3 STEM Project Ideas the will make your science lessons better.
So far in this series, we have talked about exciting the students, allowing them to explore, and getting kids to explain their ideas (and clear up misconceptions). The next step is a deeper hands-on learning experience. We are going to call that time to elaborate. If you want to catch up on the rest of this series go to Science Planning.
After you have engaged, explored, and explained the concept it is time to have a little fun. Now is the time to elaborate/expand/experiment. This is where you will be brainstorming STEM project ideas. STEM stands for science, techonology, engineering and math. As an example in the case of the bridge building challenge, it is time to get building.
Purposeful Planning
At this point, you begin to see that each step builds on the next. You are building a foundation of learning where the kids take ownership. The success of teaching this way builds on grabbing their interest. Without student buy-in, the remainder of the lesson will be flat.
Once the students have developed a clear explanation of their learning tasks, it is important to involve them in further experiences that apply, extend, or elaborate the concepts, processes, or skills. There may be lingering misconceptions, or they may only understand a concept in terms of the exploratory experience. Elaboration activities provide further time and experience that contribute to learning.
STEM Project Ideas for Elaboration
Menu of Choices
You can create an elaboration menu for each unit that you teach. Chris Kesler from Kessler Science uses a menu approach and divides project option into 4 categories; written, verbal, tactile, and visual.
In a menu based project system, each category option is worth a certain number of points and students need to combine different projects until they reach the number of possible points that are required.
I like menus because people love feeling they have a choice and this creates that feeling of choice. The cons to using menus are that you have to come up with multiple ideas to elaborate on the same topic.
I would suggest having a general menu of ideas for the kids to pick from if you are using this method.
Experiments
You can also have a single experiment that elaborates on the topic. Ideally, this should be a real experiment (think science fair and not lab activity). There needs to be a driving question that kids are using science to answer. Kids will need adult guidance in executing these types of experiments at first.
Open Ended Projects
The third type of elaboration project is an open ended project. Let kids work with you to develop their own project. Often times, even the planning stage of the project, is an effective tool and cementing the information. This is also a great time to catch any lingering misconceptions.
Open ended projects can seem like a really good idea, but you should be willing to help narrow the scope of the project when kids start talking to you. You probably aren’t going to solve the world’s energy crisis in a 6th-grade science project. Instead, have kids focus on the questions that they have and work from there.
This will take practice, but the kids (and you) will get better over time.
