Have you been thinking of some ways to purposefully plan and add science into your STEM lessons? In today’s episode, we are continuing with our STEM into Action series, with me sharing my insights and some practical lessons that answer the question, “How is science used in STEM?”
What are some ways to purposefully plan and effectively add science into your STEM lessons? We are continuing our STEM in Action series, where we kicked it off with guest experts in the field to help connect different elements of STEM and really focus on what STEM means and can look like in different capacities. For the second half of the series, I will be sharing my insights and some practical lessons that you can implement in your classroom. The next four episodes will focus on each letter of STEM, and these will all connect together and give you some practical ideas that you are really going to enjoy.
Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast, a show that will help you with lesson ideas, systems, and actionable tips to apply to your classroom. I am your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned current STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I am here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students.
Grab your earbuds and let's get started. At the time of this recording, we are right in the middle of summer. Maybe some of you have been on summer break for a little while, or maybe some of you are just starting. Wherever you are, I get it. I understand. June has been a very busy month for me again. You probably know where I was last time in June, and this year has been very busy as well. I understand the busyness and all the cool things that you can do in summer.
Having on-demand trainings can be extremely helpful. If you're on the go or traveling, one of my favorite things to do is listen to trainings on airplanes or while using cardio machines at the hotel. I understand, like I said, and so I have some on-the-go trainings for you that are perfect for summertime. You don't have to attend live, but they can really help support your STEM instruction.
I have my STEM Teacher 101 course. So if you are getting started in STEM and don't know where to begin and want someone to tell you what to do before you even set up all the lessons, I invite you to join my STEM Teacher 101 course. That is a great place to start.
If you're looking for strategies on specific lesson planning or maybe you're thinking, “Oh, I want to host my school-wide video news this year,” or “I would love to host a STEM career day,” I have some workshops for you. All of those workshops are two hours, come with tons of resources, and they were live at the time. So I did have teachers who were there for the live trainings, except the STEM Career Day is 100% on demand.
However, you can hear that interaction and get access to all those resources right there. And again, be on your way with what you are looking for. You can find all of that linked in the show notes, or if you even just head to my website, NaomiMeredith.com, you'll see tabs that go along with the things that I'm talking about. That’s a great way to spend some time with me this summer, even when you are on the go.
When you're thinking about implementing science, the format of these next four lessons is going to have the same structure. So you know what to listen for and what to really think about. We are going to be talking about standards—what standards should you use when thinking about that part of STEM. Today we are talking about science. Then I’m going to share my top tools that I love using when it relates to that letter in STEM. Finally, I will give you some lesson ideas that are mostly focused on science.
Of course, they encompass all sorts of things cross-curricular, which is how you should be planning anyway. I'm very big on that. That is going to be the structure for these episodes. When it comes to standards, when you are really focusing on the science part of STEM, your state most likely has some sort of science standards that you should be focusing on. I like to base my lessons on the NGSS, the Next Generation Science Standards. Those are more widely used nationwide. Here in Colorado, some standards are based on the NGSS, but I like to teach with the NGSS so it's more universal. However, you need to look at the standards specific to your state and what you should be teaching at that grade level.
In the last episode with Nicole Aschen, episode 165, we touched on this as well. If you are limited on time with teaching, which we all are, but a lot of you teach one-day lessons, why not make it more purposeful by bouncing off what classroom teachers are doing and teaching with those standards? I was spoiled at times where I had more time with kids, but I always planned with standards no matter what. I would just give it a STEM twist. I will be sharing some lessons with you, but just know that when I am planning lessons, I am always planning with standards. It's ingrained in my soul.
Make sure you check out your science standards. When it comes to the top tools, this is hard to pick my favorite, but I do have a few favorites when it comes to the science part of things. One of my favorite tools, and I always used these, and some of these might sound very random, but they are things that I liked having on hand.
I have a little set of 3D toys or models of the life cycle of a ladybug. That is something that would come up all the time. I used it as an example or a model for something to show kids when talking about insects or life cycles. Having that model was something I pulled out all the time. Likewise, having similar hands-on models is one of my favorite things to show. I even taught an in-person STEM class the other day at my local coffee shop, and I was so excited it was sold out.
We were talking about camouflage and how ocean animals, specifically octopuses, but then we started talking about other ocean animals. The kids were very engaged, so I brought in real coral and real seashells that I had found while traveling. I love having those tangible hands-on things where kids can see, touch, and look at them to make sense of what they’re learning. I’ve even had times when people have given me things, and you can't keep everything, of course, but I had a parent ask me if I wanted to hold on to a wasp nest for a while. All the wasps were gone, and that was such a cool experience for the kids to see it. Some of them were scared, but I assured them the wasps were gone.
I even did a segment on our school-wide video news where I interviewed the kid who brought it in. We put it on the news, and I answered all the questions I kept getting about it. Having those hands-on models are very, very important, and they can be used over and over again.
Along with that, with top tools, this kind of flows into everything as well. I love to travel. I don't know if you guys know that. Maybe you've seen it on my Instagram. If you follow me on Instagram at NaomiMeredith_underscore, you'll see I love to travel. When I travel, I'm always thinking about STEM. I can't get away from it. I take videos and pictures of things that I know my students would love, and I use these photos and pictures as talking points when I am chatting with kids. It’s a great way to get to know them, but I will show them, “Oh my gosh, I saw this while whale watching,” and explain how animals didn’t want to be camouflaged, they wanted to be showy. I show videos from that experience. When you’re traveling, or if you’re going to the zoo, take some extra photos or pictures that you know will connect to a lesson, and you can pull them out later. These might not be the types of science tools you thought of, but those are things I really love to use to enhance my lessons.
Okay, so on to those lesson ideas. Yes, STEM is all integrated, but we’re really thinking about how science is the main standard for this subject. For this series, when we talk about each letter of STEM, or the upcoming episodes, I will be sharing with you a project, a station, and a one-day lesson. Depending on how long you see kids or what you are looking for, this will give you some good ideas.
In terms of a project, the standards that I was looking at were in second grade and the NGSS. It was about how weathering and erosion can happen, and I focused on water erosion for this project. The project goes through the whole engineering design process. Students explore different ways and inventions that help with water erosion. It can be tricky, especially for third grade and younger, to find resources that help with the imagining and planning phases. I wrote short, kid-friendly articles with image examples and audio where kids can explore different inventions. From there, students plan their design using those ideas, combining what they have learned. They create an invention using maker space materials to try to either stop or slow down water erosion of the soil.
When I've done this with second grade, I've tried it a few ways. There are certain supplies they could use, or I've done a shopping method where students shop for supplies. If you're interested, go back and listen to episodes five and six about maker space, as I discuss the shopping piece. When we got to testing their designs, I tried different methods. One year, I had buckets of dirt and soil, probably potting soil, and students tested their designs in these buckets. It was December, so it was cold in Colorado. But when I did this lesson again in October, it was warmer, so we tested our designs outside. Testing inside was nice because the buckets of dirt could dry out and be ready for the next few weeks. But taking kids outside wasTesting inside was nice because the buckets of dirt could dry out and be ready for the next few weeks. But taking kids outside was fun too, as they had to adjust their designs and see how they worked with water. If you want to test this lesson indoors, I highly recommend using those buckets of dirt.
For a station lesson, this can be something used in rotations, especially if you have lower grades. I have a lot of robot extensions and use robots to integrate science concepts, specifically animal adaptations and how that translates into robots. You could start by reading “What if You Had Animal Eyes?” or “What if You Had Animal Hair?” which are very cute books and only take 10-15 minutes to read. Then, you could discuss how engineers get ideas from nature, called biomimicry. Following this, you could have different science stations with robotics extensions. One example is using Cubelets to have kids build different robots representing animal features, like eyes that can see or camouflage.
Another station example is using Bee-Bots to talk about habitats. You could have maps with different animal habitats, and students can program the Bee-Bot to go to different locations on the map. If you have older students, they could create the maps for the younger kids to use. There are many ways to connect robots with science concepts, and these are just a few examples.
Finally, for a one-day lesson, I love using littleBits to create inventions. One lesson idea is having students create a warning system for when their drink is too hot. They could use littleBits temperature sensors to create an invention that warns them when the drink is at a certain temperature. This can be tied to discussions about heat and temperature, making it a quick, engaging, and educational activity.
There you go! That was a lot of information, but I hope you found some new ideas and ways to integrate science into your STEM lessons. Remember, integrating science doesn't have to be complicated, and using standards as your foundation will ensure that your lessons are purposeful and impactful.
