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How To Create STEM Lesson Plans & STEM Activities: Shelley Leave A Comment

The document provides guidance on creating STEM lesson plans and activities in 5 simple steps: 1) Brainstorm topics related to the subject matter. 2) Investigate the topics and connections between them. 3) Apply the pillars of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and optionally Arts. 4) Create and conduct the lesson, allowing for mistakes and discovery. 5) Reflect on what worked and improve for the next lesson. The process focuses on integrating multiple disciplines and guiding inquiry-based learning. With practice, teachers can better engage students and make learning fun.

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47 views

How To Create STEM Lesson Plans & STEM Activities: Shelley Leave A Comment

The document provides guidance on creating STEM lesson plans and activities in 5 simple steps: 1) Brainstorm topics related to the subject matter. 2) Investigate the topics and connections between them. 3) Apply the pillars of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and optionally Arts. 4) Create and conduct the lesson, allowing for mistakes and discovery. 5) Reflect on what worked and improve for the next lesson. The process focuses on integrating multiple disciplines and guiding inquiry-based learning. With practice, teachers can better engage students and make learning fun.

Uploaded by

Anonymous tc7XPI
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How To Create STEM Lesson Plans &

STEM Activities
By Shelley Leave a Comment

STEM lesson plans may seem complex and complicated to develop, but once
you start applying STEM principles to lessons it becomes second nature to
bring in those pillars of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and even Arts!
Here at STEAM Powered Family we do love incorporating arts in our lessons as
much as possible and STEAMing up our activities. For simplicity I will use
STEM as the term throughout this article, but everything here applies to STEAM
as well.

In other articles we’ve discussed the benefits of STEM lessons and


activities and the value of inquiry based teaching strategies. Now we know the
value of STEM but how can you create STEM lesson plans? For many it can
seem immensely complicated, but it is not that complicated, especially if you
follow these five simple steps.
CREATING STEM LESSON PLANS

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, what does STEM education look like? In
previous articles we established that to be considered a STEM activity or
lesson it needs to include at least 2 pillars, preferably more. Once you start
looking for ways to enhance your lessons with STEM you will realize how easy
it is to create interdisciplinary activities that really engage your students.

When getting started with STEM the first thing that needs to happen is
developing the lessons and activities. A history lesson quickly becomes a STEM
lesson with a few changes to the focus. A study in Ancient Egypt becomes an
engineering, science (physics) and math challenge as the students design
catapults, perhaps they then create a video (bringing in technology and arts) to
share what they learned about history, ancient warfare and the engineering of
their own model catapults. Suddenly your one lesson is a full STEAM activity
using all the pillars of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.
Congratulations, you have the perfect STEAM activity!

5 SIMPLE STEPS FOR CREATING STEM LESSON PLANS

STEM and STEAM is about integration and bringing all the pillars together to
work as a whole, rather than as independent subjects.

How can this be applied in a practical, easy way?

Applying STEM to a lesson can be done with 5 steps.

#1 BRAINSTORM

Brainstorm the starting subject matter, such as our example of Ancient Egypt.
Either alone as the teacher or as a group with your students, brainstorm the
many ideas, topics and areas you could focus on within that umbrella topic.
Create a big list. Nothing is too big or too small at this point. Although it can be
tempting to do this alone as the teacher, this is the perfect opportunity to involve
the students so they gain some ownership their learning and become invested
in the lesson.

#2 INVESTIGATE

Investigate the individual ideas as they relate to the main topic and see what
connections you can draw. What areas overlap? How can you bring the
individual ideas together in a way that makes sense?

#3 APPLY
Apply the 4 pillars of STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and
consider adding the fifth pillar of Arts. Which ones can you bring into the lesson
in a meaningful and relevant way? Not all lessons are going to incorporate all 5
pillars, but you should try to have strong discovery within at least 2.

#4 CREATE

Create and conduct your lesson. Be prepared for mistakes. Be prepared for
exploration. Be prepared for the trials of discovery. STEM is inquiry and process
driven. Submersing students in the subject matter from multiple angles. It may
get messy, but that doesn’t mean learning is not happening. Sometimes the
messiest lessons provide the most powerful learning opportunities. Be prepared
to guide and assist the learning as required. Don’t forget the 4 stages of Inquiry
Based Teaching Strategies.

#5 REFLECT

Reflect on what worked and what didn’t work after each lesson. Over time you
will become better at judging:
– What techniques are best for yourself and your students.
– Predicting what you can accomplish in your allotted time.
– Understanding what really engages your students and captures their interest,
making them motivated learners.

Finally do it all over again on your


next lesson! Creating STEM lessons
is highly rewarding. It engages
students, motivates them, and,
more often than not, it makes
learning a lot of fun. And when
learning is fun, it’s not work, and
kids learn to love learning!

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