In this blog post I explain how to help students recognise the skills that they’re using when doing a STEM task. It is important that I’m explicit when explaining the areas of STEM students will be covering during a task.
Examples of how to be explicit when describing STEM skills
It’s very easy to get caught up in a task or a project that we want to do and forget to be absolutely explicit with the students. They need to know what it is that they’re actually achieving. I like to always use real-world engineering or science terms and real-world examples when explaining learning to the students. This does not take any extra time in your lesson. It is a matter of rewording the way you would explain something.
I would say “Today I need my biological scientists to investigate how plants absorb their food”. Straight away my students will know that they are learning and working just like a biological scientist. If we were working on designing a building or bridge, I would say “I need my Structural Engineers to build me a structure that can assist an elephant to walk across a river”. Straight away they know that they are solving problems that Structural Engineers face.
Last chance to use STEM skills in end of lesson wrap up
At the end of the lesson I sit down with my students and ask them what skills were used. How were they successful? How they were not successful? It is crucial to identify what skills they worked on and what they were learning. Emphasise any real-world examples of how these skills are used in STEM fields. If we fail to do this, students do not realise that they have been learning so much.
My students have so much fun working through their investigations and curiosity. If I do not make the skills explicit to them, they often leave the class thinking they just had a brilliant time playing. (Which is not the worst thing in the world, however I would like them to know how they can use their curiosity in a career).
Have a look at some resources I use to reinforce STEM skills in my classroom.