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Climate Kids is produced by the Earth Science Communications Team at

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About this lesson

Students are introduced to Ozobot and how drawing lines and colour codes can control it. This lesson allows students to experiment with different lines and codes to create a path for Ozobot to follow. This lesson idea was created by Steven Payne.

Year band: F-2

Curriculum Links Assessment

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Students are introduced to Ozobot and how drawing lines and colour codes can control it. This lesson allows students to experiment with different lines and codes to create a path for Ozobot to follow. This lesson idea was created by Steven Payne.

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DESIGN THINKING STANDARDS

The Design Thinking Standards (DTS) provide educators a foundation of what students are expected to learn and do when using the design thinking method. These learning goals are guidelines that educators can use, adjust and modify to meet the needs of their students. The following standards were developed based on the work and teachings of the (Institute of Design at Stanford University), a leader in design thinking education, and its K12 Lab Network, a program that brings design thinking into schools.

The DTS are composed of design practices (skills that students will be able to do), core design ideas (knowledge that students will understand), and design mindsets (set of attitudes essential for effective application of design thinking).

There are two sets of DTS's. The first set of standards incorporates the K12 Lab's design thinking principles (or mindsets) and is recommended for educators who teach design thinking to grade K-5 students. These principles or mindsets are straightforward and easier to understand by elementary students. The second set of DTS incorporates the grade 6-12 students. liberatory design process and its set of mindsets. The liberatory design mindsets are slightly more complex and would be suitable for educators who teach design thinking to

DESIGN THINKING PRACTICES

DESIGN THINKING MINDSETS

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DESIGN THINKING STANDARDS The Design Thinking Standards (DTS) provide educators a foundation of what students are expected to learn and do when using the design thinking method. These learning goals are guidelines that educators can use, adjust and modify to meet the needs of their students.

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One easy way to encourage growth mindset is through engaging, purposeful read-alouds. Here are some of our favorite growth mindset books for kids, all of which can help jumpstart conversations about failure, risk-taking, and persistence.

In this story, a child discovers that it takes courage to take chances and say yes to new opportunities. But in the end, taking chances can lead to incredible experiences.

Little Jabari is absolutely, maybe, pretty sure that he's ready to jump off the high dive. After much observation and lots of stall tactics he finally works up the courage to face his fears and take a leap.

Sometimes things that look like smudgy messes actually evolve into the most beautiful pictures. Beautifully illustrated, this story teaches us that creating (art and life) is a process that requires patience and faith.

This charming story is chock-full of helpful practical tips to help children (and all of us, really) build a strong mind.

Sophie is frustrated when she can't solve a puzzle and comes to the conclusion that she just isn't smart. But with the help of her wise teacher, she learns with patience and perseverance she can solve any problem she sets her mind to.

A tale that teaches the importance of the word 'yet' in developing a growth mindset. The main character imagines all of her potential future selves and realizes with hard work and dedication she can reach any goal she desires.

In this inspirational story, a young stargazer wishes to catch a star of his very own. Despite his many creative attempts, he learns in the end that sometimes having your dreams come true requires a little flexibility. A great story for encouraging kids to dream big and never give up.

"Oh, how Willie wished he could whistle ..." begins this beloved classic. Young Willie longs to be able to whistle for his dog, but try as he might, he just cannot figure out how to do it. We follow along as Willie goes through his day, trying, trying and trying some more until finally his efforts are rewarded with a tweet!

This sweet tale follows the course of a little one trying to learn to ride a bike, a milestone to which younger students will surely relate. With determination and practice, as well as a fair share of frustration, her trials ultimately lead to triumph.

Penguin has big dreams of soaring through the sky with the seagulls. Although his body is not remotely designed for flight, Penguin's creativity and ingenuity, not to mention his persistence, lead to the fulfillment of his dreams. A wonderful story for encouraging kids to think outside the box.

This beautiful retelling of "Humpty Dumpty" imagines what the fragile egg would do to regain his courage after falling from the wall.

This whimsically illustrated story tells the tale of a talented artist who grows up immersed in the joy of creating art until he is tragically injured in a war. Very patiently, with great determination, he slowly regains some of the control in his injured right arm, and although his abilities aren't exactly the same, he goes on to become a celebrated artist.

When Rosie's attempt to build a flying contraption for her aunt doesn't turn out quite as she plans, she feels like a failure but learns that in life the only true failure is giving up. A story of pursuing one's passion with perseverance.

Although he was born with one misshapen leg, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah pursued life with a tenacity that helped him accomplish all that he set his mind to. Encouraged by his mother, who told him to pursue his dreams regardless of his handicap, this story is an inspiring true story of triumph over adversity.

Irene, the loyal young daughter of a dressmaker, must forge through a dreadful storm to deliver her mother's work to the duchess. She must brave the howling wind, the freezing temperatures and many dangerous obstacles in order to complete her mission. An inspiring story that teaches that with proper motivation, there are no age restrictions on accomplishing great things.

An inspiring true story about a girl who dared to dream of being a drummer in a culture that said girls could not. She practices in secret and never gives up on her dream. Ultimately, her perseverance and belief in herself change a culture and reverse a long-held taboo.

Hana's worried about playing her violin in the talent show. She longs to play beautiful music like her grandfather in Japan, but she's only a beginner. She is determined to play her best though, so she practices every day. This inspiring story offers hope and confidence to all children who are yearning to master something difficult and teaches that sometimes there is more than one way to be successful at a task.

18. Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges

Ruby is a young girl filled with curiosity and a hunger for learning in a time when schooling is traditionally a boy's privilege. Her hard work and courage result in her skills being recognized by her powerful grandfather, who breaks with tradition and clears the way for Ruby to further her education. This is a great story for inspiring kids to break down barriers in their pursuit of the love of learning.
Teachers, what are your favorite growth mindset books for kids? Come share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE! group on Facebook. Also, get our free poster "8 Phrases That Nurture Growth Mindset" for your classroom here!

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18 Perfect Read-Alouds for Teaching Growth Mindset

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One easy way to encourage growth mindset is through engaging, purposeful read-alouds. Here are some of our favorite growth mindset books for kids, all of which can help jumpstart conversations about failure, risk-taking, and persistence. In this story, a child discovers that it takes courage to take chances and say yes to new opportunities.

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Indigenous beading meets upcycling & coding

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At first glance, Barry Ace's artwork look like typical intricately crafted woodland-style beadwork but a closer examination will reveal more than what first meets the eye.

Rather than using glass beads, the Odawa Anishinaabe visual artist's work is adorned with floral motifs using reclaimed and salvaged electronic components and circuitry.

There's resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors, lights, circuit boards, and wires.

"It's an introduction of a new technology, very much like beads when they were introduced to North America," said Ace.

"It shows that our culture has never been in stasis. We've always been moving forward and are not stuck in an anthropological past, but are always looking for new ways of cultural expression."

The work is based on bandolier bags - cross-shoulder bags closely connected to the Anishinaabeg. They have wide ornately beaded straps and are a staple in woodland-style regalia.

A 10-year retrospective of Ace's bandolier work, mazinigwaaso / to bead something Barry Ace: Bandolier Bags as Cultural Conduit, is currently on exhibition at Concordia University's FOFA Gallery.

It marks Ace's first solo exhibition in Montreal, and features 14 works based on bandolier bags, as well as two sets of regalia using circuitry materials.

"It's really important to have this work in Montreal because Indigenous art and Indigenous presence in Quebec can sometimes be challenging," said curator Lori Beavis.

"It's also really important to have work that shows that there's been constant movement from old skills and old traditions coming into the present day as well as showing up in contemporary practice."

Ace is a member of the M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, and currently lives and works in Ottawa. He's been a visual artist for 25 years, and first learned to bead as a teenager. Ace started playing with electronic components in college when his father wanted him to become an electrician.

"I would sit with these capacitors and resistors and I'd be making motifs in the '70s while everyone else was doing their electronic programs," he said.

"I dropped out after a year and went into graphic arts."

He said the two media do have a relationship to each other. In Anishinaabemowin, a bead is called a spirit berry.

"[It's] a little energy berry that has the ability to give power. So when you're dancing in your full regalia, you're releasing power for your community," said Ace.

"In a circuit, the electronic components actually store energy, and when they recognize a drop in current they release their energy."

The exhibition runs until Dec. 13.

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Odawa Anishinaabe artist swaps glass beads for resistors and capacitors | CBC News

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At first glance, Barry Ace's artwork look like typical intricately crafted woodland-style beadwork but a closer examination will reveal more than what first meets the eye. Rather than using glass beads, the Odawa Anishinaabe visual artist's work is adorned with floral motifs using reclaimed and salvaged electronic components and circuitry.

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Intro / Elem + MS / HS

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Growth Mindset | LearnStorm | Khan Academy

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The LearnStorm growth mindset activities are fun and age appropriate, providing a structured way for students to explore the science behind the idea that "You can learn anything." Along the way they'll earn special badges and contribute to their overall class progress in LearnStorm.

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Websites for Coding, Critical Thinking, and Creating

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Help smooth the path from in-person to online making.

While teaching online, embedding a maker mindset and using making as a pedagogical foundation is not as unwieldy as it may seem. It's both delightful and reassuring to see students get up during Zoom sessions and start working with their hands-exploring, chatting, asking questions, and learning. These resources will help smooth the path from in-person to online making.

Resources for activity ideas

CoBuild At Home The CoBuild website and Facebook group offers a wealth of online maker activities. Even better, they include concepts from luminaries in the making world including Adam Maltese, Erin Riley, Joel Bruns, and compile work from the Amazeum, the Tech Collective, and other sources. All ages.

The Community Science Workshop Network This resource is low in technology, but high in engagement and reliability. All the projects can be made with low cost or recycled materials. The bagpipe is particularly fun, as is the unique take on the spaghetti/ gumball project that involves balance. Check out the project library for STEM-rich ideas. Upper elementary through middle school.

Exploratorium The well-organized site from San Francisco's Exploratorium investigates everything from skateboard engineering to cookie subduction (i.e., using an Oreo cookie to demonstrate what happens when continental and oceanic plates shift). It is heavily science focused and follows the scientific method closely. Upper elementary and up.

Science Friday The maker challenge archive from Science Friday is extremely robust. Everything from "The Many Types of Mucus" to a "Fossilize Me" card game is available here. Key vocabulary words are bolded, and the clear instructions are written with students in mind. Upper elementary and up.

MakerEd MakerEd has compiled an archive of activities with a robust pedagogical and curricular foundation. It is easy to search and use, but dense with academic language. Elementary teachers and parents.

READ: Let Teens Take Charge of STEM Learning

Online making

MakeCode Microsoft's MakeCode program includes both physical computing with the Micro Bit and virtual coding and app development. Easy to use with limitless possibilities, it's a great block coding interface. It even has Minecraft coding! Upper elementary through middle school.

Scratch No list would be complete without this perennial favorite. Now in partnership with Harvard Graduate School of Education, the site includes an archive of activities for Scratch that includes 323 math activities, 302 visual arts ones, plus examples and stories to help build classroom community and support curricular content. Elementary through middle school.

Algodoo While not technically a web tool, this free download allows students to create, alter, and run engineering simulations. Students can change gravity, add gears, planes, ropes, and wheels to see how they will interact -even add drag and friction! This is a very fun tool all around, but especially when thinking about simple machines. It would fit really well with adventure or chain reaction novels. Middle school and up.

READ: The Epic eBook of Web Tools and Apps: a crowd-sourced manual for back-to-school and beyond

BlocksCAD This simple block coding program uses code to make 3-D objects. With standards aligned lessons, this is an amazing resource for teaching math concepts. The lessons are included in a premium membership, but the tool is free. All files also export as an SVG, so printing them out on the 3-D printer is a breeze. Middle school and up.

Google Experiments This archive of experiments is a rabbit hole of awesome fun things. Curated into collections, the experiments are easy to use and share, require little to no equipment, and are deeply entertaining with a firm curricular foundation. I particularly recommend the Arts and Culture collection. Middle school and up.

Moving making online doesn't make it less engaging. Rather, it brings joy, whimsy, and the spirit of experimentation to the table in a new and innovative way-and get students up and using their hands for a lot more than typing.
IdaMae Craddock is the librarian at the Albemarle (VA) Lab Schools.
Get Print. Get Digital. Get Both!

Libraries are always evolving. Stay ahead. Log In.

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10 Virtual Maker and STEM Resources for Students

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Help smooth the path from in-person to online making. While teaching online, embedding a maker mindset and using making as a pedagogical foundation is not as unwieldy as it may seem. It's both delightful and reassuring to see students get up during Zoom sessions and start working with their hands-exploring, chatting, asking questions, and learning.

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Welcome to Our Virtual Makerspace where you can create, imagine, read, learn, discover and more. And one of the best parts...It's open all day long! Have fun, friends.
Our students love all of the special things Makerspaces bring to them within libraries, classrooms and school communities. With the summer here, I wanted to create a virtual Makerspace where they could experience art, building, coding, designing, engineering, music, reading and more.

I put the virtual Makerspace together in a choice board format where kids and families can make choices what they want to do by clicking on the image within 24 different boxes. It can be shared as the embedded slide above or through the link to Our Virtual Makerspace here

All of the sites and resources are open and free for everyone to use, including the three Capstone eBooks under Read. In fact, these are three of books from the Adventures in Makerspace series I wrote with Blake Hoena and Capstone. I included the username and password on the choice board.

I also created a new Collection by Destiny filled with all of the resources from the choice board.

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Welcome to Our Virtual Makerspace where you can create, imagine, read, learn, discover and more. And one of the best parts...It's open all day long! Have fun, friends. Our students love all of the special things Makerspaces bring to them within libraries, classrooms and school communities.

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All the Genius Hour resources a teacher could need (K-HS)

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Great Genius Hour and 20% Time resources including grade level success stories, why you would want to do Genius hour, how 20% time works, how to get started, how to work through issues, and how to communicate with parents about the projects.

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Visual explanation of building learning resiliency

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25 Kid-Tested STEM Projects Made With Simple Materials

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25 Kid-Tested STEM Projects Made With Simple Materials: Easy and fun collection of STEM projects and lessons for elementary and middle school. Made for teachers, science fairs, and weekend activities. Find more ideas on our website STEM Inventions! You can also find lesson plans, project sheets, and more...

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Free STEM Resources - STEM Activities for Kids

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apps art Back To School building Christmas coding elementary engineering engineering freebies fun stuff Halloween STEM holidays holiday STEM homeschool hour of code kindergarten LEGOs lower elementary makerspace Middle School National Engineers Week paper airplanes preschool STEM problem solving programming science Science School Yard SCRATCH seasonal STEM simple STEM spring STEAM STEM STEM challenge STEM class STEM Classroom STEM Success STEM Teacher task cards technology towers toys upper elementary Valentine's Day Videos

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Imagination book list

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Try this! https://wonderopolis.org/wonder-jar

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Have you ever tasted an Arab taco?

When was the Arab taco invented?

What is shawarma?

Find it out

How are currency exchange rates determined?

What was the gold standard?

Which type of currency exchange rate system does the U.S. use?

Find it out
Which of the following is usually NOT a factor in determining currency exchange rates?

Test your knowledge

How can I use Wonderopolis?

What are the parts of a Wonder?

How do writers make a Wonder?

Find it out
Based on information from the Wonder, what was Lou Castro known for when he was alive?

Test your knowledge

What is an okapi?

Where do okapis live?

What do okapis eat?

Find it out

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Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease | Wonderopolis

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Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease

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Design Process

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| Glogster EDU - Interactive multimedia posters

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The creative visual learning platform that every educator and student deserves.

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STEAM + Inquiry units

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Use your favorite read aloud books to create fun and hands-on ways to challenge children's thinking and problem-solving skills with STEAM storytime activities for preschool.

STEAM is the combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

STEAM activities help promote essential 21st-century skills, which is important in preparing our children for an unknown future.
Storytime STEAM is a collection of STEM activities inspired by your favorite picture books.
From Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom to Pete the Cat we have designed easy to prep (and implement) STEM activities for young learners.

Through the process of experimenting and exploring children are using creative and critical thinking skills.

Scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and artists all use the same critical thinking skills to find new and innovative solutions.

With STEAM activities the final product of the activity is not as important as the process.

Opportunities for hands-on play with different materials will allow children to learn and extend their knowledge and creative thinking skills.

Click on the images below to see the full STEM activity tutorial:

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STEAM Storytime Activities for Preschool - Preschool STEAM -

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Use your favorite read aloud books to create fun and hands-on ways to challenge children's thinking and problem-solving skills with STEAM storytime activities for preschool. STEAM is the combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. STEAM activities help promote essential 21st-century skills, which is important in preparing our children for an unknown future.

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STEAM book + activity

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Adkins Library Learning Commons - STEAM Book Challenges

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Kick your worksheet game up a notch with these really unique and hands-on STEAM printables. They make science, technology, engineering, art, & math fun. Using STEAM printables is a great way to enhance learning for your kids and you can download multiple copies for each of your kids. All you need to make fun activities are in each post so give them a try today!

Hands-on STEAM Printables

You hear the word worksheet. And you think boring... But they can be really fun!! You can build like an architect, play a brain-boosting game or color your way to strong math skills.

Building Printables

Coding Printables

Take coding screen-free with these fun Color by Coding coloring pages.Kick up your next coloring session with some coding in these fun color by number coloring pages that incorporate ASCII binary code into the mix. Kids will love both the astronaut and unicorn versions!
Download the Astronaut Color by Coding printable HERE.

Download your Unicorn Color by Coding printable HERE.

Math Printables

Games, Paper Circuits and More Printables

More Printable Hands-On Projects for Kids

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that use can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Kids: 50+ Hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math Hands-On Projects for Kids ebook! It's packed full of a year's worth fun learning activities that will wow the boredom right out of your kids.

28 Days of STEAM - More Learning Fun!

This project is part of an amazing, month-long series of hands on STEAM projects for kids. Click on over to 28 Days of STEAM for 60+ FREE science, tech, engineering, art, and math projects from 30+ education writers. All ready to get your kids excited to learn.

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STEAM Printable Activities for Kids - Left Brain Craft Brain

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Kick your worksheet game up a notch with these really unique and hands-on STEAM printables. They make science, technology, engineering, art, & math fun. Using STEAM printables is a great way to enhance learning for your kids and you can download multiple copies for each of your kids.

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STEM Read Official Selections - STEM Read

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Find information about growth mindset, discover how learning mindsets can affect student performance, and explore strategies that support student confidence.

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Three ways to help students develop a growth mind-set from day one.

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My students have entered a contest in hopes to be on the website youcubed.org and join the math revolution with Professor Jo Boaler from Stanford. We want to spread the word on having a positive attitude in school. From making this video and putting this into practice, my students have a growth mindset in all that they do!

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Framework: gr. 5-8 inquiry

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11 Experiments That Failed by Jenny Offill | PenguinRandomHouse.com

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"This is a most joyful and clever whimsy, the kind that lightens the heart and puts a shine on the day," raved Kirkus Reviews in a starred review. Is it possible to eat snowballs doused in ketchup-and...

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Chris Hadfield over-came a fear of the dark to be an astronaut!

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Chris Hadfield over-came a fear of the dark to be an astronaut!

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Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Jp2CibUR4

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The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield, Kate Fillion, Eric Fan, Terry Fan

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Inspired by the childhood of real-life astronaut Chris Hadfield and brought to life by Terry and Eric Fan's lush, evocative illustrations, The Darkest Dark will encourage readers to dream the impossible. Chris loves rockets and planets and pretending he's a brave astronaut, exploring the universe. Only one problem-at night, Chris doesn't feel so brave.

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18 Perfect Read-Alouds for Teaching Growth Mindset

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Story models process of wondering, questioning, predicting & inquiry

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Encourage creative & critical thinking in class

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Children use problem-solving skills on a constant basis - when they experiment and investigate, when they select materials, and when they try to work together: "How far will that water squirt?" "Where is that sound coming from?" "What do you think will happen if we add one more block?" We often divide children's learning into emotional, social, creative, cognitive, and physical. But watching children as they go about their day reveals that problem solving encompasses all of these areas of development.
TOTAL THINKING
Creative-thinking and critical-thinking skills are essential components of problem solving.

Creative thinking is the ability to look at a problem in many different ways. This might involve seeing a different way to do something, generating new ideas, or using materials in unique ways. Basic to being a creative thinker is a willingness to take risks, to experiment, and even to make mistakes.

What you can do: Part of encouraging creative thinking is helping children become both fluent and flexible thinkers. Fluent thinkers have the ability to come up with ideas; flexible thinkers are able to see many possibilities or view objects or situations in new ways. Just as problem solving takes place all day long, so can the activities you do to encourage children to be creative thinkers. Here are a few suggestions:

Brainstorm. Invite children to be fluent thinkers by asking them to respond to questions that have many right answers. Incorporate these questions into the interests children are involved with and the situations they are in. For instance, if children are having a discussion about nighttime, you might ask them to think of everything that lights up in the night, all the people who work at night, all the things they'd like to do if they stayed up all night.

Reflect. Help children to be flexible thinkers by asking them to comment on specific objects or situations in your room. (Remember, this activity, too, works best in the context of what is going on.) For instance, Carla needs a hat in the dramatic-play corner and can't find one. What are some other things she could use as a hat? Are there any ways to make a hat? Or, during group time, you're reading a book and the boy on the cover looks sad. What are some reasons he might look this way?

Critical Thinking is the ability to mentally break down a problem or an idea into parts and analyze them. Sorting, classifying, and comparing similarities and differences are all a part of this important skill. Critical thinking can also be called logical thinking.

What you can do: When you break larger problems into smaller parts, they become easier to understand and to solve.

Challenge. Encourage children to practice critical and logical thinking by asking them open-ended questions, such as "How many ways can you sort these blocks?" "How many different ways can you make a building using these blocks?" "How would the building be different if you used blocks that were all the same size?"

Listen. Asking questions about things that don't make sense is another way children express critical thinking. When a child wonders, "Why do I have a shadow on the playground but not inside?" or "Why can't I see the wind?" you don't need to respond with one right answer. Instead, encourage children to express their ideas.

YOUR ROLE
You help foster problem solving not so much by providing special materials or specific activities but by having a responsive, accepting attitude. Here are other key ways to facilitate children's growth:

Provide plenty of time every day for children to choose activities based on their interests and developmental levels. Free-play situations create endless opportunities for children to identify and solve problems.

Follow children's leads. By observing children's interactions and dilemmas, you can support their problem-solving efforts and help them accomplish their goals.

Reinforce children's solutions. Let children know that their ideas and efforts are valued.

Extend creative thinking and problem solving. Ask open-ended questions about activities to help children see the problem they are trying to solve in new and different ways.
NURTURING PROBLEM SOLVERS
Think of yourself as having four roles observer, supporter, facilitator, and model watching, encouraging, interacting as a questioning partner, and sharing with children how you solve problems.
As an observer:
Step back and watch children's independent problem solving. Sometimes it may seem easier and faster to jump in and solve a problem for children or to show them the "right" way But stepping in too early can stifle their thinking or send a subtle message that you're not confident they can think problems through by themselves. Instead of intervening right away, step back and watch children's problem-solving skills unfold. Keep in mind that children's problem solving doesn't always look like a thinking activity. In fact, it can look like an argument, an experiment, or an unusual and messy way to use materials.

Focus on the process children are engaged in. Try to be patient while you encourage children to try new ways and look at problems from new perspectives.
As a supporter:
Acknowledge children's efforts, letting them know that what they are doing is important. Offer verbal support: "Look at all the different ways you're trying to make that piece fit in your puzzle. You're working hard to figure it out, aren't you?" At times, nonverbal support may be all that's needed - a smile, an understanding nod, or a thumbsup can show support and encourage children to continue in their thinking process. Remember too, that just by sitting quietly next to a child, you can communicate: "I understand what you're doing, and I know it's important."

Create accepting environments where children feel free to express their ideas without fear of being wrong or of not being taken seriously. Make sure your setting is a protective "laboratory" where children know they can experiment and practice problem-solving skills throughout each day.

Give children opportunities for open ended play activities in long periods of time. Create opportunities for children to initiate and solve their own problems and plenty of time to test out possible ideas and solutions.
As a facilitator:
Watch for times when children are engaged in problem solving and interject provocative questions to propel them into new ways of thinking. Remember open-ended, divergent questions have many possible answers and, so, invite children to think and problemsolve. Closed-ended, convergent questions have right and wrong answers and can actually block children's thinking processes. (See "What Makes a Good Question?" below).

Encourage children to express themselves. Rather than telling children about what they can make at the art table today, try showing them the materials and inviting them to brainstorm ideas. You might say, "I need your help. I brought in this bag full of art materials. What do you think we can make?" Then let children act on their ideas and make whatever they choose, offering your suggestions too. This approach is a very successful way to help children feel comfortable solving problems. When they see that you don't have one "right" answer or method in mind, they can move past fears of being "wrong" and draw on their wonderful creative thinking.

Provide a variety of problem-solving experiences. Offer games, puzzles, discussions, literature, and projects that children design - a wide range of activities that inspire creative and critical thinking and encourage children to stretch their minds.
As a model:
Think about your own approach to problem solving. Whether you're aware of it or not, children are always watching you. They observe how you deal with problems as examples of ways they might solve problems themselves. Talk about problem solving. When problems arise in the room, discuss your thought processes as you work through the problem. For example, you might say, "I have a problem. I planned to put out finger-painting materials today, but we've run out of finger-painting paper. What do you think we should do? Should we use different paper? I wonder how that would work? Should we wait until tomorrow because I can buy some tonight? Or maybe I could ask the teacher next door if she has some we could borrow " In other words, model fluid thinking and a positive attitude as well as a process for solving the small problems of everyday life. And involve children further by asking them to suggest their own solutions.

Emphasize the vocabulary of problem solving. As you speak with children, use the words problem, think, ideas, and solve. Children will begin to use them to define and describe their own thinking.

Be willing to make mistakes. It is reassuring to children to discover that adults make mistakes too. So let children see some of the mistakes you make, then ask them to help you solve the resulting problems. They feel important and, at the same time, learn that making mistakes isn't really such a bad thing after all. Instead, it's an opportunity for learning.

Problem solving is not about memorizing facts like the names of colors or shapes or the letters of the alphabet. Instead, it is about using two very important skills - the ability to think logically and the ability to think creatively when using and applying facts to solve problems. Child-centered, child-- initiated problem-solving activities play a vital role in developing children's ability to learn, think, feel confident, and be competent at understanding their world. What could be more important!
Great Books!
If the Shoe Fits by Carolyn Chapman (Skylight); Rethinking the Brain: New Insights into Early Development by Rima Shore (Family and Work Institute); Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus by Joyce Paster Foley and Michael T Bagley (Trillium Press); Think It Through: Developing Thinking Skills With Young Children by Martha Hayes and Kathy Faggella (First Teachers Press); and What Will Happen If ...? by Barbara Sprung, Merle Froschl, and Patricia Campbell (Educational Equity Concepts).

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How You Can Help Children Solve Problems | Scholastic

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Children use problem-solving skills on a constant basis - when they experiment and investigate, when they select materials, and when they try to work together: "How far will that water squirt?" "Where is that sound coming from?" "What do you think will happen if we add one more block?"

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Book video (4:25) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ3i86_Sx6U

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Three children discover a magical bag of chalk on a rainy day

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STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and it is a popular topic around our house. My kids are lucky enough to have a STEM lab in their elementary school and get time each week to create and learn more about STEM from a designated teacher. During the summer I have dedicated Wednesdays to our SUMMER STEM LAB where we explore different themes and test out different STEM toys and kits.

This post contains affiliate links.

This week we are focusing on STEM books - I wanted to share our experience with littleBits super cool robot kits but I am off to Washington DC to speak at the Scholastic Reading Summit and I can't upload a video on the plane wifi... I think there is a lesson in here somewhere about leaving things to the last minute. Robots will have to wait one more week, but if you want a little preview check out littleBits here.

Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty is more than just a book about an engineer who happens to be a young girl; it is about not being afraid to be different, especially when being different is amazing. It's not always easy to march to the beat of your own drummer, and Rosie has a hard time at first but after a pep talk from a special mentor everything changes.

Iggy Peck Architect also by Andrea Beaty is a hilarious and touching book about a young boy named Iggy, who doesn't just like to build, he HAS to build. It's in his bones. Not everyone appreciates his talents but in the end his ability to build and solve problems saves the day. I love the rhyming text that never sacrifices the perfect word for a rhyme, it all just fits.

Awesome Dawson by Chris Gall was an instant hit with both my children. Dawson is an amazing little boy who invents new things from other people's trash. Dawson is just like other children who try to find ways to get out of their chores so he can get back to the important work of play. He's one step ahead of most kids though and invents a robot to take care of this chores, but things don't go as awesome as he hoped. That's when he must re-invent himself into a superhero to save the day. I really love this book and how inspiring it is for kids exploring the idea of invention and tinkering.

Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder is a wonderfully creative book about a family who creates zoo themed costumes from A-Z in an attempt at guessing which animal at the zoo their youngest child is afraid of. The homemade costumes captures the spirit of the maker mentality and after reading this with my daughter she was off to create her own. Perfect right? The book is also a really great lesson about fears and how your family can be your support if you allow them to.

Have Fun Molly Lou Lemon by Patty Lovell is all about how Molly Lou Mellon uses her imagination when other children use toys that do all the playing for them. When a new neighbor Gertie moves in Molly Lou Mellon stays true to herself even with Gertie's super cool toys and even shows her new friend how to use her imagination.

Monkey with A Tool Belt and The Noisy Problem by Chris Monroe is a hilarious book about a monkey who is not only handy with his tools, he is also a fantastic problem solver. The perfect combination to demonstrate to young readers what STEM is all about. He creates, builds, and fixes the noisy problem. This whole series of books are fantastic and the author-illustrator is a genius at combining a fun story with illustrations that will suck kids in. Do not try to read this in a hurry because each page deserves a long long look at every single detail.

11 Experiments That Failed by Jenny Offill is hilarious. My son and I first read this book many years ago and immediately he started designing his own experiments. The book follows a young scientist as she conducts 11 terribly misguided experiments around her home, all with terrible and hilarious consequences. Besides the dry humor the best part of this book is that each experiment follows the scientific method!

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires is an important addition to this list because while the end product is important, this story focuses on the process of creating, and failing. Making amazing things is awesome but it's not always an easy road and this book tackles the idea that failing, and trying again is part of the creation process.

Mechanimals by Chris Tougas isn't just about a farmer who builds robot animals when his are swept away in a tornado, it's about overcoming adversity. What is a farmer supposed to do when his animals are gone? Certainly not admit defeat, use what you have and create something new! What an incredible lesson in resourcefulness, problem solving, and determination. Awesome book!

If I Built A Car by Chris Van Dusen is so much fun and will remind parents of The Jetsons, at least it reminded me of that childhood favorite of mine. A little boy takes you through the incredible car that he built and every awesome extra special feature it has. Like Andrea Beaty, Chris Van Dusen manages to create a fantastic rhyming book that is zips along so effortlessly that you wonder how they do it. The story is inviting and the illustrations invite readers to dive even further into the author's imagination.

If I Built A House by Chris Van Dusen is even BETTER than If I Built A Car, at least I think so, which is why I bought it. I love how this book inspires children to create house plans for themselves and imagine their own dream house. The details in the illustrations captivated me, and the little inventions included in the house got us all wondering what we would invent for our house. Great book to spark the maker mentality in all readers.

Do you have a favorite STEM picture book perfect for preschool or kindergarten? Tell me about it here in comments or on my No Time For Flash Cards Facebook Page.

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11 STEM Picture Books - No Time For Flash Cards

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STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and it is a popular topic around our house. My kids are lucky enough to have a STEM lab in their elementary school and get time each week to create and learn more about STEM from a designated teacher.

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The strength of our advocacy rests upon the contributions you can make to our collection of working and learning conditions data from around the province. We sincerely appreciate the time and effort it takes to provide your local data to us.

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January Theme: Patricia Polacco picture books

Patricia Polacco is another author whose books became touchstone texts in my classroom. Her ability to write stories that children can relate to makes it easy to see why her books became model texts.

Comprehension Strategy: Asking Questions
Polacco's most recent contribution to the kidlit world, January's Sparrow, is a touching and semi-true story of a family of runaway slaves. With the help of abolitionists, the Crosswhite's leave Kentucky for Canada. They make it to Michigan and decide to settle down there (just a couple of miles from where Patricia Polacco grew up), but they are always looking over their shoulders. Will the slave catchers find them? Will they make it to Canada? A fantastic story with surprises along the way, I would recommend this book be read to upper elementary or middle school students in a Slavery or Underground Railroad unit. It's a lot longer than your typical picture book and it has some scenes that may not be appropriate for kids younger than 9 or so.
January's Sparrow is a great model text to use to teach students how good readers ask questions to help them understand the text. There are many occasions on which a child may have questions related to the reading. For example, "Will the Crosswhite's get caught?"

Lesson idea:A great resource to use when teaching students about the Underground Railroad, provide an opportunity for students to record general questions they have about the Underground Railroad and slavery before reading. As you read, stop at various opportunities and allow students to record questions they have specific to the text. Finally, after reading, allow students to record any questions they still have about the Crosswhites, slavery, and the Underground Railroad. Then take time to determine if any of the questions can be answered. Use a T-chart to record questions before, during, and after reading and their answers. Remind students that not all answers may be found in the text, and that activation of background knowledge, additional research, or discussion may need to occur to find the answers.

If you are teaching a unit on the Underground Railroad or slavery, you may want to check out this lesson I posted on Henry's Freedom Box. I think both books would be an excellent addition to your unit.

What touchstone texts or touchstone authors do you use in your classroom?

**Note** I provide these lesson ideas under the assumption that you are familiar with teaching comprehension strategies. If you are not, and would like more information about teaching students to Ask Questions or any other comprehension strategy, please feel free to contact me at Dlittle[at]linkstoliteracy[dot]com. I am happy to provide more specific lessons if necessary.**

©2010 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

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Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books

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January Theme: Patricia Polacco picture books Patricia Polacco is another author whose books became touchstone texts in my classroom. Her ability to write stories that children can relate to makes it easy to see why her books became model texts.

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Integrating Technology & Genius Hour: My Journey as a Teacher & Learner

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I love using picture books as part of my teaching! And I don't think they are only for primary classrooms! In fact I use them regularly at the intermediate level and even when I teach University students.

Picture books make for great hooks at the beginning of lessons! I think they capture our attention and get us curious about the upcoming learning! And who doesn't love being read to?

So here are my Top picks (in no particular order) for Picture Books to help introduce Genius Hour: The Most Magnificent Thing
By Ashley Spires

I love this picture book starring a little girl and her dog/assistant on her quest to create the most magnificent invention. The journey isn't perfect though and she "fails" quite a few times. I think this book is perfect for teaching persistence, risk-taking and flexibility--all traits that are on the Genius Hour rubric that we use. I would read this book right at the beginning, after I have introduced Genius Hour and we are about to get started.

Click here for The Genius Hour Creativity Rubric created by Denise Krebs.
Perfect for taking Genius Hour from inquiry-based and passion-based learning to the level of compassion-based learning! In this story a little boy has an idea (represented as an egg) but he doesn't know what to do with it. He carries it around for a long time until he finally learns that ideas are meant to change the world. I think this picture book is perfect for teaching the creativity traits: originality of ideas, ambiguity and risk-taking--all of these are also on the Genius Hour Creativity Rubric. It would also be handy to read to your class if you feel like they are needing some fresh inspiration after doing Genius Hour for a while. Rosie Revere, Engineer
B y Andrea Beaty

Rosie is a fantastic character! She loves making things and embodies so many of the characteristics that we would attribute to Genius Hour and The Maker Movement. I also love the handkerchief that she wears, the same one as the woman in the iconic "We can do it" image. Rosie is inspired by everything around her and I think this book can be used to introduce the discussion on inquisitiveness, risk-taking and generating ideas (Again, these are traits from the Genius Hour Creativity Rubric). It also teaches an important lesson about failure and persistence. This picture book looks similar to Rosie Revere, Engineer and is indeed written by the same fantastic author, Andrea Beaty and illustrated by the same talented illustrator, David Roberts. I love reading about Iggy Peck and his passion for architecture. I think this book would be great to introduce the concept of passion as well as being used to understand the intrinsic motivation trait on The Genius Hour Creativity Rubric. The book can also be used to share with students how sometimes our Genius Hour projects can be about building, creating or inventing something (helpful if your students are stuck on research-only type inquiry questions). This book is fantastic! I only recently came across Todd Parr books so I have yet to use them with an audience but I just love his illustrations and his style. This picture book helps us learn that it is okay to make mistakes, and that sometimes things do not go quite the way we thought they were going to but that is part of trying new things! "It's okay to make mistakes sometimes. Everyone does, even grown ups! That's how we learn." Exactly! And this is an important thing to learn if we are going to do Genius Hour. I would use this book to talk about risk-taking and self-reflection: two of the many traits on The Genius Hour Creativity Rubric. I would also connect this book to everything we do at school and probably use it right at the beginning of the school year and then again when we are about to start our Genius Hour inquiries.
I adore all of the Peter H. Reynolds picture books. The illustrations are wonderful and they all have important lessons in them that connect well to the classroom. The Dot is one you may have heard of already because SO many teachers love this book and it also has its own day--International Dot Day on September 15th. The book begins with Vashti sitting in her classroom with a blank piece of paper on her desk. Her teacher encourages her and says "Just make a mark and see where it takes you." Vashti gives the paper a "good, strong jab" and leaves it with just the dot. She returns to the classroom on another day and finds that her teacher has framed her dot. This book reminds me of an amazing teacher I had in high school. Ms. Morrison did something similar for me: I said something during English Lit 12 and she stopped and exclaimed how profound my statement was. She wrote it down on a piece of paper and I didn't give it another thought. The next day when I walked into the classroom there was a small, new poster on the wall above the chalkboard. She had written down what I had said with quotation marks around it and my name underneath. I remember being shocked and feeling so proud that she thought I was quotable. I think that gesture is what led me to my getting my BA in English Literature. She made me feel smart, capable and confident. I have never forgotten that moment and I have tried, like Vashti's teacher and like Ms. Morrision, to do that for my students too. I have used this book as part of an Art lesson, and that is how I would probably use it in future years too, but I think we can also make connections between Vashti's journey and the Genius Hour journey. Q is for Question: An ABC Book of Philisophy Need help thinking about BIG questions? I think that this picture book, written in ABC format (A is for answers, B is for Beauty, C is for Cause, etc) can help us think about our questioning. I would read this book to the class but also make sure that it was on-hand for students to flip through when they need inspiration as it is a lot to take in after only one read through. I absolutely love how Poirier encourages us to have philosophical discussions and debates with our students and I think this book is a great place to start those discussions. This book connects to inquisitiveness and generating ideas on The Genius Hour Creativity Rubric.
So there you have it--7 of my favourite picture books to use during Genius Hour!
Are there any others you use to inspire students during Genius Hour?
By Tiffany Poirier

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Top 7 Picture Books to Help Introduce Genius Hour

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I love using picture books as part of my teaching! And I don't think they are only for primary classrooms! In fact I use them regularly at the intermediate level and even when I teach University students. Picture books make for great hooks at the beginning of lessons!

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"The bridge will only take you halfway there, to those mysterious lands you long to see. Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fair, and moonlit woods where unicorns run free. So come and walk awhile with me and share the twisting trails and wondrous worlds I've known. But this bridge will only take you halfway there. The last few steps you have to take alone."
Well before I became interested in inquiry-based learning, I was passionate about the role of literature - particularly picture books - in the classroom. I will never forget a lecture given by Walter McVitty when I was in my first year of study at teacher's college here in Melbourne. I think he planted the seed for what would be a life-long love affair with children's books. In one gentle, poignant moment in the lecture he modeled the way one might read to a baby, snuggled on its parent's lap, having its head softly stroked while the book was read aloud. Years later, when I found myself doing that exact thing with my own babies - I was grateful to McVitty for the fire he sparked in me as a wide-eyed, young student teacher. There is a magic in books that remains unsurpassed by any other medium. Story is one of the most powerful ways we can find out about the world - and the best stories leave us with more questions than answers. To be honest, I think not a day should go by without the joy of sharing literature as a class. A great book is hard to beat as a vehicle for building community.

So I am always taken aback when teachers with whom I work struggle to name a picture book or novel they have recently shared with their children - let alone how they plan to use literature to help students make deeper connections within an inquiry . Perhaps we are simply overwhelmed by the volume and diversity of available texts (youtube clips, memes, infographics, slideshows, images...) so it becomes harder for the humble picture book to find its way into our planning and teaching. Or perhaps we place too great an emphasis on gathering 'information' in order to answer questions - which naturally leads to a stronger focus on non fiction texts.

The inquiry classroom needs to be a habitat for story. The compelling pull of narrative can often lead us to understanding the world more deeply than any 'data' ever can. I think literature serves 3 key purposes for the inquiry teacher:

As 'mentor texts' for inquiry thinking itself...there are so many beautiful books that are structured around questions or whose central characters ask questions and demonstrate an inquiry stance.

To PROVOKE inquiry - stories that confront our thinking, that introduce us to ideas we had never considered, books that are so delightfully complex or ambiguous that we just want to keep asking and delving deeper.

To contribute to students' understanding of key CONCEPTS being explored. Fiction itself is, of course, born of life-experience. Using literature to help children make connections to themselves and to the data being gathered across the whole inquiry can be a very powerful way of deepening understanding. This is a far cry from the days of simply reading any old books about the 'topic'... stories need to be carefully selected for their resonance with the key concepts underpinning the inquiry.

Here are just a few favourites that reflect these purposes - with an emphasis on modelling and inspiring the act of inquiry itself. I would love to hear yours!

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Inspiring inquiry through picture books.

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"The bridge will only take you halfway there, to those mysterious lands you long to see. Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fair, and moonlit woods where unicorns run free. So come and walk awhile with me and share the twisting trails and wondrous worlds I've known.

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Paul Owen Lewis - Books: The Jupiter Stone

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The Jupiter Stone, a picturebook book by author and artist Paul Owen Lewis

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What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada Read Aloud Children's Book

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Read Aloud Children's Book. KK Reads Aloud What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada .This is the story of one brilliant idea and the child who helps to bring it into the world. As the child's confidence grows, so does the idea itself. And then, one day, something amazing happens.

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Teaching growth mindset in the classroom is something I am really focussing on this school year. This concept is so important for our students to learn and apply now and throughout their life. I am going to share the main book (with a couple of others) that I will use for this. I also have a little freebie for you at the end!

The book I love the most to help teach Growth Mindset is What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada. This book is amazing! If you read or own What Do you Do with an Idea you will love this one! The book goes on to talk about that the more you worry and are upset about your "problem" the bigger it gets. My favorite page in the book shows the boy creating and inventing something special. He realizes, that had to stop. He couldn't keep making the problem bigger than it actually was. He decided to face his problem and found that it actually gave him a really great gift. He was given an opportunity to LEARN and GROW in an area. All in all it is a wonderful book!! You can grab it on amazon HERE! 🙂

I plan on reading this aloud to my 3rd graders. We will talk together and talk about what problems have we faced? What are facing now? What is the benefit of facing our fears or problems versus worrying or giving up. This is where I will introduce growth mindset. Growth mindset will be an ongoing conversation in my classroom. To introduce it we will make an anchor chart together. This is super important because we can refer to it ALL year!

I created these headings to glue on our anchor chart ahead of time. You can grab them for free HERE!

After our whole group talk about growth mindset I will give each student their own flip book. Each flap has a wonderful lesson to learn about growth mindset. I have written a quote along with coordinating reflection questions. This flip book may take us a couple of days! This will be a perfect way for students to refer to what growth mindset is through out the year. It's in my TpT store HERE!

Here is a quick look inside the flipbook!

I also have these quote posters that I put up at the front of our classroom, my students refer to them often! (these posters are included with the flipbook resource!)

Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Rashchka

Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty

Brave Irene by William Steig

Growth mindset is a powerful tool to use in your classroom. My students really love this activity and we refer to it through out the year when we get "stuck" in our learning!

Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest for more reading activities![

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Teaching Growth Mindset in the Classroom - Teach Create Motivate

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Teaching growth mindset in the classroom is something I am really focussing on this school year. This concept is so important for our students to learn and apply now and throughout their life. I am going to share the main book (with a couple of others) that I will use for this.

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http://www.theclassroombookshelf.com/2017/12/what-do-you-do-with-a-chance/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNqLbzvWyYw

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"Wild Ideas" author Q&A: http://www.elinkelseyandcompany.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/WildIdeas_PressKit_2015-2.84105924.pdf

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"Life and Reality are not things you can have for yourself unless you accord them to all others," Alan Watts wrote in his mind-expanding 1950s meditation on what reality really is. Although our species has a long history of using nonhuman animals as metaphors for understanding human reality, we are only just beginning to accord our fellow creatures the dignity of their own reality by growing a new understanding of their complex consciousness.

Nonhuman animals, it turns out, have a great deal to teach us not only about reality but also about our immutable quest to bend reality to our will - that is, about the art of problem-solving.

In Wild Ideas (public library), researcher, educator, and environmental writer Elin Kelsey and Korean-Canadian artist Soyeon Kim - the creative duo behind You Are Stardust, that wonderful picture-book teaching kids about the universe in illustrated dioramas - present an imaginative and illuminating catalog of various animals' problem-solving strategies, from how dung beetles use stars as a navigation system to the procrastination tactics of pigeons.

Each example in the book comes from Kelsey's interviews with scientists who study the respective species, brought to life in Kim's breathtaking 2D/3D dioramas.

In addition to the heartening celebration of our kinship with other beings, there is also a subtler, almost Buddhist undertone to the project: So much of our anguish in the face of obstacles comes from judging them as bad and resisting that particular manifestation of reality, causing ourselves enormous distress in the act of this resistance - and yet here is a powerful reminder that obstacles are neutral events and a natural part of life, which other species face as a matter of course and without negative judgment.

Step outside. Look. If squirrels can learn to cross roads by watching people, what can you learn by watching squirrels?

All around you, creatures seek solutions.

Pigeons procrastinate.

Bees calculate.

Elephants innovate.

Bears keep count.

You turn to friends and family for support, and so do other animals.

Ravens use gestures to offer ideas. Hyenas cooperate to help the hunt.

When they're seeking direction, dung beetles look to the heavens and steer by the Milky Way.

Complement Wild Ideas with a very different take on how nonhuman animals enrich our human lives - Beastly Verse, a glorious illustrated celebration of famous poems inspired by animals.
Illustrations courtesy of Owlkids Books

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Wild Ideas: The Creative Problem-Solving Strategies of Different Animals, in Illustrated Dioramas

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"Life and Reality are not things you can have for yourself unless you accord them to all others," Alan Watts wrote in his mind-expanding 1950s meditation on what reality really is.

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(This post was edited on 6/30/2015 to add a 17th project previously omitted. Be sure to scroll down to see that project!)
New York City, The Big Apple, a global hub for innovation and invention from the Otis elevator through the MakerBot 3D printer... The perfect location for teachers to flex their own innovation and invention muscles at Design, Do, Discover 2015.

In June 2014, I attended the second Design Do Discover conference at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, CA. This June, the third DDD was held at Marymount School in New York City. Both times, the amazing Angi Chau from Castilleja and Jaymes Dec from Marymount were the fantastic organizers, and both times I was honored to have been asked to participate as a coach to support teams of participant teachers.

The first year was a wonderful learning experience for everyone - coaches and participants alike. But this year blew it out of the water. Hit it out of the park. Nailed it on the head.

The premise is simple: start with a quick tour of the facility and very brief show-and-tell of the tools (less than 30 minutes!), follow with a group brainstorming session around project ideas (less than 30 minutes!), then form groups to jump into projects. Even before lunch on the first day, groups were already sketching and tinkering with Hummingbird Robotics kits, MaKeyMaKeys, cardboard and MakeDo's, and more. For two days, I jumped in to help groups, learned new tools myself ( LittleBits!), fetched tools and supplies as needed ( copper tape! wire strippers!), recommended resources and suppliers ( Sparkfun! DigiKey!), and acted as cheerleader for teachers pushing themselves to learn incredible new skills and create amazing artifacts of their learning.

The final projects blew ALL of us coaches away! The absolute best part, from my perspective, is that every single project was immediately applicable back in the participant's classroom. Most of them are generally applicable in any learning environment! Serious high school science content, literature and history, elementary grades, even social/emotional learning... This was absolutely the most excellent collection of practical and academically-oriented maker projects I've seen!

1. The MopBot

This project was created by a team from my own school in Seattle... They were pursuing an idea of presenting the whole school with the same project prompt: solve a problem related to water. Our kindergarten teacher on the team identified a classic kindergarten water problem - water spills on the floor at the sink and water fountain! The group decided to build a Lego Mindstorms robot to automatically clean up those spills. The robot included a motion sensor to activate, and incorporated laser cutting for the adorable turtle form and 3D printing for the optional handle for manual clean-up.

Lego MindStorms, Laser cutting (Adobe Illustrator), 3D printing (Tinkercad).

2. The Salmon Story Puzzle

Because my colleagues are overachievers, they also completed a second project! They wanted another opportunity to play with laser cutting, plus an opportunity to learn MaKeyMaKey and Scratch, so over dinner Thursday night we brainstormed a big new idea: a puzzle-like manipulative that alerts the player when they have the correct solution. Since our 5th graders study the salmon lifecycle extensively, we decided to make a salmon lifecycle puzzle. When the stages of the lifecycle are in order, the MaKeyMaKey circuit is complete and the quick Scratch program declares "Congratulations! You have completed the salmon lifecycle!"

Laser cutting (Adobe Illustrator), MaKeyMaKey, Scratch programming, (some might say "excessive") ambition.

3. The DDD group-interactive kinetic sculpture

This group went all-out to try to use every single tool available. They also endeavored to create a sculpture that would encourage collaboration - in order to activate all of the "D"s, multiple people must work together to activate all of the sensors!

Vinyl cutter, 3D printer, laser cutter, MaKeyMaKey, Hummingbird Robotics kit, LittleBits, mechanical gears!

4. The "Midsummer Night's Dream" Donkey Head

This group had an interesting brainstorming process that ended up far from their original plans... they were interested in incorporating learning about animals and habitats, they really wanted to incorporate Hummingbird Robotics kits, they wanted something immediately applicable back at their schools, AND they were interested in wearables. Although I was present for their brainstorming session, I'm still not sure how they got to "Nick Bottom's Donkey Head," but the final product was amazing and left me nearly in tears laughing!

The mouth and ears are controlled by Hummingbird servos, the eyes are Hummingbird LEDs, and they used the Snap programming system to direct the motion sensor to activate the whole system. Other than that, the whole head is cardboard, felt, and MakeDo connectors!

Hummingbird Robotics, MakeDo, cardboard and killer craftsmanship.

5. The History/Geography Map (Cradle of Civilization, Seattle Immigration)

I worked quite a bit with this group of humanities teachers, most of whom felt very non-techy. They killed it! They used the laser cutter to etch their maps, but then really didn't know what they wanted to do next... With some brainstorming, they decided to use LEDs to illuminate different critical locations on their maps, and ALSO to use the MaKeyMaKey to give viewers of their maps more information about each of those locations. When a viewer presses one of the buttons, the corresponding location is illuminated and an informational screen pops up via Scratch to teach about that location!

Laser cutting, basic circuitry, MaKeyMaKey and Scratch programming, bravery and perseverance.

6. The 3 Little Bears

This group was interested in the intersection between technology and storytelling. They developed an digital interactive Snap version of Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears, and a hilarious physical interactive display of the bears themselves. Using the Hummingbird Robotics kit and three light sensors (one for each bear's bowl of porridge), a viewer can activate each bear to move in a different way.

Hummingbird Robotics, extensive Snap programming, Laser cutting, hot glue!

7. The Compliment Bot

This was a deceptively simple little project with some very complex innards... These two teachers programmed an Arduino to take input from two sonar-based distance sensors to send a random compliment (from a set of text strings the group developed) to offer viewers a compliment when they approached the box. The participants who made the Compliment Bot were pretty funny... they kept insisting that the distance sensors actually conducted a retinal scan, the Arduino analyzed the viewers personality, and then the screen printed a compliment specially selected for that viewer. I was almost convinced when the Compliment Bot praised my strength in The Force.

Arduino, Laser cutting, a hilarious sense of humor.

8. Dancing Aliens interactive

I didn't get to chat much with this group, so don't know many of the details of the project. However, what's not to love about two aliens who dance with you when you approach?

Lego Mindstorms, Laser cutting.

9. Structures for Literary Structures

I also didn't get to chat much with this group, nor did I get many pictures of their projects. The concept was brilliant - the language arts teachers challenged themselves to create physical structures that demonstrate literary structures. The project in the photo is low-tech but brilliant - it uses a lever and fulcrum (Hello, I'm a science teacher...) to demonstrate the balance between two sides of a quote. At the end of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," he says:
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
When placed on the two sides of the scale, the viewer can see the heavier weight of the second sentence of the quote, demonstrating the heavier weight of its meaning. A truly beautiful metaphor.

Sticks and paperclips, creativity and craftsmanship.

10. Monster Stamps

This primary art teacher does a class monster-drawing activity with her students regularly, in which each student receives a piece of paper folded into thirds. The student draws the head of a monster on the first third, then passes it to a second student. The second student draws the body of a monster on the second third without seeing the head drawn by the first student! (See where this is going?) The third student draws the legs, then everyone opens the folded paper to see the hilarious mixed-up monsters at the end.

She scanned in several of her students' drawings and converted them to laser-cuttable files with the intent of making the segments even more reconfigurable as stamps! In the picture, you can see the acrylic, heavy cardstock, and MDF trial cuts she ran. Ultimately, she found that etching produced better stamp-ability than cutting.

Laser cutting.

11. Lucky

This teacher produced a beautiful and simple work of art using laser cutting and an LED string from a LittleBits kit.

Laser cutting, LittleBits.

12. Bacterial Plasmid Transformation

If you've wondered how to incorporate "making" into high school biology, this teacher had a brilliant idea. She used the laser cutter to created a hinged bacteria chromosome and set it to represent primer sequences to open the chromosome and insert a new gene. Since her classes do transformation with green flourescent protein (GFP), she used copper tape, an LED, and a coin cell battery to illuminate the gene when properly inserted into the plasmid!

Laser cutter, basic circuitry.

13. Hacking Furniture

This group was consistently very focused on design... Their intent was to design and prototype hacks that could be implemented on nearly any standard classroom furniture to improve the flexibility, storage, and usability in a "maker" context. In the pictures below, you can see the "open" and "closed" configurations of the different items: a locking table-extension that reveals tool storage when opened, benches that contain storage compartments, and (my favorite) a bench that opens to reveal project trays, so students can move and store their projects flat without needing to sweep everything into a bin.

Laser cutter, vinyl cutter, design thinking!

14. Tiny Classroom Spaces - Hacking Architecture

This group was very interested in the idea of creating spaces-within-a-space, or small architectural hacks to offer smaller experiences within the classroom. They brainstormed a wide variety of amazing implementations, like a small domed cave for making cave paintings. The two spaces pictured included the "emotional regulation cubby" (where students can retreat when overstimulated or in need of soothing) and the "private art-viewing booth" (where viewers can view art individually even within a crowded space).

MaKeyMaKey, cardboard and glue guns.

15. Personal Sound Booth

This teacher identified a problem in her school - iPad implementation was going well, but learning spaces were all too loud for students to make decent voice recordings for their range of video and audio projects! She prototyped a great personal sound booth that folds up neatly for storage, holds the user's iPad easily, includes a curtain to close off additional sound from behind the user and quiet fan to keep the inside from becoming stifling. The photo and video really do not do the piece justice.

Foam and ingenuity, LittleBits, basic circuitry.

16. Disaster Preparedness

This team from the Philippines was very interested in examining their school's disaster preparedness plan, as well as learning as many of the tools as they could. They designed and laser-cut the front facade of their school, and 3D designed and printed a side-building, then sought me out for help with their electronics idea: they wanted to create a feature that would illuminate the pathway to first aid and disaster stations when activated by a user walking by. With little time left, I didn't think we'd be able to achieve that with a Hummingbird Robotics kit or certainly not with Arduino! However, I'd *just* learned about LittleBits and was confident that system could be used to achieve their goal! As you can see in the picture, they were successful.

Laser cutting, 3D printing, LittleBits.

17. H2OMG!

This group's premise was to devise a project template that would incorporate multiple subject areas and focus on using sustainable materials with as few "consumables" as possible. With this in mind, they started by creating a blank template - which they're sharing here! - that could be used for any lesson/unit design.

The example project they built out was a unit around water conservation, demonstrating their proposed format for a fully-integrated unit. In each content area (they chose Math, Social Studies, Science, and English), lessons would be taught with the subject of water being a theme. Math would look at volume, English at poetry, Social Studies at the economics of water control, and Science at actual conservation. As students showed mastery in each subject, they would be asked to build a "button" using a metal bottle cap (water bottle) and other sustainable or recyclable materials. The button must to show the subject area they learned about (ie. Math has a 3D printed "V" for volume). Once the students had made their four buttons, their task in the maker space would be to create a video game around the theme of water conservation in Scratch and use a MaKey MaKey to create a controller for that video game using the buttons!

This team's goal was to create something that could continue to add meaning to making and help teachers to create lessons that would incorporate responsible making in their classrooms, teams, and schools - a goal thoroughly met!

MaKey MaKey, Scratch programming, 3D design and printing, with a little Lego and laser cutting for pizzazz.

This conference really shows just how innovative teachers can be when presented with challenges, tools, and a collaborative and supportive atmosphere. Participants ranged in their self-identified experience-levels with the tools from utter novices to experts, but all showed deep expertise in student learning needs and connections to their respective content. This is the sort of learning we should be consistently striving for, both for our students in our own schools but also in our professional development. The learning and growth experienced with this kind of critical thinking, tinkering, and connection-making is what is going to enable us and our students to solve the huge problems that our world is moving towards: poverty, climate change, lost habitat diversity, social injustice, and more. I'm sure it sounds hyperbolic, but the great resilience, collaboration, creativity, empathy, and other skills afforded by "maker education" are precisely the skills needed to change the world.

For more blogs by Lindsey, check out:

Lindsey Own teaches science at The Evergreen School in Shoreline, WA. Follow Lindsey on Twitter, @LindseyOwn.

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Your Students can be "Makers": 16 Projects Invented by Teachers

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(This post was edited on 6/30/2015 to add a 17th project previously omitted. Be sure to scroll down to see that project!) New York City, The Big Apple, a global hub for innovation and invention from the Otis elevator through the MakerBot 3D printer...

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Maker education (often referred to as "Maker Ed") is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom. A makerspace isn't just about the tools and equipment, but the sort of learning experience the space provides to students who are making projects.

Maker Ed places a premium on the balance between exploration and execution. Small projects lend themselves to indefinite tinkering and fiddling, while larger projects need complex, coordinated planning. Often, small projects can organically grow into larger and larger projects. This deliberate process strengthens and enriches a learner's executive functioning skills. Additionally, communication and collaboration are two of Maker Ed's fundamental values. Making allows learners to practice their social communication skills in a variety of groupings, whether affinity-based, role-specific or teacher-assigned. It's important for all different groups to be present in student learning spaces so that all students can practice their social skills in multiple settings. Lastly, Making presents unique opportunities to generate flow learning and allow the teacher to leverage high-interest projects and activities and turn them into learning objectives within a curriculum.

Maker education provides space for real-life collaboration, integration across multiple disciplines, and iteration-the opportunity to fail, rework a project and find success. The benefits of a cooperative learning environment are well documented in a makerspace. If you are wondering how to connect these projects back to the Common Core Standards, check out PBL Through a Maker's Lens and Woodshop Cowboy.

Smaller Scale Maker Education Projects

Do you want to get into Making and Maker Ed but don't know where to start? No problem! Here are nine class-tested, teacher-approved ideas, which can be built using a few tools for K-8 students.

Towers of Power

A great starting point for a beginning Maker teacher, this "Towers of Power" activity allows students to build towers out of paper and Scotch tape. Students can build the tallest tower with an unlimited amount of materials, constrain themselves to limited materials or introduce new materials, such as straws and paper clips. You can crush the towers with textbooks. Find out which tower holds up the most weight. This group activity can help students with teamwork, leadership and planning skills. Best of all, variations on this theme are endless - and the materials can be found in any school office.

Catapults

This catapult activity is one of my favorite projects to use to introduce engineering principles, motion and fun. The catapult allows students to chase down the best launching angle and the ratio between power and arm length, as well as discuss projectile motion, gravity, physics laws and a whole host of other things. Plus, every student likes trying to smash something apart with a teacher's permission. Little hands might pinch themselves handling the strong lever, so it's good practice to disengage the spring for students while they make their catapults.

DESIGN CHALLENGES

A great way to get into making is to give you and your students a few hours to explore the Making design process. Design challenges are a great way to get this done. Set a hard time limit, test the devices, go back and reflect the next day.

Here are a few of my favorite prompts:

Bridge to Nowhere

Design a bridge to span a foot-long gap and hold as much weight as possible. An extension could be to build a cantilever - a bridge with only one footing. Use a set amount of craft sticks or materials in order to encourage creativity in solutions.

Float the Boat

Design a boat that can hold the most cargo, move through the water the fastest or has the most efficient weight to cargo ratio. Find the best shape for sails, design the fastest hull and find the balance point.

Egg Drop

Throwing eggs off something high always gets kids motivated. It's a great way to discuss momentum and illustrate why you should always wear your seat belt.

Instruments

If a teacher offers a student the opportunity to make something joyfully noisy, they usually take it. Homemade instruments come in all different sizes and types - from wood drums to coffee can shakers, to wind chimes to xylophones, it just takes a little Google search to find great ideas.

PLAY WITH LIGHT

Once you-the teacher-get your "sea legs" for facilitating Maker projects, why not expand your skills? By now you've seen what you can do and what your kids can do. You've probably worked out how to efficiently manage the classroom and supplies, and document learning. Kick it up a level and unlock some achievements using electricity. Read more below for fun activities using electricity.

Electromagnets

Electromagnets illustrate the connection between electricity and magnetism. In real life, electromagnets are the cornerstone of many common electrical devices, such as door bells, burglar alarms, car doors and electric motors. Students can fiddle with them to create small toys that can pick up ferrous objects.

Squishy Circuits

Squishy circuits solve one of the biggest conundrums with younger Makers: how to build with real electronic components when the young hands have yet to develop the fine motor skills to connect relatively small parts together via grown up tools? Try using play dough! Take a piece of flour and a small collection of electronic parts (which you can find online at a low cost.)

MakeyMakey Controller Boards

Once the students have made a few electronic circuits, they might ask for something a bit more complicated. Give them a programmable microcontroller board, which they can use to play a banana piano, design a custom video game controller or create a dance floor that can play different songs with each tile. MakeyMakey can make it happen.

Patrick Waters a MakerEd teacher in a math/science department at a innovative therapeutic private day school for students with neurological differences. What's MakerEd? MakerEd is a educational philosophy which celebrates the learning process which occurs when a person makes something interesting. His work involves a little of everything, which is why he teaches in The STEAMworks, a makerspace designed for young adults He doesn't just create robots and woodcraft, he helps craft children into thinking, problem-solving, engaged adults. He regularly posts updates on his work at WoodshopCowboy, a blog at the crossroads of sawdust, maker education and technology.

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9 Maker Projects for Beginner Maker Ed Teachers

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Maker education (often referred to as "Maker Ed") is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom.

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FREE PDF - 100+ Makerspace Materials and Supplies

Below is a growing collection of our favorite tweets that focus on makerspace ideas. These ideas range from how to get started to what maker project to do in your makerspace. Whenever we put something online or on Twitter, we want it to be actionable for the makerspace operator. We know you're busy and we want to help simplify the process of starting and running a makerspace. Hopefully these ideas help! As always, and share with us your own makerspace ideas.

Top Makerspace Ideas & Inspiration

- Forest Lake (@ForestLakeWsd) October 20, 2016

Paper Circuit Tutorial w/ Free Project Templates - https://t.co/vYLyujfom2 #makerspaces #makerED #makerspace pic.twitter.com/BYOvMMMXk9
- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) September 14, 2016

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) March 14, 2016

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) May 19, 2016

Need a project for elementary makers? Have them "engineer" a house the wolf cant blow down. Thx @Bourne_iStudio pic.twitter.com/PtpJ5fnNtH

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) February 15, 2016

21st century students need 21st century teachers/librarians. Remember this during this new school year. Keep Learning pic.twitter.com/cKIrpgGKuO

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) August 26, 2015

9 #Maker Projects for Beginner #MakerEd Teachers http://t.co/Ovm9sNupeD #PBL #pblchat #STEM #makerspace #edtech #DIY pic.twitter.com/ufz5slI4tD

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) May 19, 2015

Ive had requests for info on this GIF. Its called "Elephants Toothpaste". Heres the link https://t.co/qIP2TUH0X2 pic.twitter.com/fMuwMMub3S

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) September 14, 2015

60 Amazing Resources From #Stem to #Steam via @edutopia http://t.co/daTfZEEiKY #makerED #istelib #makerspace #edtech pic.twitter.com/1FV844uH9v

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) July 10, 2015

This is great ! Never stop learning. #Makerspaces pic.twitter.com/2kuTnEs94R

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) June 24, 2015

How to Start Your Own #Makerspace https://t.co/dhEv4SCr8j #makerspaces #makerED #STEM #STEAM #edchat #edtech #PBL pic.twitter.com/41gOPO3Vl5

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) June 22, 2015

Create 45 cool #arduino projects w/ the @ArduinoHandbook http://t.co/GP4jWrfjZx
#makered #NationOfMakers #makerspace pic.twitter.com/QZlAnTZN2H

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) June 15, 2015

20 #STEM Activities For Kids This Summer. http://t.co/yGsY8cFy33 @TeachThought #robotics #STEAM #MakerED #Edchat #PBL pic.twitter.com/dLaNtCdWE9

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) June 8, 2015

- Makerspaces.com (@Makerspaces_com) June 2, 2015

Follow us on Twitter & NEVER stop learning.

Follow @Makerspaces_com

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60+ Makerspace Ideas for Maker Education | Maker space

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FREE PDF - 100+ Makerspace Materials and Supplies Below is a growing collection of our favorite tweets that focus on makerspace ideas. These ideas range from how to get started to what maker project to do in your makerspace. Whenever we put something online or on Twitter, we want it to be actionable for the makerspace operator.

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Can you solve the river crossing riddle? - Lisa Winer

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Young Adult Novels That Teach a Growth Mindset

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Use these novels to teach learning from loss and overcoming adversity to your middle schoolers and high school freshmen.

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Edutopia articles

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We share evidence and practitioner-based learning strategies that empower you to improve K-12 education.

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George Lucas Educational Foundation

Instead of just presenting the facts, use questions, problems, and scenarios to help students learn through their own agency and investigation.

Sort by:

Math teachers can use short activities based on student goals related to equity in order to make classes feel more inclusive and accessible.

By leaving space in their lessons for authentic curiosity to take hold, teachers can enable deeper learning.

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Instead of just presenting the facts, use questions, problems, and scenarios to help students learn through their own agency and investigation.

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Read Article in Spanish
Inquiry is a dynamic process of being open to wonder and puzzlement and coming to know and understand the world. As such, it is a stance that pervades all aspects of life and is essential to the way in which knowledge is created. Inquiry is based on the belief that understanding is constructed in the process of people working and conversing together as they pose and solve the problems, make discoveries and rigorously testing the discoveries that arise in the course of shared activity.

Misconception Alert
"Inquiry is not a "method" of doing science, history, or any other subject, in which the obligatory first stage in a fixed, linear sequence is that of students each formulating questions to investigate. Rather, it is an approach to the chosen themes and topics in which the posing of real questions is positively encouraged, whenever they occur and by whoever they are asked. Equally important as the hallmark of an inquiry approach is that all tentative answers are taken seriously and are investigated as rigorously as the circumstances permit."⁽¹⁾

Inquiry is a study into a worthy question, issue, problem or idea. It is the authentic, real work that that someone in the community might tackle. It is the type of work that those working in the disciplines actually undertake to create or build knowledge. Therefore, inquiry involves serious engagement and investigation and the active creation and testing of new knowledge.

There are several dimensions of inquiry:

The inquiry study emanates from a question, problem or exploration that has meaning to the students.

An adult at work or in the community might actually tackle the question, problem, issue or exploration posed by the task/s.

The inquiry study originates with an issue, problem, question, exploration or topic that provides opportunities to create or produce something that contributes to the world's knowledge.

The task/s require/s a variety of roles or perspectives.

The inquiry study leads students to build knowledge that leads to deep understanding.

Students are provided with multiple, flexible ways to approach the problem, issue or question under study that use methods of inquiry central to the disciplines that underpin the problem, issue or question.

The inquiry study encourages students to develop habits of mind that encourage them to ask questions of

evidence (how do we know what we know?)

viewpoint (who is speaking?)

pattern and connection (what causes what?)

supposition (how might things have been different?)

why it matters (who cares)

On-going assessment is woven into the design of the inquiry study providing timely descriptive feedback and utilizes a range of methods, including peer and self evaluation. Assessment guides student learning and teacher's instructional planning.

The study provides opportunities for students to reflect on their learning using clear criteria that they helped to set. The students use these reflections to set learning goals, establish next steps and develop effective learning strategies.

Teachers, peers, adults from outside the classroom and the student are involved in the assessment of the work.

The study requires students to address a semi-structured question, issue or problem, relevant to curriculum outcomes, but grounded in the life and work beyond the school.

The study requires students to develop organizational and self management skills in order to complete the study.

The study leads students to acquire and use competencies expected in high performance work organizations (eg. team work, problem solving, communications, decision making and project management).

Use of Digital Technologies

Technology is used in a purposeful manner that demonstrates an appreciation of new ways of thinking and doing. The technology is essential in accomplishing the task.

The study requires students to determine which technologies are most appropriate to the task.

The study requires students to conduct research, share information, make decisions, solve problems, create meaning and communicate with various audiences inside and outside the classroom.

The study makes excellent use digital resources.

Students and parents have on-going, online access to the study as it develops.

The study requires sophisticated use of multimedia/hypermedia software, video, conferencing, simulation, databases, programming, etc.

The study requires students to spend significant amounts of time doing field work, design work, labs, interviews, studio work, construction, etc.

The study requires students to engage in real, authentic investigations using a variety of media, methods and sources.

The study requires students to communicate what they are learning with a variety of audiences through presentation, exhibition, website, wiki, blog, etc.

Connecting With Expertise

The study requires students to observe and interact with adults with relevant expertise and experience in a variety of situations.

The study requires students to work closely with and get to know at least one adult other than their teacher.

The tasks are designed in collaboration with expertise, either directly or indirectly. The inquiry requires adults to collaborate with one another and with students on the design and assessment of the inquiry work.

Students have extended opportunities to support, challenge, and respond to each other's ideas as they negotiate a collective understanding of relevant concepts. Students have opportunities to negotiate the flow of conversation within small and large group discussions.

Students have opportunities to choose forms of expression to express their understanding.

The inquiry provides opportunities for students to communicate what they are learning with a variety of audiences.

These are taken from the Inquiry Rubric

Misconception Alert
"Inquiry is not to be thought of in terms of isolated projects, undertaken occasionally on an individual basis as part of a traditional transmissionary pedagogy. Nor is it a method to be implemented according to a preformulated script."⁽¹⁾

There is a difference between Projects as conventionally understood in education circles and Project-based Learning that fosters inquiry. When using projects within inquiry it is important to note the differences.

loose set of activities

inquiry-based

supplements the curriculum

part of the regular curriculum and instruction

broad assessments

maps to specific outcomes
guided by assessment for learning

no management structure

uses project management tools

______________________

Reference
(1) Wells, Gordon (2001). Action, talk & text: Learning & Teaching Through Inquiry. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Read Article in Spanish

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Inquiry is a dynamic process of being open to wonder and puzzlement and coming to know and understand the world. As such, it is a stance that pervades all aspects of life and is essential to the way in which knowledge is created.

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Most of the blogs I had read ahead of time seemed to use Genius Hour in the upper elementary, middle, and high school grades. Looking back, I wonder if I was crazy to try it with eight-year-olds. Maybe I was. At times, it was insanely chaotic. I definitely 'bit off more than I could chew' and it was a lot more work than I anticipated. But it was such an overwhelming success with my students that I made it a permanent part of my third-grade curriculum and learned from the parts that I was ill-prepared for the first time around.

Most of the chaos and hard work came from being under-prepared. I hadn't fully thought through what it would take to prepare seven, eight, and nine-year-olds for independent work.
Yes, they are capable of it... but it takes scaffolding and intentional instruction to give them the tools to succeed!
So, learning from my mistakes, here are four tips for a smoother, well-planned Genius Hour in Elementary!

Model Everything

One of the most valuable things I learned in leading Genius Hour in third grade was to model all pieces of the process. Instead of telling my students to "come up with a topic", I participated in Genius Hour alongside them and verbalized my thinking process out loud.
"What kinds of things am I interested in, I'll write them down! The ocean, hockey, running, cooking. I love to build stuff. When I was at the ocean I saw a family flying the most amazing kites, and they were doing loops. It was so interesting."
I didn't just say, "List the things you are interested in," I demonstrated how I would come up with some topics. In future lessons, I explicitly taught how to turn my ideas into an essential question.

"I love kites and the ocean," became my Genius Hour question "How do you build a kite?"

Genius Hour is driven by an essential question that students work each week to solve through research and hands-on exploration. (Each question cannot be solved by a simple Google search).

Eventually, I even gave a complete Genius Hour presentation. This way, my students were not caught off-guard by what I expected from a presentation. I built a simple kite in front of my students and showed what I had learned on a step-by-step poster.

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Genius Hour in Elementary - Poet Prints Teaching

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How (and how NOT to) plan Genius Hour in an elementary classroom. Genius Hour ideas for second, third and fourth grade. Projects, organization, classroom management, and planning for passion projects.

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STEAM projects for kids are at the core of this blog. And it's not because STEAM is the latest educational trend, but because I personally believe in the power of cross-disciplinary learning.

If you are new to the idea of STEAM the acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, and started as simply STEM, without the A for Art. STEM and STEAM based learning has become a huge educational movement in the US in recent years. It began because of the noticeable lack of candidates entering the fields of engineering and science here in the US compared to other countries. Whether or not you agree with the focus on the disciplines highlighted by its acronym, the basic model of STEAM based education is to teach kids to bridge subjects and problem solve, and this is the aspect of it that has resonated with me.

As a designer, I have spent most of my education and career in "the studio," working on projects that require putting on both creative and analytical hats to solve problems. What I love about the design profession is the opportunity to look at a problem from many angles, test out different ideas, and ultimately decide on a solution. And that's what a STEAM based projects do. They teach kids to make connections between the subjects they are studying rather than explore them in isolation.

So if you are curious or interested in trying STEAM based projects with your kids, I rounded up 25 of my favorite cross-disciplinary projects right here. I hope these projects will introduce you and your children to the power of creative exploration and problem solving.

Now let's get making!

Cardboard City

A great group project made with make building tools

Even STEAM projects:

If you are looking to incorporate more STEAM ideas into your family's creative day check out our STEAM Kids Book

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STEAM projects for kids are at the core of this blog. And it's not because STEAM is the latest educational trend, but because I personally believe in the power of cross-disciplinary learning. If you are new to the idea of STEAM the acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, and started as simply STEM, without the A for Art.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQy5gjC_zh8
YouTube video (4:30 min)