Tips for STEM in Upper Elementary
The following is a guest post from Erik Murray.
So, it’s been a few crazy years Huh? Between the start of a pandemic. Teaching in a pandemic and then the “return to normal” it's been a chaotic few years for teachers. But, a bright spot in that next year looks to be the closest to return to the before-covid times that we’ve had.
The question is how? How do we teach like that again? Some of us haven’t had the opportunity. Especially with older students, how can we get them set into a STEM routine that some never done. Let me walk you through how I get my students. Ready to learn about STEM?
Laws, Theories and the Mustache Box
There’s a lot of information that you want to give out at the beginning of the year. With routines, class rules and navigating the building. On top of that, you want to engage the students in STEM. Finding a balance between it all can be difficult. The way I’ve done it I call the Mustache Box.
The Mustache Box is a puzzle based on the mystery tube puzzle. Students have a tube with 4 strings sticking out of it. The challenge is to figure out how the strings are attached. The students cannot open the box to view the strings.
Only using their observations can they come up with a hypothesis on what's inside. Then they can get together to discuss ideas. At this point the class will have a few theories on how they think the strings are connected. We then bring the class together to discuss if they can create alaw on what is inside the Mustache Box.
Can you figure out why it's called the Mustache Box?
The point is to teach students the difference between: Hypothesis, Theory and Law.
Hypothesis: An educated guess, usually a starting point for further investigation
Theory: Well thought out explanation of events, usually and general consensus among scientists
Law: Something that has been proven to be true and cannot be broken
At the end of this lesson after they have come close to a consensus on what is inside the boxes. I then put them back in the drawer and say that I’ll never tell them what’s actually inside of it. Which leads to a conversation in science, no one ever comes out of nowhere and says that you're correct. It’s based on constant testing. This has led to some pretty funny situations. Students graduating High School coming back to ask about them. Another time a student wanted to take one home so they’re parents could bring it to work to x-ray the contents.
After we do this activity, we have a conversation of what we could have for laws and theories in science class. Laws are things that cannot be broken and we all agree on. Theories are expectations that we can visit throughout the year and change our attitudes on. This is how I set my classroom norms and expectations.
Examples of Laws of Science Class…
Enter the Room and Quietly and read the instructions for the day.
Listen to the speaker
Come in be prepared to learn
Examples of theories of science class…
One person out of the room at a time
Chromebooks are closed when class starts
At the start of every term, we revisit the laws and theories of science class. To see if things have changed. Should we move one of the theories to laws? Are there any theories that don't apply anymore? Coming back to classroom expectations like they’re a living document. Helps to reinforce norms and to address problems that pop up.
Pre-Assessment Activity
Pre-assessments are a great tool to use with students. In Sixth Grade, students are usually coming from different schools. Schools that teach different materials and focus on different skills. Also, it can be a great way to show students that they have learned something. Giving them the same assessment at the end of the year to show growth.
But, giving students an intensive exam in the beginning of the year can be a momentum killer. I want students to be engaged and doing experiments as much as I can. I looked at the pre-assessment and wondered if there was a better way of approaching it. Instead of doing a pre-assessment exam. I wanted to see what skills students had as a scientist. Which lead me to doing what I called a Pre-Assessment activity or lab.
Learning through doing
This is an activity that tests all skills of a scientist. Writing a testable hypothesis, creating an experiment to test it, analyzing the results and finally writing the conclusion. The activity I use is what I call the bunny copter activity. You can get a copy of the bunny-copter here. The question I pose to the class is, what will happen to the bunny copter's flight when you add more paper clips to it?
Doing this experiment as many times as I have. I know what the result at the end of the experiment will be, if done correctly. The time it takes for the copter to hit the ground will decrease. Until about the 5th paperclip gets added. Then the time stays about the same. So, knowing that’s the outcome,
I let the students work through the whole process. I watch the students work, are they always dropping the copter from the same spot? How well are they working together? What type of a graph are they making? Those are questions I ask myself while students are working.
I want to see what skills they have and what types of things I need to work on this year. Here is a copy of the worksheet I give the students when it comes to bunny-coptering. Any group activity will work. I believe in doing a group project as soon as possible, because you learn so much from watching your students work than any test you can give them.
The Goal of my first few weeks of school is to get students oriented to how I teach, classroom expectations and how to be a scientist. These are the steps I take to accomplish that. Now we are ready to talk about Bigfoot… which is a lesson for another article.
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Erik Murray is a 6th grade STEM Teacher in Massachusetts. Follow Erik on Twitter @MrSTEmurray.