My students need Barbies, fans, tongue depressors, tape, spoons, rubber bands, and plastic sheeting to complete various hands-on STEM challenges in my classroom.
My classroom is not defined the by four walls that surround us. Our learning goes well beyond those walls. We are inventors, researchers, creators, collaborators, philanthropists, technophiles, and scholars. My students are always reaching for more ways to learn.
My business and technology classes have students from various grade levels, socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and academic capabilities.
These students come together in such an amazing way to create amazing results. They support each other unconditionally and really have a desire to change the world around them. Over the summer, I was selected as one of fifty teachers nationwide to be a fellow at the Siemens STEM Institute in Washington DC. While there, I participated in the most amazing, hands-on, collaborative projects that truly inspired me to jump feet-first into STEM education. My students crave these types of experiences as well! I would love to to provide monthly STEM challenges for my students.
My Project
Authentic learning experiences and real world problems to solve are the cornerstones of my classes. Since participating in the Siemens STEM Institute, I have been working on integrating more hands-on STEM projects for my students. The list of materials in my project may seem very haphazard, but I assure you they will come together well for specific STEM projects. The Barbies and rubber bands will be used to conduct the Barbie Bungee Challenge. The fans, plastic sheeting, and packing tape will be used to create large scale bubbles that students will build in groups to simulate business systems. The tongue depressors, rubber bands, and spoons will be used to design catapults. All of these items will contribute to some fantastic hands-on learning, creative thinking, problem solving, and lots of fun!
By being able to provide my students with hands-on, collaborative STEM challenges, their creativity and problem solving skills will flourish.
The STEM challenges using the Barbies, fans, rubber bands, plastic sheeting, and other vital materials will inspire them to think outside the box and to create the unimaginable. My goal is to provide my students with a different STEM challenge each month. These materials will help me reach that goal!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Collins and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
