Have you ever had people ask you, “What do you do?” And you say, “I'm a STEM teacher!” Then they respond with, “Well, what is STEM? And you explain, “Well, it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math!” Then after that, they say, “Well, how is that different from what they're already learning in the regular classroom?” 

Have you had those conversations? 

I definitely have. 

In this episode, we're going to get a clear understanding of what STEM education means, in the elementary setting, debunk common misconceptions, and build a strong foundation for your own classroom. 

According to the US Department of Commerce, STEM jobs are expected to grow by 8.9% from 2014 through 2024 (which were so close to!) In fact, STEM occupations earn 29% more than non-STEM jobs. 

While the numbers are there, we need more educators to better equip students for their futures. How can we prepare students for those futures? 

We need to understand clearly, even at the elementary school level, what STEM is and what STEM isn't. 

Here are four major misconceptions about STEM education and how we can debunk those ideas. 

Misconception #1: STEM is a step by step craft

How many times have you seen some really awesome stem projects, you see one of the solutions, and then you see another solution, and then another one, and it looks exactly the same? 

Now, within STEM projects, some parts definitely do require step-by-step instructions. But if all of the solutions look the same, what creativity have you really inspired? 

Instead, STEM is project-based learning with multiple solutions, based on curriculum standards. STEM is an awesome opportunity for students to look at the world in a new way. 

Think about the Wright Brothers. What if they were creating what everybody else was creating? We may or may not have the airplanes that we have today! They kept thinking of new solutions and how to make it even better. From there, we have all sorts of different airplane designs that fly in our sky. 

In Elementary STEM, the standards are actually still really important. When planning your STEM lessons, become really familiar with the NGSS standards, Common Core, and even the ISTE standards for students. These definitely have a place in your classroom, where you can design lessons where students can create endless possibilities, and not just a step-by-step craft. 

Misconception #2, STEM is just isolated activities

Have you ever seen someone do a science experiment in their classroom, and then they come back with, “Oh my gosh! We just did STEM!” Maybe….?! But really, STEM is the integration of science, technology, engineering, and math all together; not one is more than the other. They are a mixture of all of those things. 

The ‘Getting Started Lessons’ that come with all of those STEM kits, robots and LEGO education kits are awesome. They're a great way to really focus on the rules and routines when using those materials in your classroom. But you can go further from there!

So let's think about this sample lesson plan that you could possibly do in your classroom. This is based on the third grade NGSS standards that talk about life cycles, but you can also dive into other standards that you think this would apply to as well, or shift this in a way that makes sense for you. 

So let's say you want your students to code with the Dash robot or any type of robot. Day 1, you learn how to use the robot, and how to handle those appropriately in your classroom, how to connect to the app, how to take turns and share roles… that could be your day 1 lesson.

Day 2, have students take a little break from the robots and do a little bit of research about their favorite animal and their complete lifecycle. A great tool that I like to use for research in the STEM setting is Epic! books. It is kid-safe, has videos, audio books, read-to-me and awesome ebooks in one whole platform. I highly recommend! 

After students have done the research about their favorite animal, then they can create little cards that show a visual and labels of each stage of that life cycle. 

Day 3, they bring in their lifecycle cards (or you have them saved) and use those cards to code the robot to the different parts of the lifecycle in order or even backwards or from different parts of it. 

Now if students were researching maybe by themselves, in pairs or groups of three, they might have a whole collection of different animals to learn from! Not only are they looking at the lifecycle that they researched about, but others that students have done in this class.

With this lesson, not only are you doing just robots, but you're integrating those standards, and other elements of STEM into one whole lesson. 

If you're a little pressed for time, or if you need some more support for specific students, you can find a growing collection of lifecycle coding cards at naomimeredith.com/tptspringlifecycle. 

Misconception #3: STEM is only coding

Coding is extremely important, and there definitely is a place for it in the elementary STEM classroom. However, STEM  isn't just coding. 

I often hear a lot of students at other schools or in other states, or parents talk to me and say that their kid had STEM , but they only did coding. STEM is so much more than that! 

Instead, STEM is hands-on, explorative and creates problem solving opportunities, where coding can be one of many types of solutions. 

When you're planning out your year, make sure there's a balance of robotics, and coding. Also, these two solutions should have equal weight compared to other solutions, like Makerspace, LEGO and 3D printing. Not all kids will like coding, not all of them will like robotics, not all of them like Makerspace or 3D printing. But make sure to have a balance and give students a variety so that they are exploring STEM  and multiple avenues. 

This can also help you when you're making purchasing decisions, and create a balance of tools and materials you have in your classroom; a balance of coding, robotics, and building supplies.

Misconception #4, STEM is just playing with “cool stuff”

Okay, in a STEM setting, you definitely should have cool stuff; STEM is super cool! But it is way more than that. 

I often see other teachers or admins or even district personnel who come into the building parents, and they are so mesmerized by the cool tools that we're using. They have the shiny object syndrome, and they're like, “Oh, you just play with cool stuff all day!” 

Yes, we do “cool stuff” in STEM, but there definitely needs to be a purpose for why you are using that “cool stuff”. What standards are integrated into your unit? What lesson objectives are students accomplishing? Are they practicing critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and problem solving? 

When you are planning your lessons, you definitely still need to ask yourself, “What is the academic goal that is being used behind this tool?” If you can't really answer that, if you're really stretching that answer, that might be a better answer to would this tool be better used for an after-school club. 

After-school clubs are a great way to explore, experiment and try something out before you have it in your actual classroom setting and use it with a small selection of kids. You can definitely play around that way. 

Again, STEM shouldn't be boring, but you do have a purpose in mind when you're using these tools in your classroom. 

Recap

You are going to definitely continue to develop your philosophy behind what STEM education is and what it means in the elementary classroom setting. In fact, I am sure that's a big reason why you are here listening or watching! You can see an infographic [on this website] I put together to highlight these four major misconceptions and how to reframe what STEM education means in your elementary classroom.

Let's recap what those four misconceptions are and how we can debunk those. 

• Misconception #1- STEM is a step by step craft
• Misconception #2- STEM is just isolated activities
• Misconception #3-STEM is only coding
• Misconception #4- STEM is just playing with “cool stuff”

Continue to build your work around these misconceptions. With what you're doing in the classroom, you're definitely going to help educate others when you get asked that question, “What is STEM?” and, “What are you actually doing all day?”, you will build a foundation that is deeper for your students, more meaningful and makes those cross curricular-connections that they can apply to their classroom settings and in the real world.