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The paper, Unravelling STEM : Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics by Liston 2018 really highlights the importance for us as teachers and educators to integrate STEM disciplines right across our everyday teaching practices. STEM should not be a stand alone subject. This is fundamental in our role as teachers moving forward. We need to embed 21st century thinking skills in all that we do. We need to provide opportunities for our students to become critical, innovative thinkers so that they can define a problem (real world) , research it together as a team, plan and develop, make good decisions , reflect on them, create and build, test and evaluate them and then improve on their ideas and designs. This process should be at the core of our teaching right across our everyday teaching.
In my own role as a SET teacher in a senior school I used this process mentioned above with the “Lego Spike Essential Kits “. The children were encouraged to work in teams of 3 to become critical and innovative thinkers so that they could plan and develop a car that could move only by a programmed control panel do that the car could participate in a race to the finish line in the corridor. The children worked together using the Engineering design process (EDP)as a way of designing a solution to the task at hand. The group of children then presented the task to classes at 4th class level and 6th class level over the course of 3 weeks. I observed that the group of students from my own classroom really excelled while using the EDP. It was evident that once given the opportunity to use skills such as creativity, problem solving, inquisitive thinking and teamwork, their confidence in themselves, as learners, grew and they really enjoyed presenting the challenge to the other class groups afterwards. I learned so much by using the EDP and have since tried to embed it in my everyday teaching moving forward. In my opinion I see that by using this process, our students can make connections between school, community and work and this will enable them to solve real-life problems that are occurring in our communities and world around us.
Similarly, I believe that constructing a sundial would be an excellent activity to do with the students in my group. I would begin by using the stick and bucket video as a “trigger” to inspire their thinking about how the sundial works. We could practice this on various parts of the yard and come up with where the best space would be to get all day 1hr readings. Then I would ask the groups of children to come up with a solution to create a permanent sundial for our school. This would allow them to use and practise 21st century skills while engaging in the engineering design process(EDP). The EDP would enable the students to research the best area in our school for the permanent sundial, the materials and cost involved, getting permission from the principal and the maintenance of the sundial etc. Imagining the size and shape of the sundial, planning, and designing the sundial, creating and building it using the selected materials. After construction, the group would test and evaluate their design and look at how they could improve the design for other schools.I like the idea of getting the children involved in the engineering design process of the sundial Patrick, they would gain so much from this and something that I would like to do with my own students next year.
I like the idea of getting the children involved in the engineering design process of the sundial Patrick, they would gain so much form this and something that I would like to do with my own students next year.
I agree Aonghus, I thought that the Teal Tool was a real eye opener and an excellent visual that highlights the impact climate change is having on our world but in particular specific regions such as Spain and Greece . Many of our children would holiday in these countries so I think that they would really make connections with these particular regions and thus deepen their level of understanding. I also agree that real life accounts and stories are an excellent resource to use in the classroom too.
Module 2
Activity 3: Climate reporters and predicting temperature change is an engaging and practical activity that I can see myself using in my classroom. First I would use the KWL strategy to find out the children’s prior/existing knowledge about climate change and also to highlight key vocabulary and familiarise the children with the meaning of the new vocabulary.
I would then use the Paxi video as a “trigger” to engage in more meaningful conversation and discussion about the effects of greenhouse gases. I would use the temperature predictor tool to show how temperatures increase where we live and to predict future temperatures.
As a groupwork activity , I would get the children to work in groups of 3 to approach this real world problem and think about ways in how we can change our actions in our school to help reduce the effects of greenhouse gasses (key focus would be on the engineering design process)Katie, I really like your idea of including digital tools or apps for weather tracking and one that can be embraced when the children are working in their groups at the engineering and design process stage when undertaking the task of designing their own weather instrument.
The paper, Unravelling STEM : Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics by Liston 2018 really highlights the importance for us as teachers and educators to integrate STEM disciplines right across our everyday teaching practices. STEM should not be a stand alone subject. This is fundamental in our role as teachers moving forward. We need to embed 21st century thinking skills in all that we do. We need to provide opportunities for our students to become critical, innovative thinkers so that they can define a problem (real world) , research it together as a team, plan and develop, make good decisions , reflect on them, create and build, test and evaluate them and then improve on their ideas and designs. This process should be at the core of our teaching right across our everyday teaching.
In my own role as a SET teacher in a senior school used this process mentioned above when with the “Lego Spike Essential Kits “. The children were encouraged to work in teams of 3 to become critical and innovative thinkers so that they could plan and develop a car that could move only by a programmed control panel do that the car could participate in a race to the finish line in the corridor. The children worked together using the Engineering design process (EDP)as a way of designing a solution to the task at hand. The group of children then presented the task to classes at 4th class level and 6th class level over the course of 3 weeks. I observed that the group of students from my own classroom really excelled while using the EDP. It was evident that once given the opportunity to use skills such as creativity, problem solving, inquisitive thinking and teamwork, their confidence in themselves, as learners, grew and they really enjoyed presenting the challenge to the other class groups afterwards. I learned so much by using the EDP and have since tried to embed it in my everyday teaching moving forward. In my opinion I see that by using this process, our students can make connections between school, community and work and this will enable them to solve real-life problems that are occurring in our communities and world around us.
The ESA resources “Nose Up High in the Sky” and ” Weather Vs Climate” are excellent resources to use in classrooms. I think that as mentioned above, helping the students to make connections by using the class or group “Birthday Chart ” would really help them to identify the difference between Weather and Climate. The “Weather Detectives” outdoor activities present a wonderful opportunity for children to work in groups together outside. I think that the idea of creating a school Weather Station would be a lovely challenge for the Student Council to undertake as one of their objectives for the year ahead. They could plan together where the best location in the school to have it would be and come up with a plan on how to organise the design process of all the weather devices between the 4 class levels, calculate the cost of some of these weather devices and identify how we would maintain and take care of the Weather Station area.