My students are in grades 3, 4, & 5 in a suburban area of Maryland. Our classes are extremely diverse when it comes to both ethnic/cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic status. I offer classes, or seminars, to all interested students on a variety of topics. This allows students who may not be the top of their class academically to participate in a special pull out group to do activities at their interest level.
The students at my school love to create things with their hands and let their imaginations run free.
Hands-on activities make learning accessible for all participants. Our school offers many after-school STEM programs. My goal is to offer alternative engineering tasks to students during the day for those that cannot stay after or afford to sign up for these classes.
My students are the next generation of innovative thinkers and I want to enable them to be outside-the-box thinkers. These will be students solving problems that may not yet be present or students who will be employed in jobs that do not yet exist. Our future is in my class!
My Project
How much time to teachers spend organizing materials for their students or passing out the necessary materials for a lesson? The answer: too much! I would like to set up my class so that every cooperative table group has a designated storage area to house all necessary materials needed for the task we're working on. The lessons that I conduct are 30 minuted in length. We do not have time to waste passing out materials when they could easily be within arms reach.
I would like for my students to enter my classroom and begin their engineering task right away without wasting any valuable learning time waiting for their supplies.
The drawers of the storage cart will contain the basic supplies needed for all possible tasks such as scissors, glue, writing utensils, & more. I can add additional supplies needed for specific tasks without drawing form our brief time together.
This past year I was able to have students engage in the engineering process while making paper airplanes, rafts, and go-karts. The LEGO sets and other consumable materials offer more STEM opportunities. I am also hoping to add on additional tasks from the resource books. Though I do use as many recyclable materials as possible, there are also other consumable materials that I need so that students can have them stored and ready to use as they see fit.
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