolest STEM & STEAM activities you'll see all year.

This post contains affiliate links.

Why Do Kids Need STEM & STEAM?

STEM is the abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math. In STEAM we add an A for Art, too. Both are integrated approaches to learning that encourage students to think more broadly about real-world problems. This interdisciplinary approach has helped create innovations like the iPhone, the original laptop computer, and is even revolutionizing cooking in third world countries, and improving air quality as a result.

It helps students ask questions, connect the dots, problem solve, think creatively, and be innovative. And not only can STEAM save the world, but it can also save our kids too by making their future bright. STEM jobs are expected to grow by 16% in the US between 2014 and 2024 compared to only 11% for other sectors*. And right now, science & engineering careers earn more than double the income of the median job in the United States.*

So let's get more science, technology, engineering, art, and math into our kids' lives. Ready for the fun?!?

You're Gonna Love 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids

This year we're doing the weekly topics a little bit differently... I hear a lot from readers asking for a tech project or an art project for their kids or students. So this year we're going to round-up some amazing projects with a focus on each of the buckets in STEM & STEAM. But don't worry, they're still going to be integrated projects that check off more than one bucket!

Science Activities for Kids

Experimentation is one of the foundations of STEM. Check out these amazing science projects for kids!

Check out descriptions and pictures of all of these posts and more amazing Science Projects for Kids in this round-up!

February 1st - 6th

Need Help While School is Out?

Check out our Boredom Buster Activity Plan! I pulled together a TOTALLY FREE activity plan for you to do at home with the kids. It's filled with entertaining hands-on STEAM projects, printables, snack ideas, and most of all it's filled with FUN. Plus, you'll have all the supplies you need on hand (or in the backyard!).

Technology Activities for Kids

Coding, circuits, and computers, oh my! The world of technology is our children's future. Let's get them ready with some fun activities! You can see descriptions and photos of all these activities in 20+ Technology Projects Your Kids Will Love.

February 7th - 11th

Engineering Activities for Kids

Kids are born builders. Encourage those early skills with some engineering activities they'll love. You can see photos and descriptions of all these activities and more in 50+ Awesome Engineering Projects for Kids.

February 12th - 17th

Get the kids creative juices flowing with some amazing art projects that have some science and engineering built in.

Art Activities for Kids

Check out the entire pictures and descriptions for all the projects in this list of 40 of the Best Art Activities for Kids!

February 18th - 23rd

Math Activities for Kids

Don't fall for the worksheet trap for math! Hands-on activities help kids really internalize what they're working on and are a lot more fun. You can see photos and descriptions of all these activities in Math = Fun Math Activities for Kids.

February 24th - 28th

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that you can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Explorers!! The coolest new creative experience for kids is here! Think digital magazine meets online project portal in a safe, kid-friendly environment. (No more worrying about what might be hidden in that YouTube vid!) All engineer, teacher, and mom approved. And most definitely KID APPROVED!⁣

What's included?⁣

A monthly digital magazine with cool themes that's fun to read

Hands-on, exciting projects the kids will love.⁣

Science, tech, engineering, art, and math learning YOU'LL love.⁣

Delicious recipes the kids can make.⁣

Fun printables and games⁣

Check out our latest Sports issue, inspired by your favorite sports and the athletes who love them!

All packed up in an easy-to-do package, ready for kids ages 6-12 to have fun.

Follow Along with 28 Days of Hands-On STEM

Want to stay up to date on all the cool projects? I'll be sharing them daily on the Left Brain Craft Brain Facebook page and pinning them to my Pinterest STEM board. Or come join the STEAM Kids Challenge on Instagram. We'll be posting new projects and cool ideas every day.

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28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids

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We have a bit of a tradition here at Left Brain Craft Brain. Every February when the winter seems like it will never end, we warm things up with a bit of STEAM. And STEM, too, with 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids.

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STEAM PBL Templates - How to get started!

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STEAM PBL Templates - How to get started!

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14 STEAM Activities to Celebrate Black History Month

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14 STEAM Activities to Celebrate Black History Month

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STEAM is based on the idea that all subjects connect as one. Students can't learn engineering without embracing critical thinking, art, creativity, and reading. This same concept applies to other subjects: just because something is related to history doesn't mean it's not relevant to the arts, sciences, and technology.

February is a great time to celebrate the influence of African Americans in the STEAM fields in your classroom. These 14 activities can be applied to different grade levels and subjects depending on your needs. Together, they're also a great idea board for integrating lessons about African American culture, milestones, and accomplishments into your year-round STEAM curriculum.

Choose a Book or Theme for Your School to Concentrate On

Ephesus Elementary in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, centered Black History Month around one STEAM-based book. wrote the children's book Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions , a story about the man who invented the Super Soaker accidentally when he was trying to create a cooling system for refrigerators. chose this book to focus on because it focuses on an African American STEAM professional, and even came up with the slogan "STrEAM of Black History Month," a play on Johnson's water guns.

Art teachers at the school asked students to design their own book covers, based on something they'd like to invent. Language teachers hosted a read in, focusing on books specifically with minority protagonists, and science students researched famous African American inventors and entered a poster competition to better share what they'd found.

By focusing the theme around one book, every instructor (regardless of the subject) could come up with STEAM ideas for Black History Month.

Introduce Bioethics and the Story of Henrietta Lacks

Teachers of advanced students and older learners can use Black History Month to discuss bioethics and the role African Americans played (often without their consent) in advancing medical care. For example, Henrietta Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer whose cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, cloning, and in vitro fertilization, just to start. However, her cells (known as HeLa cells) were taken without her knowledge and have now been duplicated and sold by the billions. Meanwhile, her family members struggle to afford health insurance.

A popular book that ties into this lesson is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , by . There is also a movie based on the book. Teachers can assign the book to students or simply discuss bioethics and patient consent for research. The topic lends itself to open discussion or debate and may lead to the exploration of other controversial scientific issues.

Invite African American STEAM Professionals to Your Classroom

One of the best ways to motivate students to pursue STEAM careers is by showcasing role models in their community. Teachers of all grade levels can invite African American STEAM professionals to discuss their jobs, how they reached that point in their careers, and the steps students can take to succeed. These classroom visitors are living, breathing Black History Month role models.

Host a Historic Science Fair

Additionally, advanced STEAM classes might try to improve upon these inventions, or try to come up with alternative inventions if the original ones had never existed.

Discuss Perceptions And Current Events Through Self-Portraits

No matter what subject you teach, Black History Month is a good time to discuss race issues and encourage your students to be curious, engaged citizens.

"Each student then stands up and presents the portrait and sentiment to the class," he says. "Inevitably serious and open conversations take place. Art makes education personal. When it's personal, we learn."

The current events students read about today will be taught in history classes tomorrow, which is why it's so important to discuss them as they happen.

Learn About Light and the Inventor of the Motion Sensor

Science educators might not realize how much of their curriculum ties into African American inventors. For example, Clarence L. Elder invented the motion detector, which helps conserve energy by turning on lights when there's movement. His technology is used in security systems around the world today.

Calculate The Distance of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade

Millions of Africans were taken from their homes and sold into slavery in America after a perilous journey across the Atlantic. Educators can discuss this scar on America's past and emphasize the conditions people experienced during their passage.

To introduce a math element, the concept of knot speed can be explained with students calculating the amount of time it would take to travel the distance across the Atlantic. Students can also map out the entire triangle trade route and calculate the distance.

Review Eli Whitney and Intellectual Property

Along with reviewing the purpose and function of the cotton gin (and maybe even creating your own model), discuss patents with students through the story of Eli Whitney. The cotton gin did the work of 1,000 men and grew so popular that many Southern planters took his idea and copied the design. Even though Whitney filed for a patent in 1793, a loophole meant people could copy his invention without paying him.

Students will learn about protecting ideas with patents and the concept of intellectual property. This lesson can also be moved to the modern era to review what counts as intellectual property in the Internet Age.

Explore Poetic Voice with the Work of Langston Hughes

Hughes cited the likes of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman as influences, but he also struck a tone all his own, borrowing tricks and techniques from jazz and the blues in his thoughtful portrayals of black life from the 1920s through 1960s. Students develop their own voice in five journal entries, in which they respond to five questions:

With each journal entry, students also read and discuss one poem by Hughes. Then, students write an original poem in their own voice or draft an essay on one aspect of Hughes' poetic voice.

Highlight Key African American Aviators in History

STEAM teachers can easily tie this into lesson plans and activities around flight. Students can build aircraft and compete to fly successfully or learn about the physics of flight and air travel.

Launch a Black History Scavenger Hunt

Teachers are increasingly turning to the Internet to teach students about historical figures who might not be covered in their textbooks. One way to make this fun and engaging is with a scavenger hunt.

Gary Hopkins at shares an Internet Scavenger hunt broken into four grade levels ranging from 4th to 9th grades. Students use the web to answer questions and learn about famous African Americans, from Rosa Parks to Chuck Berry .

Teachers of younger students can use the scavenger hunt to teach their kids about the Internet while older students can learn about good research practices and identifying reliable sources.

Teach Math and Music Improvisation Through Jazz

Educators across the STEAM spectrum will enjoy 's guide for combining math with music to teach improv in jazz. Students tap into the history of jazz to improvise music and create rhythmic patterns.

The lesson begins with a history of jazz music and its roots in blues and ragtime. Teachers can play music from some of the founders of jazz and discuss their history and struggles to break into a predominantly white music industry.

Students are asked to create music that completes a 12-bar song with different note types. Music teachers can introduce different notes or add rests to the music. Depending on the grade level, this lesson can be used to cover simple addition of the notes in the bars, or be used to identify patterns and solve algebraic problems by combining repeat notes.

Showcase and Play African Games

African slaves brought their traditions over to America, including popular games. They also developed new games after slavery was abolished, when many African Americans were too poor to afford toys for their families.

One popular game that teachers can use is Mancala. at Birmingham Parent Magazine says playing Mancala is one of her favorite Black History Month activities. The board can be made with an egg carton and some beans, while promoting both strategic thinking and counting in younger students.

Consider asking students to create games or play traditional African games that are still popular today. This is a great way to have a relaxing classroom day around the middle of the month, when many students are otherwise distracted by Valentine's Day.

Create Adinkra Design Prints For Geometry and Art Class

World history teachers delve into the origin and meaning of during Black History Month and in general discussions about Africa. It's a unique way to bring math and art into the history classroom for a comprehensive learning experience. Students will learn how some African cultures use meaningful geometric symbols and colors to communicate. When used in patterns, these symbols and colors convey important messages about the families that wore them.

In this activity, created by the , students create their own Adinkra designs. This can be done as a group activity or individually with markers and paper. Teachers will discuss different geometric shapes and how they fit together, and how different shapes can take on various meanings and symbols. Then students will be able to create their own patterns and explain the symbolism behind them. Older students can explore how the African way of life was affected by European colonialists in the 1800s, and how the use of Adinkra prints played a part.

Educators, have Black History Month lessons and activities of your own to share? Let us know in the comments below!

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14 STEAM Classroom Activities to Celebrate Black History Month | Ozobot

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In February, celebrate African Americans in STEAM. These 14 activities are a great idea board for introducing black history to your curriculum.

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Anytime can be the right time to explore STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Explore our favorite experiments, engineering challenges and demonstrations with these fun hands-on STEM activities! Materials are easy to find, most activities take an hour or less, and the STEM learning is limitless.

Try the annual Engineering Challenge from Science Buddies! Open to all students worldwide, a new challenge and prizes are announced every January. Explore the current challenge as well as ones from past years! Read more

Did you know that the seaweed you've seen in the ocean or even eaten as a snack is inspiring innovators to imagine new materials? Large brown algae, like kelp, contains polymers-long chains of molecules-that are more environmentally friendly than the ones in most plastics. These natural polymers (alginates) could eventually be used to create sustainable everyday objects. Try your hand at using a bit of chemistry to turn biodegradable polymers from algae into your own custom... Read more

Explore Our Science Videos

Make A Candy DNA Model!

Light-Tracking Robot: BlueBot Project #2

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Fun hands-on STEM activities (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities for kids of all ages.

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In today's K-12 classrooms, students are learning a lot more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. Today, problem- and phenomenon-based learning means that students are tackling some of the most complex topics of our times, whether it is cybersecurity, innovation and entrepreneurship, climate change, biodiversity loss, infectious disease, water scarcity, energy security, food security, or deforestation. Educators are using transdisciplinary learning to help students address deep scientific questions and tackle broad societal needs.
Convergence Education
But how does an educator, who is assigned to teach one discipline (e.g., reading, writing, math, science, social studies, or art) bring together multiple disciplines to teach about complex socio-scientific problems or opportunities? Researchers at the National Science Foundation (NSF) call this "convergence", and say that it has three primary characteristics:

1. It is driven by a specific and compelling problem (such as climate change) or opportunity (such as entrepreneurship and innovation); and, it arises from:

A deep scientific phenomenon (that is, an observable event or happening that can be explained, such as clean groundwater);

An emerging problem (that is, something that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process or system and includes multiple criteria and constraints, such a new water filtration system); or,

A pressing societal need (that is, a need to help people and society, such as ensuring all community members have access to clean water to stay healthy).

2. It has deep integration across multiple disciplines. This is important because complex socio-scientific problems and phenomena cannot be explained or solved by looking at them through one perspective (e.g., environmental, social, economic, or ethical). Instead, experts from different disciplines must work together to blend their knowledge, theories, and expertise to come up with a comprehensive solution.

3. Finally, it is transdisciplinary. That means no one discipline can solve the problem on its own.

From Disciplinary to Transdisciplinary
What do we mean by "transdisciplinary?" In its Federal STEM Strategic Plan, a collaboration of government agencies wrote in 2018 that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education should move through a pathway where disciplines converge and where teaching and learning moves from disciplinaryto transdisciplinary. They wrote:

"Problems that are relevant to people's lives, communities, or society, as a whole, often cross disciplinary boundaries, making them inherently engaging and interesting. The transdisciplinary integration of STEM teaching and learning across STEM fields and with other fields such as the humanities and the arts enriches all fields and draws learners to authentic challenges from local to global in scale." ( OSTP, 2018, p 20)

STEAM education expert and author Joanne Vasquez, former Executive Director of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), and her co-authors explain it this way:

1. Disciplinary - Students learn concepts and skills separately in isolation.

2. Multidisciplinary - Students learn concepts and skills separately in each discipline but in reference to a common theme.

3. Interdisciplinary - Students learn concepts and skills from two or more disciplines that are tightly linked so as to deepen knowledge and skills.

4. Transdisciplinary - By undertaking real-world problems or explaining phenomena, students apply knowledge and skills from two or more disciplines to help shape the learning experience.

A Classroom Example
Let's try an example, using images selected by one of the co-authors who is a master STEAM teacher and former Einstein Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy, Kelly J. Day. Imagine you were teaching about plants so that your students can help people experiencing food insecurities in their community. This requires fundamental disciplinary knowledge about science, mathematics, social studies, civic engagement, and entrepreneurship. What would it look like to move along the pathway to convergence, from disciplinary to transdisciplinary teaching and learning?

1. Using a disciplinary approach, a science teacher might ask students to examine the properties of soil or have students study how tomato seeds germinate in each soil type. In this case, the teacher is identifying an isolated concept (fact, idea, or practice) that is aligned with only one discipline (e.g., science).

2. Using a multidisciplinary approach, a math teacher might ask the students who learned about soil properties and tomato seed germination in science class, to calculate in math class the cost of buying 1 pound of soil, 20 packets of tomato seeds, 10 packets of pepper seeds, and 3 garden tools. The concept now involves multiple disciplines addressed independently on different aspects of the same concept.

3. Using an interdisciplinary approach, multiple teachers-for example, one social studies, one science, and one math-might work together to have students plant a variety of seeds in different soil types to grow vegetables on the school grounds. Each teacher would ask students to contribute to the collective problem-studying soil properties and seed germination in their science class; calculating the cost of the materials in their math class; and finally, drawing a map of the local school grounds in their social studies class to help decide where to place the garden based on geographic direction. In this case, students and teachers across disciplines work together in an integrated way that makes the concept more authentic and real-world (but, like the salad shown here, you can still identify the individual component disciplines or parts).

4. Finally, using a transdisciplinary approach, you would walk into any one classroom and not be able to tell which discipline(s) are being taught because they have "converged." For example, students might be asked to come up with an entrepreneurial project to raise funds for those in need in their local community. They decide to design and build a garden so they can make and sell salsa, while also helping people experiencing food insecurities in their community. In this case, students identify a complex real-world problem and work together to create a shared approach to identifying the phenomenon or solving the problem.

A Pathway to Convergence
Teaching for convergence is not about replacing disciplinary teaching with transdisciplinary teaching; instead, it is about a pathway to convergence. Students, especially in the early grades, still require a strong foundation of disciplinary knowledge and skills. The transition along the pathway to convergence, from disciplinary to transdisciplinary teaching and learning, does not just happen-it is intentional, explicit, and measured.

Transdisciplinary teaching and learning that leads students along a pathway to convergence has many different names that you may be familiar with already-phenomenon-based learning, problem-based learning, place-based learning, project-based learning, civic engagement, inquiry-based learning, entrepreneurship education, and applied learning. No matter what you call it, this type of teaching is important to prepare today's students for tomorrow's complex world. And it is becoming more common in schools, despite the barriers that exist in the U.S. (e.g., aligning with standards; finding time in the curriculum; finding common planning time to collaborate with other teachers).

Free Teaching Resources
The Smithsonian and other federal agencies that support STEAM teachers are here to help. We develop resources to support educators as they move from disciplinary to transdisciplinary teaching and learning along the pathway to convergence. At the Smithsonian, for example, we have a front door to discoveries in science, history, art, and culture. We bring these disciplines together by integrating inquiry-based science education, civic engagement, place-based education, global citizenship education, and education for sustainable development, so that students can engage in local action for global goals, whether it is about food security or environmental justice.

Convergence education and a transdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning helps students develop critical reasoning skills, systemic understanding of complex issues, scientific literacy, perspective taking, and consensus building, all as they plan and carry out local actions for social good. Teachers and students across the country, with the support of the Smithsonian and other federal partners, are tackling the most pressing environmental and social issues of our time, supporting young students as they take action to address complex global issues, and helping them find solutions that address societal needs through convergence education.

Acknowledgement: This article is based on the work of the Federal Coordination in STEM Education (FC-STEM) Interagency Working Group on Convergence, under the direction of Quincy Brown and Nafeesa Owens of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The IWG is co-led by Louie Lopez and Jorge Valdes, with support from Executive Secretary Emily Kuehn.
Editor's Note: To learn more about the Convergence Education framework, join Carol O'Donnell and Kelly J. Day, along with a panel of federal educators and practitioners at the Smithsonian's National Education Summit on July 27-28, 2022. More information is available here: https://s.si.edu/EducationSummit2022

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Teaching About Real-World, Transdisciplinary Problems and Phenomena through Convergence Education

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In its 2018 Federal STEM Strategic Plan, a collaboration of government agencies wrote that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education should move through a pathway where disciplines

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STEM is more than just a grouping of subject areas. It is a movement to develop the deep mathematical and scientific underpinnings students need to be competitive in the 21st-century workforce.

But this movement goes far beyond preparing students for specific jobs. STEM develops a set of thinking, reasoning, teamwork, investigative, and creative skills that students can use in all areas of their lives. STEM isn't a standalone class-it's a way to intentionally incorporate different subjects across an existing curriculum.

Here's a quick rundown of the STEM acronym:

S cience: The study of the natural world.

T echnology: One surprise-the STEM definition for technology includes any product made by humans to meet a want or need. (So much for all technology being digital.) A chair is technology; so is a pencil. Any product kids create to solve a problem can be regarded as technology.

E ngineering: The design process kids use to solve problems.

M ath: The language of numbers, shapes, and quantities that seems so irrelevant to many students.

STEM lessons often seem similar to science lessons and experiments, and in some ways, they are. After all, genuine science experiences are hands-on and inquiry-based. But if you look at the basics of an "ideal" STEM lesson, you'll see some substantial differences.

Here are six characteristics of a great STEM lesson. I hope you'll use these guidelines to collaborate with other teachers and create lessons that apply technology to what students are learning in science and math (and other subjects as well).

1. STEM lessons focus on real-world issues and problems. In STEM lessons, students address real social, economic, and environmental problems and seek solutions. My biggest "aha" STEM moment came when I moved to a new position and faced a class of science students who had given up on school. I had the class identify a real-world problem right there on campus, and suddenly we found ourselves head over heels in a STEM project-before the familiar acronym had even burst onto the scene. See Real World STEM Problems for some suggestions for projects students might focus on.

2. STEM lessons are guided by the engineering design process. The EDP provides a flexible process that takes students from identifying a problem-or a design challenge-to creating and developing a solution. If you search for "engineering design process images" online, you'll find many charts to guide you, but most have the same basic steps. In this process, students define problems, conduct background research, develop multiple ideas for solutions, develop and create a prototype, and then test, evaluate, and redesign them. This sounds a little like the scientific method-but during the EDP, teams of students try their own research-based ideas, take different approaches, make mistakes, accept and learn from them, and try again. Their focus is on developing solutions.

3. STEM lessons immerse students in hands-on inquiry and open-ended exploration. In STEM lessons, the path to learning is open ended, within constraints. (Constraints generally involve things like available materials.) The students' work is hands-on and collaborative, and decisions about solutions are student-generated. Students communicate to share ideas and redesign their prototypes as needed. They control their own ideas and design their own investigations.

4. STEM lessons involve students in productive teamwork. Helping students work together as a productive team is never an easy job. It becomes exponentially easier if all STEM teachers at a school work together to implement teamwork, using the same language, procedures, and expectations for students.

5. STEM lessons apply rigorous math and science content your students are learning. In your STEM lessons, you should purposely connect and integrate content from math and science courses. Plan to collaborate with other math and/or science teachers to gain insight into how course objectives can be interwoven in a given lesson. Students can then begin to see that science and math are not isolated subjects, but work together to solve problems. This adds relevance to their math and science learning. In STEM, students also use technology in appropriate ways and design their own products (also technologies).

Best case scenario: Involve an art teacher as well. Art plays a critical role in product design. Teams will want their products to be attractive, appealing, and marketable. When the arts are added, the STEM acronym becomes STEAM.

6. STEM lessons allow for multiple right answers and reframe failure as a necessary part of learning. Sometimes I designed my science labs so that all teams would replicate the same results or verify or refute a hypothesis. Students were studying specific science content and the whole idea was to provide insight into cause and effect by manipulating variables.

STEM classes, by contrast, always provide opportunity for multiple right answers and approaches. The STEM environment offers rich possibilities for creative solutions. When designing and testing prototypes, teams may flounder and fail to solve the problem. That's okay. They are expected to learn from what went wrong, and try again. Failure is considered a positive step on the way to discovering and designing solutions.

Creating STEM lessons

So where can you find quality STEM lessons? An online search of "STEM lessons" will yield plenty of results. A word of caution, however: Not everything that claims to be STEM is actually STEM. If it doesn't meet the criteria described above, you may want to move on.

I generally start with the following sites to jumpstart my thinking when I plan a STEM lesson: Design Squad Nation, NASA STEM lesson, National Geographic Education, STEMWorks, TeachEngineering, and The Air Force Collaboratory. (Please add your own favorite sites in the comments section.)

Can't find any lessons you like? Look at your course objectives, come up with a real world challenge, and write your own lesson. Check out my blog posts Perfect Stem Lessons and 12 Steps to Great STEM Lessons for some "how to" ideas.

For the ultimate resource, I invite all of you-whether or not you are STEM teachers-to join the Center for Teaching Quality's Collaboratory, a professional and safe virtual network to post your ideas and questions about STEM (and other topics of interest). We'd love to share our knowledge and experiences with you.

For those of you in the trenches, have fun creating your lessons-and thank you for being STEM teachers.

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Six Characteristics of a Great STEM Lesson (Opinion)

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Focus on real-world problems. Involve art teachers. Anne Jolly, a former middle school science teacher, breaks down the ideal STEM lesson.

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STEM by definition is a collaborative way of bringing subjects together to introduce students to higher-order thinking. So it shouldn't be isolated to the science or specials classes. Bring STEM into your social studies lessons with the ideas and tips below.

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You know that kids are naturally curious. Pique their interest with a science demo that draws them into a deeper understanding and memorable experience with your social studies concept. For example, I did dry ice experiments (found here) with my students when talking about Antarctica. We discuss the 3 states of matter as we watched the dry ice sublimate underwater and also talked about the cold climate of Antarctica and how scientists, researchers, and other people who live there have to adapt to the environment to protect themselves. You can find the whole lesson that also includes an engineering design challenge to build an insulating shelter linked below. You can also tie in government by discussing how Antarctica is governed by a treaty instead of being owned by one nation. Discuss potential problems and how your students think the continent should be run.

Maybe you will be talking about landforms and how volcanoes affect people and history. Start the class off with a classic baking soda and vinegar volcanic eruption out of a bottle! Find science experiments that can be simple displays to intrigue your students and whet their pallet for your social studies lesson.

Involve foundational STEM skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, and perseverance when setting up for your social studies lesson. Consider doing what we call icebreaker challenges to strengthen these skills. For example, the pipeline challenge uses paper, PVC pipes, or cardboard tubes to make a pipeline. The goal is for each student to have a section of the pipeline and they must work together with the entire class to get a ball to continuously roll in the pipeline from one end of the room to the other. The ball can only roll and cannot be transported by students' movement (no holding the ball in their section of the pipeline while they walk). Use this activity to talk about transportation and the advancement of the railroad or to open discussions about the migration of people groups. Discuss the significance of an assembly line in speeding up processes and how everything must be timed perfectly and working together to be successful. For more ideas on these types of activities that you could tie into your social studies lessons, see our post on icebreakers or check out our huge bundle of 50 icebreakers.

Enliven your social studies lessons by creating a tool to explore maps beyond staring at a page in a book or poster on the wall. When learning about maps or geography, I first have my students make their own compass. To create a compass, follow these instructions:

Supplies:

Place your small floating object on the surface of the water, making sure it is small enough to rotate freely in the center of the bowl. Using your magnet, rub the paperclip in one direction across it about 50 times. It is very important that you only rub it across the magnet in one direction and not back and forth. Without touching anything else, carefully place the paperclip onto the floating object. Now watch it spin until the paperclip orients itself North & South. Cool right? Mark which end of the paperclip points north.

Once your students have a working compass, assign student teams different mystery locations on a map or throughout your room. Provide them clues to where their mystery locations are by giving them a map and telling them how they relate to different cities using the cardinal directions and a distance. You can do this in your classroom by putting sticky notes with real or made-up names scattered throughout the room and have them navigate using their compass. The clues would read something like, "You are south of Dallas, Texas" and "You are West of Shreveport, Louisianna." Teach them about the history of orienteering and the compass!

Use the engineering design process to recreate instruments, homes, or tools from the different people groups or time periods throughout history. This helps students relate to what they are comparing and understand the depth of differences and similarities.

It is important to note that engineering design challenges must accomplish one or both of the following: The design must solve a problem, or make something better. Engineering design challenges follow the engineering design process and are not just a craft project. If this effort is beyond the scope of your classroom, consider making the projects a collaborative endeavor between various departments. STEM is all about subject integration, so ask the science, math, and technology teachers to work together in teaching and conducting these activities. Need more help tying in a STEM challenge? See the next point below!

Incorporating a design challenge helps students not just identify significant people and things, but to also identify WITH them. And hopefully feel moved to use their problem-solving skills to help care for others in this world.

You may be thinking, how do I come up with design challenges?!? We've made that easy for you with a toolkit. Grab our free flow-chart located in our free resource library! To get the password, just subscribe to our newsletter, confirm your subscription in our email, and receive your emailed password and your freedom to access all of our free resources!

This flow-chart will help you brainstorm and design engineering STEM challenges to connect to any social studies topic. For example, when you are discussing the government, you will start on the "behavior, culture or government chart". Maybe you want to talk about the United States Government. The flow-chart asks "Is there a significant symbol or physical attribute?" Sure, the Statue of Liberty. The flow-chart asks, "Can you recreate it?" Sure, let's make a STEM challenge to make a prototype of the Statue of Liberty. Remember that an engineering design challenge solves a problem or makes something better. If we made a small Statue of Liberty, we could add constraints to require that it needs to stand up on its own and have a torch that lights up! We can incorporate electricity and circuits by making this a paper circuit Statue of Liberty that lights up. Use copper tape, a coin cell battery, and an LED to make a torch that lights up then make your statue such that it stands up while supporting its light.

Speaking of copper tape, explain to your students how the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French and that it is made out of copper. The copper used to be a shiny brown color like a penny but over time the copper reacted with the air to turn green. You can also do a science demo to turn pennies green similar to the Statue of Liberty by adding vinegar and salt to some old pennies and letting them set out for a few hours. The science: Turning a penny green does not eat holes into the penny. When you add vinegar and salt, it dissolves the top copper-oxide layer of the penny. This causes the copper atoms to mix with oxygen in the air and chlorine in the salt. This creates a blue-green substance layer called patina.

You may get to a lesson where a design challenge does not fit into the scope of the topic like an event or time period without a prominent person, industry, or innovation. Consider having your students use technology to retell or describe the topic.

Do a green screen reading of historical works of literature

Make a musical instrument and play cultural or historically significant songs.

Use stop motion animation to act out an important event or celebration

Include Virtual Reality tours of military museums or the international space station.

Connect to historical inventions by reading books about the amazing engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs in our past that have impacted our lives with their perseverance and problem-solving skills. Talk about the inventions and the characteristics of the inventors. You can even create prototypes of the inventions with an engineering design challenge. Look at a map also and pinpoint where the invention originated. Here is a list of our favorite history of inventions books to check out:

Aside from researching different topics and recreating designs, reach out to the professional experts to complement your social studies lessons.

Look for national societies related to the topic you are teaching on. They may have free resources, activities, or demonstrations that can aid in the engagement of your lessons.

Get guest speakers to come in and talk to your students about their jobs or organizations as they relate to what you are learning. Emphasize how STEM careers aid in helping society and our planet. Talk about organizations such as Engineers Without Borders that go beyond their jobs to help people with their engineering skills by providing access to clean water in remote villages. If your students are able to meet with the professionals in person or digitally, help them ask them meaningful questions about the challenges of their career, the things they learn from school in their job, and how they help others with what they know. Check out our free guide with interview questions for your students to ask STEM professionals.

Hope this helps boost engagement with your social studies lesson! Let us know what other ideas you have of incorporating social studies and STEM in the comments.

** Vivify is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links.

Tagged: history, engineering design, social studies and stem

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7 Ideas for Teaching Social Studies with STEM - Vivify STEM

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STEM by definition is a collaborative way of bringing subjects together to introduce students to higher-order thinking. So it shouldn't be isolated to the science or specials classes. Bring STEM into your social studies lessons with the ideas and tips below.

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how.

While everyone else is paying attention to what they see, maybe you're focusing on what you can hear. Explore the physics of sound, musical instruments, and even how people respond when they hear music.

Explore Our Science Videos

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how. While everyone else is paying attention to what they see, maybe you're focusing on what you can hear.

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The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM

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Have you thought about adding a little "STEAM" to your classroom? There are many natural connections that can be made between science, technology, engineering, math, and music. The "A" is authentically added to acknowledge the creativity and innovation necessary to succeed in STEM content areas. The arts give us different pathways in which to see, hear, and understand the world. And, despite that fact, there are certain things in our lives that we see multiple times a day. For instance, if asked to make a drawing of any of those common items, we would probably miss some of the details. The arts also give us an opportunity to "see" the things that we miss.

Connecting Music to Imagination, Innovation, & Creativity

The connection that is made between STEAM content areas stimulates inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. School Specialty states in an article, "The term integration means combining one thing with another to create a new whole." This definition is a key component to any STEAM lesson. When you naturally align the standards in two or more STEAM content areas, you create authentic, real-world connections for students. If you take away one of the content areas, you affect the whole lesson. The learning will no longer look the same, nor will the experience for the students and/or the teacher(s).

STEAM also promotes a shift from a teacher-centered classroom to student inquiry-based learning. As Trevor Bryan stated via Twitter, "If you aren't letting your students get stuck, struggle, make things that don't work, feel lost, confused and unsure, then you are not teaching creativity. Creativity isn't about certainty, it dances with the unknown." In a STEAM environment or lesson, the teacher's role shifts to that of a facilitator or guide. Ryan Holiday writes in The Obstacle is the Way, "It's okay to be discouraged. It's not okay to quit...Failure shows us the way - by showing us what isn't the way... Think progress, not perfection." These soft skills are prevalent in a positive, encouraging STEAM environment and show a shift in how we as teachers need to approach teaching and learning. We've all heard the saying, practice makes perfect. But I disagree - practice makes us better.

Music Technology is STEAM!

At its core, music technology is STEAM learning. But, a teacher's INTENTION in how they present music content and skills is what determines the STEAM connection. In order for music technology to connect to a STEAM approach, the teacher must:

Intentionally select standards from both (or all) STEAM content areas.

Purposefully teach both (or all) of those standards throughout the lesson/unit.

Deliberately assess both (or all) content areas through the naturally aligned standards.

The eleven Anchor Standards included in the National Core Arts Standards provide an excellent foundation for finding natural connections with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), ISTE (Technology) Standards, Mathematical Standards of Practice (Common Core), and the engineering design process. Do you know what NGSS, Mathematical Standards of Practice, or Technology anchor standard(s) you are integrating throughout your lessons/units? Once you know what other standards you are integrating into your music class, you might want to also consider the process of becoming a STEAM school.

We also know that music technology, and all music classes support the P21 Partnership for 21st Century Learning's 4 C's and Life & Career Skills. The 4 C's are:

Creativity & Innovation

Critical Thinking & Problem Solving

Communication

Collaboration

The Life & Career Skills include:

Flexibility & Adaptability

Initiative & Self-Direction

Social & Cross-Cultural Skills

Productivity & Accountability

Leadership & Responsibility.

The 4 C's and Life & Career Skills align with the soft skills that corporations are looking for in the job market. And in fact, a STEAM-based approach to teaching and learning facilitates the growth of these skills, which are practiced in music classrooms every day.

Are you already "doing" STEAM?

If you integrate technology into your music classroom, then you are probably already STEAMing it up! Do you teach and/or use:

Counting and composing rhythms (technology, engineering, math)

Sound waves and amplitude (science, technology, engineering)

Music tech "products" like Noteflight, Groovy Music, Morton Subotnic's Creative Tools, O-Generator, etc. (science, technology, engineering, math)

Composing, arranging, and/or recording using Noteflight, Soundation, Soundtrap, or GarageBand (science, technology, engineering, math)

Makey Makey, Little Bits Synth Kit, etc. (science, technology, engineering, math)

Music technology apps and/or websites (science, technology, engineering, math)

The difference might be in how you present and assess the learning. Remember - one of the key elements to an authentic STEAM lesson is the natural alignment of the standards.

Do your lessons/units foster this process for your students? If not, then how might you adjust your approach to include these five essential steps?

What are the benefits?

Any new initiative or teaching strategy takes time, a little bit of effort, and a lot of reflection and revision. Whether you want to align your music class to your school's STEAM initiative, lead the way in adding the "A" to a STEM program, or light the spark for a STEAM initiative in your school/district, you will encounter increased:

student engagement or time on task.

student interest in learning.

respect with your colleagues in other content areas.

climate and culture within your building/district.

Use STEAM as an approach to transform the things that you don't like and to support the things that you already do well! In truth, I have found that STEAM can be an excellent advocacy tool. The more your non-arts colleagues, administrators, and community understand the importance of what we as teachers teach in our classrooms, the more likely they will see how crucial and integral the arts are to a well-rounded curricular program.

In order to facilitate the process of implementing STEAM into music, I have adapted a guide by EducationCloset to help you "STEAM" up your music class!

Promote your work!

Make sure you promote your work with STEAM! Write a quick, brief press release. Create a bulletin board. Set up a gallery to showcase student work at your next concert. Regardless of how you choose to celebrate or advance your work as a music teacher and your student's work, remember: "When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our world takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity." (Linda Naiman).

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Approaches STEAMing Up Your Music Classroom 5 Min Read * STEAM Have you thought about adding a little "STEAM" to your classroom? There are many natural connections that can be made between science, technology, engineering, math, and

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Equipping students with the skills to succeed inside and outside the classroom has always been our goal as educators. As we go back to school in the fall or continue with distance learning, it has become increasingly necessary to address social-emotional learning (SEL). Read on for strategies on how to utilize STEM to invest in SEL and nurture a positive school culture.

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Social and emotional abilities are critical in a child not only finding academic success but happiness and success in life. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning(2003), set the goal of an SEL program as developing five cognitive and behavioral competencies that are: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Nurturing these skills through intentional activities in the classroom helps children take responsibility for their actions and make good choices in academia and beyond.

Addressing SEL abilities is a continuous process that is an investment in becoming positive contributors to your own life and the lives of those around you. Research shows that a child's SEL development directly correlates to success and happiness as an adult. School should be a safe place where children are encouraged and instructed in SEL skills before becoming active members of society and the consequences that exist in that role. Aside from the personal development gains in social-emotional learning infused lessons, including SEL strategies in your teaching creates highly engaging experiences that empower students to contribute more and learn more academically!

But how should teachers address these skills and abilities within their classrooms while addressing students' academic needs? Our answer: STEM!

STEM challenges are already an integrated approach with real-world applications. What better way to teach the skills needed for success in the real world than collaborative environments like these? The key here is that during STEM challenges, educators should implement naming, addressing, and providing strategies to overcome obstacles in students' self-management. Below are ideas to address each SEL competency with your students.

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and name one's emotions, including emotional needs, strengths, and limitations.

Highlight Skills- Address emotions when they happen. STEM challenges are usually conducted in a team environment, and this allows for many opportunities to address both positive and negative emotions. Highlight and encourage your students when you catch them with good behavior. For example, you may pull a student aside and say, "I noticed you were frustrated when you couldn't be on the same team as your friend but you did amazing at using your self-control and flexibility to work well in the team you were assigned!" Help them notice their own emotions and learn through experience where their strengths are.

Reflect- Make it a point after STEM challenges to include time for reflection! It is so important for students to look back and think about what was difficult or even what they enjoyed most about the challenge. They can look at the strengths they brought to the team as well as things that they need to work on improving.

Emotions + Robotics- Talking about emotions may seem out of place in a STEM program, but they provide the perfect opportunity! Here is an idea by using a Sphero Mini robot.

1. Talk about different emotions with your students and have an open discussion about how to deal with those emotions and how the students can encourage each other in your class.

2. Use the Sphero Mini Face Drive function to drive the miniature robots through a maze! The Face Drive function allows the user to open the app on their smart device and then smile to move the robot forward, frown to go backward, then tilt their head side to side to turn. They can even make an angry face to make the Mini roll away, or a surprised face for it to do a little dance! This is sure to be a memorable and impactful SEL lesson for your students!

Self-management is the ability to regulate emotions and behaviors so that goals are achieved.

Set Rules- Working well in teams is challenging for most students. Guide your students in developing rules that they must agree to at the beginning of every class. These rules can address how they should manage their own emotions and sets the tone for beginning each challenge. Read more about how we use an "oath" here to start each session.

Fail Forward- Perseverance is a key skill in self-management. Provide students with challenges that test perseverance along with giving students strategies in moving past feelings of frustration or inadequacy. To accomplish this, I make sure there is plenty of opportunity for failure in engineering design challenges. Design challenges require that students build something that solves the given problem and then test it. This testing phase can be very frustrating for students who are unable to succeed right away. Teach your students how to fail forward! This means that students need to know how to learn from their mistakes. Students should apply what they learned to make improvements and eventually succeed. Failure is part of the engineering process!

One of my favorite ways to practice this is by making failure a requirement! For example, in the Space Lander Challenge students must design a device that prevents astronauts (ping pong balls) from popping out of a cup when dropped from a given height. After a successful test, I throw in a curve ball! I tell students that what we thought were friendly astronauts are actually dangerous aliens, and we must now sabotage the landing! Students use what they learned from previous failures to force the ping pong balls to pop out of the cup when dropped. In this way, they are forced to fail forward by learning from and implementing knowledge from previous trials.

To learn more about the importance of failure and tools in teaching it, read our post here.

Social awareness is the ability to understand what others are feeling and put themselves in their shoes. This helps us relate to others and empathize with them.

Empathize with Inventors- Share stories from history where people invented or created solutions to problems that people were facing. Did you know that Alexander Graham Bell did more than just invent the telephone? He invented the metal detector to help locate a bullet inside of assassinated President James A. Garfield! He also devoted his life to helping those who were deaf, in part due to his personal interest in that both his mother and wife were deaf. In sharing these stories, you can help foster empathy and see how our surroundings can facilitate creativity to solve issues and help others. Have your students learn about historical figures such as Bell and then learn to relate to them by recreating inventions in history. One example is creating a movable type printer that was the precursor to the printing press in ancient China (Find our activity for this here). Or, recreate the invention of the infant safety capsule (car seat) from Australia to keep babies safe in vehicles ( Find this activity here).

Read books about past inventions and the stories behind them before doing an engineering design challenge to recreate them. Here are some historical invention books we recommend:

Want more STEM books? Go here.

Create a vision board- I like to say that not everything is STEM, but everything does relate to STEM. Build relationships with students while also helping them connect their passions with STEM careers that help make our world a better place. This can be accomplished by using sparks! A spark is an activity or interest that fully engages students. It can be their hobby, favorite subject, or past time. For example, student sparks can be cooking, space exploration, reading, video games, and more! Have your students research more about their spark and then create a 3D model of how their spark can lead to a career that solves a local or global issue. Display all of these projects as a vision board for your students' futures!

Read more about student sparks and other activities to do with them in our post here.

Relationship skills refer to the ability to work well together in teams, handle conflict well, and generally have positive relationships with others. Modeling these behaviors can be crucial in students gaining mastery over these social skills.

Use Classroom Management Techniques- Implement classroom management techniques that carry into your STEM challenges. For example, in my STEM class, I have an "awesome points" jar. When I overhear a student providing vocal encouragement to their teammates or using positive self-talk during an activity, I hand them an "awesome point" (pom-pom) to add to the jar. When the jar fills up, we have a class celebration. They can also lose awesome points when I hear negative words between each other or towards themselves. I model this by telling students that I love their effort, can see that they have great focus, or by telling them to "kiss their brain" for working well in their teams.

Practice teamwork- STEM challenges offer focused practice on relationship skills while working in teams. Before diving into big design challenges, have students work specifically on their teamwork skills as well as communication and critical thinking. These targeted exercises are what we call Stage 1 STEM skills (read about the 3 Stages of STEM here). These activities typically last around 15 minutes and introduce a simple challenge that requires students to talk effectively in their teams and physically work together to solve the problem. For example, they build the tallest tower out of pipe cleaners ( click here for full instructions), or lower a pole of straws to the floor using only their index fingers. Find more of these team-building activities here.

Responsible decision-making is marked by students effectively using problem-solving skills when making positive choices about their personal and social behavior.

Give Responsibilities- It may seem obvious, but it is important to give kids responsibilities to empower them to be responsible. This builds their sense of self-worth and helps them experience being a part of a larger community. In a STEM challenge, give kids roles like team manager, test engineer who runs the test, or materials scientist to be in charge of the supplies.

Have a 10-minute policy- STEM challenges are fantastic in helping your students flex their critical thinking muscles. The struggle of not immediately knowing what to do is what helps them grow in their problem solving skills and reveals negative behaviors when left unguided. For example, some students (typically those that seem to always have the answers) will become extremely frustrated if they are unsure how to proceed with a problem and feel that if they don't get it immediately, they will never get it. They tend to lash out at their teammates or give up and refuse to participate. I have a 10-minute policy where students must try their best to think about the problem and work on a solution in their teams before I will help them. Often, seeing that their "peril" is only temporary allows them to figure out a solution on their own in a lower stress environment. This also allows time for students to check their emotions as I remind them that I am here to help after they try their best first.

Teach Focus- In engineering, failure is a part of the design process. When something fails, real-world engineers do not often completely start over or scrap their progress, they focus on one thing at a time to find a better solution. I teach this to my class while guiding them through the engineering design process. During the brainstorming phase, we look at the different aspects of a challenge separately. For example, when designing a sailboat ( activity here), they look at their materials for what will be water-proof as well as what will support the sail. Then when they test their boat, if it sinks because their materials fell apart, they can focus on choosing something that is water-proof but perhaps keep their sail design. Focusing on one thing at a time is a mindfulness activity that can greatly reduce stress during challenges and helps students beyond the STEM classroom.

Do you address social emotional learning in your classroom? Comment with other ideas you may have to help students sharpen these life skills!

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12 Ways to Boost Social-Emotional Learning with STEM - Vivify STEM

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Equipping students with the skills to succeed inside and outside the classroom has always been our goal as educators. As we go back to school in the fall or continue with distance learning, it has become increasingly necessary to address social-emotional learning (SEL). Read on for strategies on how

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Build social and emotional skills into any class.

Summit students rip up their stress.

Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, uses a variety of activities in the weekly, 90-minute Habits, Community, and Culture (HCC) class, where students learn Habits of Success and develop social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. The school has developed an HCC curriculum for grades nine through 12 and hired two full-time teachers for HCC, but Summit's academic teachers also use some of these activities to build SEL skills and deepen their relationships with their students. Cady Ching, a biology and AP environmental science teacher at Summit, incorporates opening activities into all of her classes: "In my freshman classes, we do them every class period."

Visualization to release stress: Have your students imagine what stress looks and feels like inside their body, and then ask them to release it. "The mindfulness practice makes you think the stress is coming off your body," says Geoffrey, a 12th-grade student.

Noise isolation: There are a variety of sounds that your students hear when they're in your classroom, from students walking in the hallway to outdoor construction noise. Have your students focus on one noise and describe it to themselves and recall the last time they interacted with it.

Here are some of the opening, group sharing, and closing activities that teachers use at Summit:

Opening Activities

Summit students practice mindfulness.

2. Name the emotion you're bringing to class: Have each student call out the emotion they're feeling. This helps each student know how they and other students are feeling, what different emotions look like, and how to better interact with their peers based on how they're feeling.

3. Write down, rip up, and throw away your stress: Have your students write down their expectations and insecurities, rip them up, and throw them away. This emotional check-in takes about three minutes. By acknowledging how your students are feeling at the start of each class, you'll acknowledge their barriers to learning and create a safe space for your students to overcome them.

5. Quote of the day: Introduce a quote relevant to what your students are learning or to a shared experience-for example, an act of violence in the community. You can facilitate a whole-class discussion, group students into pairs, or have each student share a one-word response to the quote. This gives students the space to reflect on their beliefs and experiences and whether they agree or disagree with the quote and other students' opinions, and it gives them insight into their peers' perspectives and feelings.

6. Where we came from: Collect baby pictures from your students. Project one baby picture at the start of class, have your students guess who it is, and then have the featured student share something about their childhood.

7. Starting positive: Have each student tape a sheet of paper to their back and then walk around and write positive qualities about their peers on their backs.

8. Motivational moment: Have two students start the class with a three- to five-minute presentation-and come up with two or three discussion questions-based on their interests. The presentation must be related to the course content in a real-world context. "Many students include a video for visuals and increased engagement, but it's optional," says Ching. Have the rest of the class partner up to discuss their questions for one minute and then give them the opportunity to share out to the whole class. This exercise gives your students insight into their peers' interests.

Grades 9-12 | Redwood City, CA

Enrollment

388 | Charter, Suburban

Per Pupil Expenditures

Free / Reduced Lunch

47%

Data is from the 2014-2015 academic year.

Group Sharing

9. Circle sharing: To encourage active listening, create small groups. Have your students position their chairs in a circle so everyone can make eye contact. To strengthen empathy, you can facilitate deeper discussion around what a student shares by asking, "Why did that student share what they did?" or "What perspective is that student coming from?"

When discussing emotionally charged topics, it's important to have guidelines to foster a safe space. Summit uses the Courageous Conversation protocol created by Glenn E. Singleton when discussing race. The protocol is guided by four agreements-stay engaged, experience discomfort, speak your truth, and expect and accept nonclosure. Here is an example of elementary school discussion guidelines from School 21.

Summit students sit in a circle for a whole-class discussion.

10. Write a poem from someone else's perspective. Have your students choose someone they don't know. This helps them to understand that they don't "need to be best friends with someone to empathize with them," explains Ballard.

11. Have a conversation with someone you don't know. Have your students pair up with a student they don't know and provide the pairs with five questions to ask each other. Each student introduces their partner to the class, speaking as if they were their partner, while the rest of the class looks at the student being introduced. "We don't see people sometimes," says Ballard, "and this exercise helps students to see each other more deeply."

12. Play interest and identity-related bingo. Instead of squares filled with numbers or vocabulary words, create cards with information relating to your students. Summit's Bingo cards have things like "'I like to read' or 'I was born in a different country,'" says Armando, a ninth-grade student.

I would like to appreciate Brenda for facilitating the conversation in our small group.

I would like to thank everyone for taking this class seriously.

I apologize to everyone for having my headphones in for half of the time.

Closing Activity

13. Appreciation, apology, aha: Have your students get in a circle and share an appreciation, apology, or realization with the group. Students in Ballard's class have shared things like:

Encourage authentic and timely apologies. Apologizing for something that happened a long time ago has less impact than apologizing for something that happened that day or week. Let your students know that they don't have to name who they're apologizing to when they apologize for what they did.

Help students share helpful, not harmful words. "I often say, 'Appreciations, apologies, and ahas should be something that you genuinely think will be useful for people to hear,'" says Ballard.

Have your students snap, clap, or shake both hands when they hear something that resonates with them. "We snap to let people know that we hear them without exerting our own voice in their narrative," explains Ballard. Students shake their hands when peers share things that are emotionally charged. Ballard often gets this started by saying, "Let's shake it up for that."

"When you pay attention to each other, not only does it build a sense of community, but we're more able to understand other people," says Janet, a 12th-grade student. "If you're able to understand people at a younger age, you could work better with them as adults. That changes how the future generations will be. People can be more accepting, more helpful towards each other."

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Build social and emotional skills into any class.

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