![]() ![]() It’s not our natural tendency as teachers – but it is just want our kids need in order to get the most out of STEM. This opens the doors for students to do the discovery and not just copy what they saw me do. I have learned that our most successful STEM activities are the ones where I introduce the activity and get out of the way. Instead, I focus on explaining the STEM process and providing some helpful guidelines for collaboration. After all, getting students to develop those thinking and problem solving skills is one of the goals. However, in STEM activities I try to avoid modeling the activity. I show students what I’m doing and thinking in order to teach them how to do the same. When I teach an academic skill I always model the activity we are learning. STEM activities are a little different than teaching a new reading or math concept. while we teach kids to apply what they have learned by using STEM activities, there’s also a lot of learning that happens through these activities too! Introduce and Get Out of the Way STEM activities just build on this and begin incorporating new skills and thinking abilities. They get an idea and they problem solve and “figure it out.” They often plan and collaborate with friends to meet a common goal in their play activity. When children play, they naturally pull from all skills they know. I actually love using STEM with young students because I find that there is a natural connection to play. ![]() Trust me when I say it doesn’t have to be! STEM and Play If you’ve never done STEM activities in your classroom before, the thought of jumping into STEM can seem overwhelming. This gives you time to introduce students to STEM related vocabulary and processes. Just like you would with any new skill or concept you teach, start simple and gradually build. Like most activities, you can find a range of STEM activities that can go from fairly simple to quite complicated. When you see it broken down in this way it is really easy to add it into your lesson plans knowing that it is a lot more than just a fun activity for the kids. ![]() If you struggle with trying to fit it all in – I get it! What made a big difference for me was breaking down all the standards and skills that a specific STEM activity would work on. I don’t know about you, but when an activity can do all of that, I want it to be part of my classroom. while the focus might be on science, technology, engineering and math, there are also elements of reading and writing that are an important part of STEM activities. Many STEM activities include building, cutting and small object manipulation. STEM activities lend themselves to being more hands-on than other classroom activities. In addition to these amazing thinking skills, STEM activities provide young students with opportunities to develop fine motor skills too. By adding STEM into the primary classroom, these thinking and problem solving skills become a natural part of the learning process. In addition to the academic skills in these areas, here’s just a few of the other important life skills students will work on with STEM activities:Įven our youngest students can build these important skills. ![]()
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