How to Create a STEM / STEAM Lesson

My district, Miami Dade County Public Schools, has created a school designation program to promote STEM and STEAM integration in the classrooms. Schools that meet the designation criteria are promoted to the community to make everyone aware of the different STE(A)M programs around the county. The criteria as of now include: STE(A)M competition participation, professional developments for STE(A)M teachers, partnerships with the community in the STE(A)M field, equity and accountability for all. You can look into MDCPS' STE(A)M initiative at stem.dadeschools.net and see the history / break down of the program with research brief #1706.

Alright, so why am I am going to talk about STE(A)M lessons? I am part of the high school STE(A)M designation team. My job is to see the level of integration of the STE(A)M disciplines in the math classrooms since I am a high school math curriculum support specialist (a different content specialist walks their respective subjects to see their integration). There are many factors that go into the STE(A)M designation process so I will only be concentrating on the walkthrough, where I see the STE(A)M projects in the classroom.

"... content disciplines should be purposeful and at grade level ..."

In a nutshell, I should see at least one project where the students used Science, Technology, Engineering, Art (if the school is going for STEAM designation), and Mathematics. Now, simply saying "This project has science because we talked about trees." or "We did math because the students had to add." is not good enough and I hope that you can see why once you read the article. The STE(A)M content disciplines should be purposeful and at grade level, for example, "Since the students are learning about gravity in science and quadratics in math, the teachers came together to create a catapult project." Do you see the difference compared to the more vague example? The catapult project will reinforce what the students are currently learning in science and math. There wasn't science for the sake of science, instead there was collaboration between the teachers to make the project beneficial for both courses. Even with the improvement, this is only a 2.0 point lesson; one point for science and one point for math. How can I turn this into a 4.0 or 5.0 lesson (a project that would incorporate all the disciplines)? Let's break down my suggestions one discipline at a time.

Disclaimer: If you have been following my articles on LinkedIn then you already know that I write these articles as myself, Ricardo Sinclair. I am not writing this representing Miami Dade County Public Schools or the STE(A)M committee they have formed. The following is simply my take away from the experience.

Science: As you saw in my previous catapult example, I made the science portion of the project come from what the students were currently learning. This might not always be possible since we might have an amazing activity for the kids but it doesn't match what is currently going on in the science class. That is okay, do not fret. If they have already covered the topic, great! Not only will it make your life easier since you won't have to teach that topic (or have the kids do as much preliminary research), you will also be helping the science teacher since the students are reviewing for science! If the students have not covered the topic in science yet, talk to the science teacher to see what the "minimum" the students need to know. What I mean by minimum is you, as the non-science teacher, won't have to spend four days teaching potential and kinetic energy since your students might only need a 20 minute conversation about it. The rest of the potential and kinetic energy concepts will be covered in science class. Be sure this is aligned to the science standards that are grade level appropriate!

Technology: So here is the big misconception that I see here, "My students googled different types of (insert blank)". Before you start yelling at me, remember that I'm using high school "glasses", I wouldn't consider a 16 year old using google as an impressive technological feat. But if you told me a fourth grader had to conduct research and find reputable websites, that is a different story. What we should strive for and what I look for in a high school setting is that the students are now producers versus consumers. Watching YouTube videos to take notes about architecture is not as powerful as creating a blueprint or making a 3D model in a CAD software. It doesn't have to be some brand new never before used tech either. One teacher I know had the students create a landing webpage using Microsoft Publisher (this tool allows the creator to make a website without knowing HTML / CSS / JavaScript) in order for the students to "market" the pizza shop they had designed.

Engineering: Now this one is a doozy. Don't get me wrong, it is not "hard" per say but it is different from what most of us are used to. Let me explain this with an example first. Teacher A and Teacher B are both doing a project about lift and drag and decided to have the students make paper airplanes. Teacher A gives the students three different folding templates where the student chooses their favorite design, builds it, throws it in the classroom to see how far it will travel and calls it a day. Teacher B suggested different websites for information and templates, the student builds the plane, throws it, builds a new iteration to improve flight distance, throws it, and builds a new iteration that will travel at least 20 meters.

So what do you think? I know that I kind of exaggerated Teacher A vs B but the gist of it is creating and improving with a problem to solve. That is what separates a lesson with engineering and one that simply follows procedures. When I have to explain the engineering process to administrators I bring up Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (if you have no idea who they are, I can guess your age). Wile E. Coyote had a goal, catch the Road Runner. How? Well that was up to him! He had to draw plan A, build it, test it, improve / go to plan B, test it, improve / go to plan C, etc. Once I bring up the Willy E. Coyote metaphor most administrators say "Ohh, I get it!" and they they talk about how the teacher could have changed their project to incorporate the engineering process. Check out the video below for a great explanation!

Art: As a math teacher this is probably the hardest discipline for me to see so I'll keep it very objective. Does your STE(A)M project have a grade level art standard matched to it? Yes, awesome. No? Sorry buddy. What I have learned is that coloring for the sake of coloring is not art. Before you finalize your lesson plan, get together with the art teacher at your school and let them know what you are planning of doing. I'm sure the art teacher will be happy to either match an art standard or come up with a way to properly integrate the arts. Pro tip: Don't forget that art is not only drawing and coloring! Performing arts and music also counts! Have the students create a skit or song to teach the distributive property / photosynthesis / the design process!

Mathematics: The creme de la creme! At least for me! Remember, I look at the math classes and look for integration, so naturally they all have this component but let me give you some tips that we have had to tell other content areas when it comes to integrating math. In high school, adding numbers, measuring length of an object, or calculating rate using d=rt doesn't really count (count! Get it!). Why? Because of the same argument I made for science. It is not grade appropriate. Make sure the math component of your activity is at grade level. For example, measuring length is a second grade math skill in the state of Florida, so it would be fine in 2nd grade but not 10th grade as a way to justify doing a 10th grade STE(A)M activity.

Like my suggestion for art, if you are unfamiliar with grade level math standards, get together with one of your math colleagues and see what math concept can be added to the activity you want to do.

Key Take-Aways:

• Make sure all of your content disciplines are grade level appropriate. Check your standards on your state website (Florida houses them in CPALMS.org)
• Work together with your colleagues! Even if no one has ever done a STE(A)M project before and you are the first to ask for help, it will become contagious. Once one teacher starts, more and more teachers in the school will begin to join in on the fun!
• See what is out there! There are STE(A)M lessons out there that you might be interested in but just know that they might be missing some content disciplines. So sure, you might have to modify the activity to integrate the missing content disciplines but it will at least give you a framework / skeleton to start with. NASA has some good ones to start with.
• You can't make every activity a full 5.0 STE(A)M activity, but if you try to do one every quarter, you'll notice that the students will retain the information they learned in your STE(A)M activity longer. Plus, it is for the students!