3 Ways to Extend Thinking for Early Finishers During a STEM Challenge
The following is a guest post from Dr. Jacie Maslyk.
Are you tired of students shouting out “I’m done!”?
Is it difficult to keep those students engaged in learning?
Here are some ideas to keep those “fast finishers” working and learning in every classroom.
You’ve presented a STEM challenge to the class and a few students finish much more quickly than anticipated. What do you do? Don’t send them off to help other students, give them the opportunity to experiment, explain, or expand their learning!
Experiment
Fast finishers should be encouraged to continue experimenting with materials, even once they have “finished” the challenge. If they have created a design to solve a problem presented in the challenge, encourage them to experiment with the same materials in other ways and come up with another plausible solution to the problem.
If this particular lesson included a new tool or resource, students who have successfully completed the challenge could be offered additional time to experiment with the materials. For example, if your challenge included something like Squishy Circuits or Little Bits, students could continue utilizing those resources once they have met the challenge.
Experimenting might also mean differentiating the lesson or applying new criteria to the challenge and determining whether the student’s solution would still work. For example, if students needed to design a bridge to span a certain distance, then you might add to it that the bridge also needs to hold at least two pounds.
It may be a challenge to get students to return to their design and make revisions. By adding a new criterion, students will rise to the challenge and look for ways to accomplish this added component.
Explain
While an explanation may already be a part of your STEM challenge requirements, fostering student communication around their work helps to build critical thinking and communication skills. If students have successfully completed the challenge, require them to provide an explanation to show their work. This might include the steps they used to construct something or a written reflection on how they collaborated with others in their group.
Keep in mind, explanations can be written or oral and may even include a video component. Consider having a video corner in your room where students can go once they are finished and talk about what they have done. This could be done individually, with a partner, or in a small group.
You can also use explanations as a way for students to communicate the things that they tried that did not work. For example, if they were able to successfully build a freestanding tower using only plastic straws, they should be able to explain why they chose not to use tape or why the tape was less effective than the method that they came up with.
In the real world, engineers and designers often make formal presentations. Using different strategies that encourage students to not only explain their thinking, but also present their work is a great strategy for the STEM classroom, but also something that may prepare them for STEM careers.
Expand
Classroom STEM challenges can be expanded in ways that extend the learning beyond that one task. This strategy encourages students to find connections to other subject areas or ways to extend the initial learning beyond the required challenge. It might also include an ongoing, larger project (like earning their coding badge or doing a genius hour project) that students can revisit and work on whenever their work is “done”.
Not sure how to expand a lesson? Ask your students! When you have fast finishers, these may be the students who tend to think outside of the box. If they have completed a task and are looking for something more to do, ask them what they think might be a good next step. Students will come up with all sorts of ways to continue the learning.
Consider having a spot in the classroom where these types of suggestions can be made. For example, a chart or bulletin board that shares some general ways that challenges can be extended or enhanced. It might be a jar with slips of paper in it.
Students can write simple suggestions on a notecard that can be housed in the jar. When a fast finisher completes a task, they can choose something from the jar that might ask them an extension question or give them an alternative building challenge to try.
Looking for Something Extra?
There may also be some “extra” things that students might be able to do within your STEM space. One job that I often offered to students who have successfully completed a challenge is the chance to organize an inventory of materials.
Supplies can get overwhelming within a STEM space, so utilizing students as helpers can be useful. Assign students the job to inventory materials and document the things that have been depleted. The students can also be responsible for posting materials that are needed.
Create a bulletin board for students to maintain. A STEM classroom in one of my schools has a bulletin board outside the door where students list what types of donations they are looking for. They have recently been working on deconstruction and posted that they needed broken toys and electronics for a culminating project. This board can be an ongoing student responsibility.
As your students take responsibility for STEM materials, they are not only taking ownership over their learning but also building responsibility and leadership skills. When we offer opportunities to experiment, explain, and expand learning, we are working to build a STEM mindset in our students.
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An educator for the last 23 years, Dr. Jacie Maslyk, has served as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, elementary principal, and assistant superintendent. She is the author of STEAM Makers: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom, Connect to Lead: Power Up Your Learning Network to Move Your School Forward (ISTE), Remaking Literacy: Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning and Unlock Creativity: Opening a World of Imagination With Your Students. You can read more on her blog, Creativity in the Making, at www.jaciemaslyk.blogspot.com. Connect with Jacie on Twitter @DrJacieMaslyk or email her at jaciemaslyk@gmail.com .