Two weeks before the school year began, Matt Cieslik's principal asked him to create a STEM exploratory class that was all about hands-on, discovery-based learning. Cieslik, who teaches science at Rosa International Middle School in Cherry Hill, N.J., was simultaneously excited and concerned about the opportunity.
Cieslik had no funding but wanted students to have a large number of materials to work with, and he wanted the building part to be open-ended. He raided whatever he could find in the school that wasn't nailed down, such as shelving, paper, and empty boxes.
Parent donations also poured in—everything from Legos and K'NEX parts to masking tape, Popsicle sticks, soda cans, and tennis balls. Cieslik accepted all the materials and set them out for students to access freely. "The whole idea is to have anything a student could use to possibly solve a problem," he says, which "mimics the real world of engineering."
As he devised a curriculum, Cieslik thought about what the students would enjoy building with the materials on-hand. Because the exploratory class was a required elective, infusing fun was just as important as aligning the curriculum to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Cieslik listed all the things he thought 11- to 13-year-olds would say are cool, such as rockets and race cars. He researched STEM projects online and watched videos of teachers conducting these activities with their students.
To ensure all areas of STEAM (STEM + art) were covered, he created a chart for each activity with a column aligned to each STEAM subject. "The chart allows me to see which parts are receiving greater emphasis and vice versa," Cieslik explains. "I make adjustments accordingly to ensure each content area is being infused throughout the semester."
A Spot for STEM
STEM is a necessity for today's students, but many schools don't have the funding or personnel to create a program or exploratory class. A 2014 study by the National Science Foundation found that only 39 percent of elementary school teachers feel very well prepared to teach science. However, as Cieslik and others have discovered, you can bring STEM to life with little or no funding.
"STEM is about using what you know to create something that solves a problem, and there are tons of resources that will let you and your students do that," says Anne Jolly, author of STEM by Design: Strategies and Activities for Grades 4–8.
Start with a lesson you already teach and come up with an authentic problem, she suggests. "For example, in a science lab students determined the impact of erosion. To turn this into a STEM activity, I brought engineering into play. Erosion was a persistent environmental problem in construction areas in our city, so my students used an engineering approach to develop solutions."
There are plenty of websites with lessons that teachers can use or adapt. Four of Jolly's favorites come from the American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering is Elementary, TeachEngineering, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In Cieslik's class, every project begins with a quick lesson and discussion. From there, students receive a challenge that they try to solve by following the design cycle: plan, research, design, build, test, and repeat.
After each challenge, students evaluate their work and go over the math and science in their successes and failures. The summative lesson is a conversation about real-life connections. For instance, in one lesson, 6th graders tested objects to see whether they would sink or float, and then discussed why. They guessed that lighter objects float and heavier objects sink, to which Cieslik asked, "Isn't a cruise ship heavy?" They addressed the misconceptions, built boats out of aluminum foil, and talked about Archimedes' principle.
"At the end, [students] learn the calculations needed to figure out if an [object] will sink or float. The students used the activity to support or refute their hunches and then we discussed what happened and why and how it was relevant."
Something Old, Something New
Building a collection of supplies for open-ended activities requires some prep work. In addition to seeking donations from families, Jolly recommends asking physician offices, police stations, or hospitals. She's had doctors donate surgical gloves for students to handle liquids and powers, as well as items to help with engineering challenges, such as large syringes (no needles), dental floss, gauze, plastic lab aprons, and test tubes. A police station donated triple-beam balances.
Local universities are another source of knowledge and materials. "Speak with the chair or a faculty member [in the science or engineering department] and tell them what you are hoping to do," she says. "They are often looking for ways to work with K–12."
You can also reuse existing materials, says Amy Koester, youth and family program coordinator at the Skokie (Ill.) Public Library. "Have plenty of paper in the recycling bin? Challenge kids to use it to build bridges, then test the strength of the bridges by balancing books on them." She suggests having students build ramps with books to explore gravity or use pencils as units of measurement (e.g., "How many pencils tall is this shelf?").
Tap your school's IT department and custodial staff, too, Koester advises. Ask if any equipment is getting tossed out and repurpose it by allowing students to take it apart and discover how it works. "You can even use the component parts to build something new," she notes.
Cieslik loves that students use materials in innovative ways. When his 7th graders built catapults, he suggested they use craft sticks, tape, and glue. "It never dawned on me, but one student made a catapult with the K'NEX and it was much more stable. I love that he looked around the room and found a better way than I suggested."
"Even if they pick something that doesn't work, that's a lesson, too," he says.
Carrots and Sticks
Creating engaging lessons with the materials on-hand requires flexibility. Tracey Graham is a teacher and STEM coordinator at Westgate Elementary in Columbus, Ohio. When Westgate transitioned to a STEM school, integrating the four subjects throughout the curriculum, teachers met during the summer and came up with free or low-cost lessons based on picture books. "We each brought our favorite picture books to the summer meetings and worked in cross–grade-level teams to develop STEM lessons using the books as the anchor."
In the book Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds, the main character, Jasper Rabbit, has to devise a plan to make sure the carrots don't escape. He builds a fence and moat around Crackenhooper Field. Graham asked her students to design a fence to hold a carrot using yarn, cardboard, and craft sticks. The challenge was to build it with the fewest number of sticks, and there were many ways kids could be successful.
Several of the STEM challenges Graham leads rely on natural materials. "We are lucky enough to have a park across the street from our school, so we go on nature walks to collect specific materials, such as leaves, flower petals, and mulch. Students also [bring] in items collected from their own yards."
Graham collects other diverse materials, as well, including CDs from a recycling center and leftover newspapers from a media company. She once asked a drive-thru clerk at a fast food restaurant for extra straws—to construct boats, bridges, and rockets—and received an entire box. "As long as you have your school ID [with you], you just have to ask," she says. "We put a thank you in our school newsletter and send [the company] pictures."
"We also have parents who get items for us from their employers, friends, and neighbors," continues Graham. "Just make your needs known."
Room for Risk
Consider putting those supplies to good use, and feeding students' curiosity, with a makerspace—an area where students can gather to explore, invent, and tinker. Each makerspace is different, depending on a school's goals, but at a minimum the area should provide the opportunity for students to build prototypes, fail, retry, ask questions, and collaborate. Many schools house their makerspaces in an unused room or in the back of a classroom, while others push together a few tables in a corner of the library.
Margaret Koening, who teaches 5th grade at Hillcrest Elementary School in Baltimore, Md., solicited donations to get her makerspace up and running. She published a wish list on the PTA's Facebook page, sorting it by grade level: she asked 1st graders for paper towel and toilet paper tubes and 2nd graders for seashells and cotton balls. Other requests included bubble wrap, boxes, and empty bottles. She also hit up Twitter, the school's Facebook page, and the school newsletter with requests. "To date, we have not bought anything," Koening says.
As the leader of the innovation team (a group of eight teachers representing different grade levels), Koening shares student-tested projects at faculty meetings to encourage teachers to use the makerspace. She finds examples of STEM and makerspace activities, aligned to the Common Core standards and NGSS, on Twitter, YouTube, and Edutopia.
When her students studied plant cells, they headed to the makerspace to design greenhouses. They planted pea pod seeds in paper cups and chose from aluminum foil, wax paper, and other construction materials to contain them. All of the materials had a price tag so that students could follow a budget. The project flexed their skills in engineering (designing to solve a problem), science (creating conditions amenable to the seed), math (tracking costs), and technology (using digital thermometers to track temperature).
For a language arts project, students read Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind and designed prototypes of assistive technology to help the main character, Melody, who has cerebral palsy. "Like actual designers, they had to explain how their creations would work," says Koening. One student designed a kit that would get implanted in Melody's brain so that she could control a prosthetic arm and leg; a team of boys developed a blender for her food because she was unable to chew and swallow. At the conclusion, students tweeted about their projects and presented them to an audience.
"Creating a prototype mindset is important because kids learn that when you try something and fail, you can keep trying," says Graham. "STEM challenges encourage students to be risk takers. The point is for them to keep at it and to use their classmates' support until they get it."
Building Heroes
When teachers infuse STEM into their lessons, the enthusiasm is palpable. Many teachers say that students who are not as successful in traditional subjects emerge as leaders when they have to figure things out. According to Graham, students who struggle in English classes are often great at figuring out mechanical things. "They feel better about themselves and are seen as heroes."
