Merging STEAM/STEM with Reading - Novel Engineering

This. Will. Change. Your. Life.

Merging STEAM/STEM with Reading...

by Engineering Solutions for Books!

So, you're students are already superstars at identifying the main problem of a story...but have they have had the chance to actually DESIGN & CREATE different solutions for those problems!? You need to do this with your kiddos.

      

This can be done with picture books like these....










or novels  (even during literature circles!) like these...














With this easy-to-use guide, your students will be identifying problems, brainstorming solutions, working collaboratively, MAKING, giving feedback, and improving their designs using the 5 EASY STEPS OF ENGINEERING DESIGN:

1. Ask
2. Imagine
3. Plan
4. Create
5. Improve

Check out some of the creations that students came up!

An under-ground storage area!

A hover board!

A way to prevent forest fires!

The nitty gritty of it...

Merging STEAM/STEM with Social Studies

In our Social Studies curriculum students learn about the different Native American Cultural Regions, but students had a hard time internalizing and understanding the big ideas. To help students empathize with Native Americans and better understand how Native Americans relied on resources and adapted to their environments, they really needed a hands-on experience.

This is the Native American STEAM/STEM Lesson I used! 

Here's how it went! 

We defined natural resources and I showed them a map of the United States. We discussed what we knew about the natural resources that can be found in these areas as well as possible environmental challenges. 

I then revealed that we were going to be designing a house to withstand these environmental challenges using only natural resources available. 

Cue the party music.

I split students into each Native American Cultural Region group and allowed them to read about what resources they would have available to them as well as which environmental challenges they would have to learn to adapt to. 

Purchase HERE!

I showed them the spread of goodies they would get to use: 

Please note that some of the materials don't resemble the natural resource (ie. tape = soil). The reason is that Native Americans used soil as an adhesive.   Also, if resources were "scarce," there was a limit to how much they could take, otherwise I did not limit them. 

AND...Cue the frustrations.

"WHAT?! We don't even get SOIL?!" 

"HEY! That group gets more resources than we do!!" 

Keep calm and use this as a teachable moment. 

Through this students will learn that based on where these Native Americans lived, they were limited to their surroundings. This helped them develop their culture. Plus, once students get to creating and problem-solving, they'll be all smiles. 

After students have ample amount of time to build, let them test! You can either have students come up with appropriate ways to test environmental challenges, or you can have tests pre-made. I had all materials sitting out which made testing pretty self-explanatory. 

After testing, provide students with time to share their designs with the class and reflect. Allow students to share feedback. An important part to the process is letting students actually make changes to their original design. Students should then go back and redesign then retest. I had students retest a different day. 

This lesson was not only a blast to do and watch, but students really did get the big ideas. We went to the museum later that month to see the Native American exhibit, and the connections made.....well...

Genius Hour 20 Day Challenge - Day 20: Genius Hour Self-Evaluation

Day 20: Genius Hour Self-Evaluation

Okay...so maybe that's not what you want your students to do. Self-Evaluation is an important part of the process.

The process. The process is the most important part of Genius Hour. Sure, you want your students to come up with a great final project that they are proud of, but it's more important that students get better and better at learning how to learn. This is how you help them be successful in their future in education, careers, and in life! They need to know how to pull out key information, skim/scan, take notes, organize and re-organize learning, synthesize, and share! They also need to practice Habits of Mind like Persisting and Communicating with Clarity and Precision.

So...how do we assess Genius Hour? Well...students get a LOT of feedback from their peers and their teachers to help them improve throughout the process. At the end, we have students do a Self-Evaluation. You could use one of the formats below OR work with your students to come up with a self-evaluation form for your class to use.

   Check out some of our self-evaluations here!

   I would encourage you to use scales in your self-evaluation (YES!    The kids will need MODELING for this!) After doing Genius
   Hour a few times, we started having students fill this out at the
   beginning of an experience and at the end (they also had to provide    evidence - hey Common Core!). It was so exciting for students to
   reflect upon the process and have a visual for how much they felt      they had grown!

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