Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

We know as teachers that it is important for students to work in groups when they are creating collaborative projects, But it doesn't always go the way that you hoped and planned. In this episode, I'll be sharing with you ways that you can teach your students to work in groups on their STEM projects and the types of tips that I have used in my own classrooms to help students work together successfully. Before we jump into this episode, I wanted to read an awesome podcast review from 1 of you.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:08]:

This is from mamabarker0616, and they say, life saving. This podcast has given me so much Actionable tips. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am that you put in your time and energy to help so many people. Any STEM teacher or teacher implementing STEM should listen. It is worth it. Thank you so much, mama Barker. If all of you out there haven't taken the time to write a review, I would absolutely appreciate it. If you wouldn't mind going over to Apple Podcasts, write a 5-star review.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:49]:

It would absolutely mean the world to me. It costs nothing, and it helps other teachers like you Help them find this podcast. More and more teachers these days are getting into elementary STEM, and I definitely wanna be in their back pockets like I am for you each and every week. I recently wrote an article for an upcoming publication in a STEM magazine for teachers and parents. and I was asked to give my perspective on really anything as it relates to elementary and maybe some lessons that I learned in that type of position of being a k through 5 STEM teacher. Now, I knew exactly right off the bat what I wanted to say, and one of the points that I made in the article was how collaboration is so important for students and a really big thing that we try to teach in the elementary STEM space. Once that article comes out, we will link it in the show notes. Not sure when the time frame is, but keep an eye out for that.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:59]:

Of course, especially as a STEM teacher, working in groups is so important, and continually sharing examples with students of how people work together in real life, especially in STEM roles, is extremely important so students can actually visualize why we're having them work together. One example that I like to use with Students is thinking about rockets built by NASA or really anybody who makes rockets. and I asked the kids, Do you think that 1 person built that entire rocket all by themselves? They built the rocket, they planned the rocket, they got all the pieces, they launched the rocket, they've tested it, and the kids giggle, and they say no, like, exactly. So when we are working together on projects, we need to use all of our skills and work together so that it can happen. This isn't a by yourself activity. I want you to talk and collaborate. Well, easier said than done in a lot of instances, but it doesn't mean giving up on having students collaborate in groups, we as teachers know it's important, but outside of teaching, in the books that I read in my book club membership, the STEM teacher bookshelf, 2 other business books that I listen to, Many of these books either directly or indirectly talk about ways that they collaborated with others. These people outside of the classroom are telling us how important collaboration is and how it is a vital skill that we teach our students so that they can be successful in the real world.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:55]:

Two books in particular that are on the top of my head that are related to STEM and one we read in the STEM teacher bookshelf, and one sneak peek that we will be reading, first one is Limitless Mind by Joe Bowler and the other book is Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin. That's not the whole base of their books, but they do talk specifically about why we need to have students collaborate together. Jo Boaler actually really gives some good suggestions inside of that book that you can check out. You can still join my book club at any moment. I have a reading guide that goes along with this book, and there's a whole section about collaborating with students. Okay. So we know it's important for students to work together in groups, but how do you teach them to do it? It's more than, alright, you're working in a group today, and the end. We need to be more specific in the ways that we teach students to work in groups, and we have to continually do it even if it's not working out the first time.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:03]:

Just like we tell our students, we don't want them to give up when things don't work, they need to continue working on being together in a group. and I do have some stories that I'm gonna share with you along the way. The first way that you can teach students to work in groups is to have a gradual release of how big the group sizes are. I don't recommend starting groups in groups of 4. That is a lot of kids, especially if you are starting this out at the beginning of the year, mid-year, where you haven't seen these students yet before. They don't really know each other, and there's a whole trust thing going on, and it might be an actual disaster. Likewise, if you are a specials teacher, you need to know the dynamics of their classroom coming into this space. This might be a little tricky if you don't ever leave the classroom.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:00]:

I recommend that you have an administrator or even a sub come in where you can actually observe students in their classrooms. I was lucky enough to do this because when I first had my role in k through 5 STEM, I did STEM as a specials, and then I also got to co-teach in the classrooms, and I was brand new to the school. I didn't know anybody. I didn't know the teachers. I didn't know the students. So I actually took the 1st week to see the teaching styles of the teachers in the building because I didn't know what was going on and also how students were in their classrooms. and throughout the year, I did have the opportunity to see how it grows because it is different at the beginning of the year, but that was extremely insightful for me. I had a 5th-grade class who could never collaborate together.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:52]:

They weren't allowed to be in their classroom. When I would go into that teacher's room, they actually sat in rows, and it wasn't a testing season. They sat in rows, they sat by themselves. When I would teach a lesson, I wanted them to work together, and the teacher didn't want them to work together. and it really wasn't a behavior thing where, oh, they can't be with this, they can't be with that. This teacher didn't believe in having students collaborate together. They always thought that it should be an isolated task and not group work. So that teacher is getting really stressed out when the noise level is going up a little bit because I wanted kids to work together, they didn't like that.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:33]:

Likewise, when these students came into my classroom, They really had a hard time collaborating because they didn't know how to do it. They weren't allowed to do it. and the art teacher saw the same thing, and so did the PE teacher. and I gave them that insight, this is something we're not allowed to do in their regular classroom. So we had to take a step back, and STEM and also PE, art, and music, where they had a lot of chances to work together, we had to take a step back and have them work in smaller groups. We had to figure out how to have them work together in just a simple partnership, and that was a great start. Eventually, I could get into bigger groups of 3 and 4, but we had to start small, and that's where that class was at. Sometimes, some classes might not ever get to work bigger than a partnership, and it might be a behavior issue.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:29]:

This was a teacher's philosophy. This was because they weren't allowed to do this in their classroom. I had a class when I taught 3rd grade, and I knew I was meant to be their teacher. I definitely was the right teacher for them, But having all those students in my classroom mixed up together was a horrible combination. I tried everything, classroom community, all the things. It was just oil and water every day, and the biggest groups we could ever have were partnerships. That's the best that we could do. That's literally where we were at with that classroom. So you just have to be comfortable engaging your classes to see where they're at.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:11]:

It might be smaller groups the whole year, like my 3rd-grade class, or it Might be something you start off small, and you work up to it. So keep in mind the sizes of your groups. The next way that you can teach Students to work in groups is hosting STEM stations. I am a huge fan of doing STEM stations with my younger students, kindergarten through 2nd grade. But I also did play around with STEM stations with my older students in 3rd through 5th grade, my 1st couple of years in STEM. In fact, this is something that we explored and planned for in my group coaching program, which will open back up in the summer, But this is something that we did where we actually planned out specific STEM stations that would relate to an overall theme. I really like this especially for the younger students, because working on a project for little kids doesn't take the whole week. I've tried it.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:10]:

It is like pulling teeth. It takes way too long. So, mixing in projects and STEM stations is a really great way to help them with their group work. With STEM stations, I see it as a form of parallel play. Sometimes, the task that they are working on at their station is something that they could work together. But a lot of times, they each have their own set of the same materials where they can talk together about what is happening, but they don't necessarily have to collaborate on the same task. So a lot of that parallel play where they're kinda working together, but not really. You see that a lot with toddlers.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:54]:

Now the older kids, they kinda older, meaning, like, kindergarten through 2nd grade, they learn to kinda help Each other out a bit better and they're more aware that there's other kids in their group. But this is a really great way to help them understand, okay, We are working on the same task together. We have about 4 to 5 kids in this group and we are going to get the job done. This also helps when they're cleaning up materials, making sure that they are on task, but there's not as much pressure when it comes to working in a STEM station as it is on a project where you have to really finish that. These Stem stations, the way that I do it, they have more of a flow where you get as far as you can and that's amazing. If you're interested in learning more about STEM stations, I have my on demand workshop all about primary planning. You can grab that at nami meredith.com/primaryworkshop and also one of the modules in my guided STEM teacher 101 course. There's also a whole section about STEM stations as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:01]:

and finally, the third way that you can teach students To work in groups is assigning roles. This really helps too if you have those smaller groups, you can actually assign roles when you are teaching them how to work in groups. and there's a couple of ways that you can do this. 1st is giving them the language of how they should talk to each other in certain situations. You can practice this as a whole class. This can be a mini lesson or it can also be something in the moment. Maybe you even have a different sentence starters that they can use when they talk together, which I do have that in my STEM teacher one zero one course where I actually give you the language that students can use with each other when they're working in groups. But having them have that language of how to speak is extremely important for all students, All of them.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:58]:

Not just students who are learning English, all students need to learn how to talk to one another. I had this situation happen the moment, you probably already do this more than you think, but I had a student in one of my LEGO after-school clubs that I host, and they were frustrated because there was a misunderstanding on the directions where the group actually was following directions. In the LEGO Education lessons, there's a little story, and I wanted kids to listen to the story, and then it connects to the LEGO build. Well, the student who was upset didn't get that part, and they knew that one of my roles is to stay on task so that they could get the work done. and that student was upset because they thought that the group wasn't staying on task when they actually were. They're doing exactly what they're supposed to do. So I went and talked to this student and finally clarified that, and then I was like, Okay. You can go back.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:55]:

Like, that's part of the challenge. and they really wanted the other group to welcome them back. and so I the other kids in the group were really, really sweet. I helped give them the language in that situation where I'm frustrated right now. Here's why. and hey, we're working on this. Do you wanna join us? Or even things like, Hey, how can I help? So a lot of times kids will shut down and if they're frustrated they don't know what to do. If there's a disagreement where this was a misunderstanding but if there's a disagreement That's okay.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:32]:

How can we problem-solve through this instead of shutting down and screaming at each other? So giving kids Specific language in certain situations, whether it's in the moment or something you guys even talk about as a mini-lesson is extremely important and also aids to that social and emotional learning. I have a whole episode that I talked With a guest, Jill Loesch, where we actually talked about SEL in the STEM classroom, we'll link that in the show notes. That's a really great one for you to keep in mind especially when you are talking about group work and how it actually just STEM projects in general does take that level creativity where it is more of a vulnerable situation. So assigning those certain roles, giving them that language and also having different roles for different tasks. It depends on the project that I'm working on, but I would say most Of my projects, I have specific jobs, especially if they're very hands on and everybody wants to do something at once, which great you want them to be involved, But you also want them to be involved in productive ways. So for different types of things like Lego kits, Lego building kits, they have different jobs. For robotics, I give them different jobs. Sometimes when we do makerspace projects, I'll give them different jobs depending on the class and what level of support that they need with group work and also when it comes to coding, I will give them different jobs.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:03]:

So this helps students realize, okay, when I have this role, I am responsible for this. and it also really, really helps kids who need that actual visual of how to work with someone. Again, in one of my Lego after-school clubs, I have a partnership of these 2 boys who take their roles very seriously, and they're extremely productive. They work Amazing together. But I have a student who needs that explicit level of support where I have a job, this is what I'm doing in the job, When we turn the page, we're going to switch jobs and they actually physically switch spots which is absolutely adorable. They don't need to do that. Maybe not the most efficient, but they are very clear on the roles that they have. and some students, they're just like, okay.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:54]:

Like, I'm gonna do this job for today. You can do it tomorrow. But there are some students, you could probably think of them right now, who need that explicit, this is my job and this is what I do and I am going to do it until we switch. You can think about switching if it's page by page, if it's like a Lego education build, Maybe when a timer goes off, you could set a timer. They have that job for that amount of time. When the timer goes off in the class, they switch or even day by day. and, again, it depends on the class and the groups, and also the project that you're working on. So inside of my STEM teacher 101 course, I actually give you different roles with visuals, a definition of what the job is, and how you can actually use it in different projects along with those sentence starters that are really helpful for kids when they are working in groups That could be something that is laid out for them or even things that you print out and hang on your wall that you can refer to.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:57]:

As a recap, here are the 3 different ways that we talked about how you can support students in your classroom When working on STEM projects and working in groups, first is starting small and building up to those larger groups. Next is trying out STEM stations, maybe with everybody, but really for those primary students. and finally, consider assigning roles. Having students work in groups is definitely a process but a very important one that we as teachers, I know can be really frustrating, especially when there's classes that it doesn't seem like that they can get along, But try out these things. It is worth it. I promise you. and for those different visuals and levels of support and considering the types of roles that you can have in those STEM groups, I invite you to join in the self-paced course by signature course, STEM teacher 101, where not only this is a lesson inside of the modules, but we also talk about systems and routines, so giving those a refresh in your classroom, different types of planning structures, and even ways that you can Have students self assess and have ways to help you with grading. Thank you so much again for being here, and I will see you in the next episode.