Naomi Meredith  00:00

Need ideas for March STEM activities? In this episode, I will be sharing with you three lesson ideas that you can do in your STEM classroom that have a variety of themes and topics that go along with March and the springtime. Are you ready for them? Let's jump on in. 

Naomi Meredith  00:28

I don't know about you, but the springtime here in Colorado where I live is not really what you would think of typical spring times. In fact, our springs here in Colorado are actually really cold, windy, and we can still get a lot of snow. So when Spring Break rolls around, I don't know if it's going to be warm or if it's going to be snowy. It could be either one. So these STEM activities are perfect for this time of year, again with themes that happen around the theme of March. But you can also do them any time of year as well. So don't feel like you are limited to the time in March. I also tried to think of things that your students would love and also the types of materials that you have in your classroom. So let's get into these lessons that you can implement with your students. Of course, I have organized these lessons, I've done all the research for you and put them together so that you have the materials to be successful. And those are of course linked in the show notes for today or you can find them in my TPT shop. Just search Naomi Meredith and they will be there for you. 

Naomi Meredith  02:03

The first March STEM activity to try is catapults for March Madness. This is a fun one day challenge. At the time of this recording, I actually don't have this in my TPT shop. But this is definitely something that I should put together for you. Anyway, this is a one day challenge that I did with my students in collaboration with our PE teacher. At the time there was something going on in her gym, it might have been picture retakes. I'm not 100% sure off the top of my head. But we needed a quick one day challenge and they were actually doing basketball in PE at the time. So this sparked some creativity for me. I thought why don't we do something that goes along with March Madness. So we came up with a catapult challenge for students to create and go along with the theme of basketball. We started off the lesson by watching a video all about March Madness. So there are a variety of videos you can find on YouTube that can definitely work for kids. So students had the background of what March Madness was and why it is a huge deal for basketball fans. From there students were given the materials to build their catapult, which were giant popsicle sticks, rubber bands, plastic spoons, and pom poms to represent the basketballs. I like to use pom poms because they are soft, and they don't hurt anyone when they fly across the room. Whether it's on purpose or accident, they are a good option to launch with these catapults. Students also created basketball hoops using pipe cleaners that I had on hand. Then we gave them a little bit of tape if they wanted to tape them somewhere in the room. To create the catapult, I had a video playing on loop on my TV that shows them exactly how to build the catapult with these simple materials. This is going to be embedded in the show notes so that you can use this in your classroom. When you right click on a YouTube video, you can actually loop a video. I do this all the time for processes that I am using constantly in my classroom. If I can, I will really think about things that I'm going to be teaching a lot. Even if it's four times in a classroom, it is really helpful to film these hands on tutorials for students. Because again, you can play it in a loop. You can play it for kids who are absent. So just that little bit of prep work is super, super helpful for my lesson for fourth grade. Back in STEM survival camp, if you go back to Episode Four, students were creating a hiking backpack and there were different processes when it came to creating their backpack and showing their design. So there were a lot of videos in that lesson that I would play on loop for students. I could send them in Seesaw for them to watch. So it's just a really great way for me being there in the moment and showing them again how to do something, but not physically being there. Also really great if you are a remote STEM teacher, or if kids are looking for opportunities to do things at home. Filming yourself during those hands on activities is really helpful. You can add your voice if you want, but you don't always have to. Anyway, back to the catapults for March Madness. Students were building their catapults, and then they were building their little makeshift basketball hoops, where they could launch their pom pom basketballs into those hoops. Then they also thought of the different scoring systems. They could draw a basketball court to be more official to connect even more to basketball, and the different points that you can earn based on where you are on the court. Or they can just come up with their own scoring system, which really can work for some math or the M in STEM. At the end, I actually did not let students keep their catapults. I didn't want that in their classrooms, it would actually use up a lot of supplies. So I handed out scissors and students had to safely cut the rubber bands that made their catapult and actually put everything away. Yes, they were sad for a moment. But did they ever bring it up again? No, they were okay. Students don't have to keep everything that they're making in your class. So don't feel obligated that they have to walk out with every single project that they make. These are simple materials you probably already have. And there was high engagement in this lesson. Once all of the materials were put away and or while they were cleaning up, we played a video from SciShow kids, which you know, I absolutely love. It's one of my favorite research resources, which I talked about in a past episode as well. But we watched a video all about levers and how levers are used in real life which a catapult has a lever. So a great one day challenge to connect it all together. As I said, you probably already have the materials in your classroom. 

Naomi Meredith  07:07

The second March STEM activity to try in your classroom is robot sleds for the Iditarod. Back in episode 44, I talked about different winter robot lessons that you can do in your classroom. But funny enough, this lesson is actually meant for March because the official Iditarod dog sled race happens in March. Surprise, surprise! So this is a really awesome activity where you can use any robot you have on hand. I prefer Sphero or Dash for this lesson. Students will build a sled for their robot where the robot is acting as the dog in this lesson. But the robot is pulling the sled through the Iditarod race. This is a whole Engineering Design Process that you can do with your students. It can last up to five days because you're really getting into the design of the sled and how sleds are made, more information about the Iditarod and all of those components, and even how students can code their robots, especially if they have never coded with a robot before. So this is a very involved lesson that students, especially in the older grades, can definitely get into. Also, I provided students with a racetrack that mimicked the pathway of the actual Iditarod race and had all of the names of the stops along the way and the twists and the turns that the real mushers go through during this time. So there's a printable cut out of this track that I printed for them. They put it together and we taped it on the ground. It was really fun to see students how they attack this challenge and how their robot changes in their movement based on the sled that is attached to them. That does make a huge difference with the coding. So it was really cool to see their Makerspace design and connect it to the robot coding. 

Naomi Meredith  09:02

And the third March STEM activity to try is lifecycle 3D printing. There is a standard in the third grade NGSS standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, that talk about how students can observe the lifecycle of a living thing. And also what changes it can go through what would change the actual lifecycle, which that is definitely an interesting conversation to have with students. The other day I started this project with my third graders, this 3D printing project. Also side note, if you don't have a 3D printer, you can still do this project. You actually can use the platform Tinkercad for free, T-I-N-K-E-R-C-A-D, Tinkercad. Students can create their model but maybe you just don't 3D print it, or maybe you have them design it using Makerspace materials. So you can still do 3D printing projects even if you don't have a 3D printer. So it's very interesting talking to my third grade students about life cycles of living things and what would change them for better or for worse. What if a predator eats them? Sadly, what if the animal doesn't get enough food and its lifecycle ends? What if it gets an abundance of food and it lives for a very long time? What if it has the perfect conditions where it doesn't have any predators, the weather's great, and it just has a long, happy life that can change the lifecycle as well. What if it never finds a mate, and it just has a great life and never has babies? So there's so many different things that can change the lifecycle of animals. So of course, we always show them those images of where it starts from all of those steps in the pictures. But really, there's a whole lot of things that can happen with the animal life cycles. So after students finish researching their project, then they can create a model to represent the lifecycle that they researched. Then they can even share their designs further and make a video of their lifecycle project and talk more about it. So there's a lot of different ways that I present this to students, but it's a really cool way how they can have a different format to show their learning where it's not always just drawing their designs. So this is a really cool 3D print project. They do take a while to print because there are a lot of details, but it is super exciting for them to see their design come to life through their work on the computer. 

Naomi Meredith  11:32

As a recap, here are these three March STEM activities that you could try in your classroom. First, we have the March Madness catapults. Next are the robot dog sleds that connect to the Iditarod. And third are the lifecycles 3D printing projects. Again, all of these are linked in my show notes to help you get started with these resources in your classroom. And you can also find them in my TPT shop, Naomi Meredith, where you have in depth resources to help you really explore these topics and dive into the themes that are in March.