STEM Through Story Telling

-


 
I am most inspired and awed by STEM through story time (McClure, Guernsey, & Ashbrook, 2017), as I never thought that such an analogy could be drawn! There are two aspects of this that intrigued me, (1) using drama in story telling as an analogy to describe the kind of skills that STEM inspires and builds and (2) using stories that are inclusive of real life math and science issues and therefore can lead to learning the STEM based skills such as design thinking, collaboration, perseverance or small term memory.

Students of this age group love stories so this could be the perfect space to introduce to them a situation that enables them to learn about STEM based skills early enough. Hence the activity I would like to have is a story telling session full of drama and context that involves walking to a secret place, counting steps and coming to math through the story.

Definitely counting to a certain number. And using the context of walking to something small such as a fish pond or an eco-system to ensure Science is included in it. Open ended questions during the story would give them the space the think openly (McClure, Guernsey, & Ashbrook, 2017). Develop vocabulary using the keywords in the story. Develop collaboration by discussing the story with the group.

The best practice in early education is to break away from passivity to allow for more play (Sneideman, 2013). This is the strength of play but this is where the challenge also that comes. Unfortunately, in most academic instruction, teachers and children are in a passive or receptive mode (Sneideman, 2013). And that is the challenge one can expect to encounter. The students and the adults are not in their play mode and have forgotten the joy of play.

For me the way would be to train myself in the way of STEM, to bring back the playfulness in my own life. I would join the kids in reading and exploring the story and jump the wagon with them. It is that sense of explorer that we need to tap into (Sneideman, 2013).



References

1. McClure, E., Guernsey, L., & Ashbrook, P. (2017). Where’s Spot? Finding STEM opportunities for young children in moments of dramatic tension. American Educator, 41(3), 12-15. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1156381.pdf

2. Sneideman, J. (2013). Engaging children in STEM education EARLY! Retrieved from http://naturalstart.org/feature-stories/engaging-children-stem-education-early



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Judge a man by the questions he asks!

-
Image
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. (Voltaire) All our lives, we have been told that our smartness is measured by the answers that we have. And here comes Voltaire who says the opposite! My initial reaction is, ‘What does this mean?’ However, since it is Voltaire that says it, I think it must have some meaning and I dig deeper! As a listener, I may learn more by the questions I ask instead of by the quiet judgments I make. As a reader I may gain more by my questioning the text instead of believing what I read blindly. As a human being, I may contribute more to society by questioning the traditions than blindly following them. “The questions do mean a lot in life, not just for the sake of saying it, but for the sake that they define where your life is headed and how you are going to shape your life”, (Inspire99, 2019, para. 5) . As I read this blog piece, I felt pieces dropping in my mind and a change in the way I approached questions. Questions as a way to ...
Read more

Free Maths Resources

-
Image
PLEASE DO NOT DELETE ANY FILE.  Download only. Others need them too.  Click on each link to get the folder.  Algebra Geometry Numbers Probability Space Statistics or Data Handling Transformation Trigonometry Cross Curricular Games Creative Ideas Thinking Questions Good Websites Senior school Mental Maths Mixed Worksheets Book Links
Read more

I would take two aspects from this.

-
Image
       When we say, Project Based Learning, or PBL, the thought that comes is a learning experience as per a real-life problem. The ingenuity of the article, "Make Your Own Project-Based Lesson Plan" (Edwards, 2002) is that all the lessons shared focus on skills instead of content. This is because all the lessons instigated the students to share real life problems that they wished to solve and use technology to do research and make a presentation. The one that interested me a lot is the lesson that used maps to build games. This is because a lot of communication skills were used here, which is an area of interest to me. This is also a part of the ATL skills of IB MYP programs (Approaches to teaching and learning, n.d.). There are a number of other skills involved such as investigations, time management, math and product presentation.   I would love to adapt this to my 8 th graders who are at the cusp of adolescence and adulthood.   I would take two aspec...
Read more