00:00

As students are building their STEM projects, are you unsure of ways they can improve their designs? When students come up to you, and they say, “I'm done,” do you say, “Oh, now go and just add more details.” In this episode, I will be sharing with you strategies that you can use with your students to help them improve and modify their designs. 

00:53

I can't believe we have already made it to Episode 20. It has been so much fun recording these podcasts and creating episodes that you can immediately apply to your classroom. I am excited about how far this podcast has come and what is in store for the future. Trust me, I have a ton of ideas brewing. So lots more fun to be had in the future. If you haven't grabbed it already, I have a free Engineering Design Process poster and planning guide that you can download for your classroom. You can grab that at Naomimeredith.com/podcastEDP. I'll also link it in the show notes. 

01:36

I know I've talked about this before, but I like comparing the Engineering Design Process to the writing process because there are a lot of similarities between those two processes. Being a former classroom teacher, that is just something that has stuck in my brain after teaching it for so many years before becoming a STEM teacher. The experiment and improve stage of the Engineering Design Process is similar to the editing stage within the writing process. It is the process for both of these things. A growth mindset that I like to teach my students in my classroom is that practice makes better, not perfect. Everything can be improved, even when you think you're done. This step in the Engineering Design Process is so important to teach kids that things might not be perfect the first time, and there are always ways to make them better. 

02:30

Here are some strategies that I like to use in this stage to make it more impactful and meaningful for students. These strategies keep me from rushing and running out of ideas for kids to make things better, or, after they build something, I don't just send them off to go do a fun activity. This stage in the Engineering Design Process can be very beneficial with some careful planning. 

02:54

The first way that you can enhance the experiment and improve stage is to use a modification checklist. Now, in my first year teaching STEM, I was completely lost on this. I was feeling probably like you are like I have no idea where to even begin with a checklist. I don't even know how the projects are going to turn out. Trust me, I was in your shoes, and I'm in those shoes whenever I'm starting new projects. So here's a little tip that has worked for me. When starting a new project, I will create an anchor chart of ways students can improve their designs as students are working. So with observations and how their projects are going, I will add to this anchor chart and list. I even get feedback from students as to what they would like to add to this list to help the future classes that I'm going to teach. Using the student feedback has been a game changer because I might think the project is going to go one way, but the way students are interacting with the lesson and the supplies are going in a completely different direction. I will always take their feedback when it comes to these checklists. 

04:03

In fact, when I was teaching STEM survival camp for fifth grade, the checklists for the build a shelter design was actually fully developed by my fifth graders. They had the checklist I'd given them, and they were writing all over it and adding in their own categories since I didn't design it in a way that worked best for them. So I recreated that checklist based on their feedback. My fifth graders really liked the layout because kids like them helped me create it. Now, years later, being in this position of K through five STEM, I have created my full year-long plan when it comes to engineering design challenges. Each challenge has different checklists included already, so you don't have to think about them. They are all done for you. There are even checklists for the little kids. 

04:54

For example, with my first graders for a unit, we were talking about Earthlight and light living things. What is that fancy word? Bioluminescent. The kids love learning this word and the meaning behind it. They sounded so fancy when they were sharing this with their teacher when they picked them up for the day. Students were to create their own living thing, either one that already exists or a living thing that would be enhanced if it did give off its own light and the reason behind that light. They were given a checklist the second day of creating, and there were just three lines in this checklist with a thumbs up, and a thumbs down that they could circle on the piece of paper or within Seesaw when I sent it to them digitally. These things weren't required for them, but I did say they had to do at least one of these three things when they were thinking about improving their design. On this checklist, those three things were does your living thing live in water? Does your living thing fly? And does your living thing eat other animals? So this was interesting for them to really think about who their animal was and even the purpose behind the light that they gave them. My example was that I would love it if my little dog Frederick's ears glowed. They had that bioluminescence, so when we're going on walks, he can see more clearly where we're going, and I can also see when I have to pick up his poop. Sorry, super gross TMI right there. 

06:30

Also, when I give checklists to my older kids, I give them those things on the checklist that they may or may not have to do. It depends on the project and the purpose behind the project. There's a space on the side where they can actually explain how the modifications made their design even better. When it comes to my 3D printing lessons, there are specific things they have to do within their project so that it will print correctly. Most of the things on the modification checklist have to be yes before they turn it in. However, there are other projects that we do where only a couple have to be a yes, and the rest are just ways that they can make their design even better. 

07:13

In addition to the checklist, another way that you can enhance your experiment and improve stage with the Engineering Design Process is the use of rubrics. You can use this instead of checklists or in addition to. If I were to use both, especially if I were to give grades within the STEM space, I would have students use the checklist when they are creating and experimenting, and improving. Then, when we are finished with the building stage, and this might even happen on the last day right before we share,  students are given that rubric, and they can reflect on the work that they did within this project. So they might even be done experimenting and improving, and they're thinking about how they really attacked those things. You can use a lot of the same things, even from the checklist, especially if you are planning with standards, which you should be anyway. But you can add some of those elements within your rubric. 

08:14

If I were to create a rubric for my STEM classroom, I would have it on a four-point scale, the one would be categorized as I am missing some things. This is if students really struggled in completing the project. Hopefully, they're not in that one category. Or maybe they were absent, so I would actually leave this part of the rubric blank so students could write in their responses, or I could add my responses. The two category would be I can do it with support. So those would be those qualifications that students were below grade level and had most of those things, but they have some holes. The three would be I can complete the project. So those would be all those qualifiers that are at grade level. They can demonstrate an understanding of the standard and the project. The four would be I can extend my learning. I also like to leave this blank. Or, if I know some ways students can extend their learning, I might write those in as well. So having that four-point scale would be really helpful, and have it written in student-friendly language, so it's not a surprise for them as to how they did on their project. This could be a great addition to the stage of the Engineering Design Process. 

09:34

Another thing too, when you're creating this rubric, I would think about the process first, then the product. I would have both within your rubric. So part of those qualifiers on your rubric you could talk about is did they demonstrate certain processes within the project. So learning a new skill when they are working on the project. The product could actually be how they demonstrate the state standard when attacking this challenge. Having a combination of both, which is really important in STEM. Are they understanding the standards? How are they learning new skills within STEM? Whether it's 3D printing or Makerspace coding, how are they demonstrating mastery within those? If you're interested in more things about grading, we could talk about that in the future. I will say I don't actually give grades in my STEM space. But this is the process I would use if I had to do that. So definitely something to consider and talk about when you're thinking about rubrics. 

10:38

Finally, the third way to enhance your experiment and improve stage is to give students the opportunity to show what happens. My two favorite platforms to use within the classroom, and especially in STEM classrooms, are Seesaw and Flipgrid. Both are very similar, but they also have differences. Having these platforms in your classroom is super beneficial for families to see what takes place within your classroom. We know that kids can't always take home the awesome supplies that they're using in STEM. Of course, they really want to, especially LEGO minifigs that go missing. Those never come back. But kids always want to share all the cool things that we did. These platforms are a great way for students to bring those experiences home through video, photos, and audio. Also, when you use these platforms, this is also a great way to keep kids accountable for the work and make sure that they are staying on task and completing the project. 

11:40

One of my first favorite ways is for students to use video during this improve and experiment stage. A big way that I used it with my fifth graders is when they were creating Rube Goldberg Ecosystems. Every time they were testing their design, I wanted them to take a video of inaction, whether it worked or not. It was great for them to have video evidence of their actual experiment. This was also helpful because they could go back and watch what happened the day before and set it up the same way or differently, depending on the results within their Seesaw journal. They had an abundance of videos to go back and reflect on, and this actually helped them when they came into the share stage when we talked about the project throughout the week. 

12:27

Another way that I've used video within an engineering design project was in second grade. They were working on animal migration Ozobots. Ozobots are those tiny little robots that read color codes when you color them with markers or use the stickers provided. Beforehand, students researched the migration patterns of different animals and understood why they were migrating and how that affected them. Students created the path of the migration within the maps that were provided. I wanted students to film the process of their code and action. It's so cute to see them filming this because you can see them experiment within the video when the code doesn't work. They'll pick up the robot and put it where it needs to go. Again, I wanted them to take more than one video so that if their code doesn't work, they could create a new coding sheet on a new map and then record it. So these are just two great examples of experimenting and improving within your STEM lessons. 

13:31

Sometimes video might not be the best fit to share. This is when photos are a great opportunity. Of course, you can have students take pictures of their work but if their invention is supposed to do something, consider having students take before and after photos. Again, in another second-grade lesson, I had students create an invention to help control the effects of water erosion. We actually tested this using dirt that we found outside, so there was a hill I took students out on, and I wanted them actually to test their invention with the water that we brought. Before taking the students outside, I had them take a picture of their invention before it got wet. Then some kids even went on to explain with audio how their invention was going to work. I then had students bring their inventions back into the classroom. After we tested them using the water and the dirt, they took an after photo and then explained what actually happened. I didn't want the iPads outside with the dirt, so that's why I had them bring the inventions back in. 

14:42

If there are before and after opportunities, consider taking photos. If you're doing projects that are all computer-based, there are some platforms that allow students to do screen recordings. This would be really cool if students are creating a code for a game or if they're 3D printing. They can actually film their screen in real-time and play it back on a hyperlapse to see the progression of their projects along the way. On the flip side, when you're thinking about teacher management, it would be great to keep kids accountable and ensure that they're staying on the screen that they're supposed to stay on. A great platform for students to use for screen recording is Screencastify. They have come out with a whole classroom set. You definitely should check that out because I love using Screencastify as a teacher, but it would be a cool asset to use for your older students when it comes to screen recording. Wii video is another platform that allows screen recording capabilities. So definitely check out those platforms and see how you can fit that in when students are designing digitally. 

15:49

As a recap, here are ways to help your students improve their STEM projects when you are in the experiment and improve stage. First, consider using a modification checklist. Next, create rubrics. Third, give students opportunities to show what happens. We have one more stage left in this mini-series about the Engineering Design Process. So thank you so much for joining me on this journey. Make sure to grab your free Engineering Design Process poster and Planning Guide, which is linked in the show notes and are also found at this direct link: Naomimeredith.com/podcastEDP.