Engaging Elementary Students in STEM Learning – #ISTEsla20 Wk 2 Day 1
The following post has been completed as part of my personal reflection as I work through the ISTE Summer Learning Academy #ISTEsla20 Any images, tables, or direct quotes (as indicated with the appropriate formatting) are provided from the specific course or webinar and can be credited to: ISTE Summer Learning Academy. (2020). https://summerlearningacademy.iste.org/
Bring on Week 2!
Week 2 – Day 1 is one that I hope will provide much needed insight to the unique needs/challenges/supports required for elementary programming. As someone with a High School background I often feel ill-prepared to appropriately speak for our elementary needs. It is facilitated by Amanda Thomas and Amy Sokoll Bauer and is described as follows:
“Elementary STEM learning should be active, exploratory and engaging. But, designing high-quality STEM experiences for all young learners in an online or blended context can be challenging. Join us to learn about flexible, thematic STEM activities that leverage students’ interests, assets and differential access to resources, all while supporting the ISTE Standards, Common Core math standards and Next Generation Science Standards.“
Main Takeaways
- Teacher & Parent Perspectives
- Teachers are wearing multiple hats including designing programming, addressing inequality, supporting parents, while often parenting their own children while working
- Parents are now teachers, having limited socialization for their family, working remotely, while dealing with economic pressures
- Challenges & Opportunities
- Elementary STEM Projects
- Recommended online resources include NASA and Citizen Science SciGirls, virtual field trips, Google 3D Augmented Reality,
- Designing Elementary STEM Distance Learning
- 1. Choose a topic that will serve as a theme
- 2. Identify math and science connections
- 3. Review math and science outcomes for appropriateness
- 4. Seek out technologies to engage and extend content learning
- 5. Explore projects that engage children in engineering
- 6. Brainstorm cross-curricular connections
Questions
- A primary assumption was that families had access to a device/internet infrastructure… what about those that do not?
General PD Thoughts
- Amanda & Amy started off the webinar by posting and reviewing their agenda of what would be covered and why. This context is so helpful for me as a learner:
- it helps me organize my notes
- I am better able to make connections between concepts
- I recognize the topics as they are brought up and better understand what we’re discussing
- Todays webinar shared the following ed tech tools: Active Prompt and PearDeck.
- Thank you to Amanda & Amy for sharing!
Read all of the #ISTEsla20 posts:
- Microcourses
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
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