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Good evening, I am studying to be an elementary school teacher and am currently working with kindergartners. I would like to know how I could implement STEM in a classroom for Kindergarten. Anything helps, thank you!

Leslie, I believe STEM is best implemented by allowing creativity, expression, and collaboration in the classroom. In all grades, but especially in the lower grades, I have noticed that students often learn best from each other. I would begin implementing STEM by designing activities around group work and/or students teaching each other. In math, you can have students share how they got their answers step by step so that others can see and hear their peer's thinking and strategizing. In science, a great idea is having students work on group projects to "research" about the weather, water, and other Kindergarten TEKS. At the end of the week or lesson, the groups can share their findings with the class. I hope my ideas can help you implement STEM education in your Kindergarten classroom!

Hi Leslie, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, every teacher should bring implement STEM to their classes. STEM is growing everywhere, students should be prepared when they just attend school. Kindergarten is a great age to let children start STEM, this is like a foundation, after they get into it, they will feel comfortable when they get into higher grade level. I think you should give young children more creative hands on activities to attract their interest, or give them more topic that related to their life, instead of just lecture the concept. I believe our job is exploit students potentialities, not cram them. Let students feel study is an interesting thing, then they will start to learn by themselves. Hope you love my idea. Yixiu

Hi Leslie! I'd like to remind you that STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. I feel like when people think of STEM they focus a lot on the science part and seem to forget the rest. Technology is also a very important thing that impacts our students in every way. I am currently in a Kindergarten class and I feel like they can manage an iPad better than I can! We like to keep a variety of things for them to do on the iPad that includes science, math and reading. They have read-alongs, math review games and science apps they can use to explore. As a future teacher I am looking forward to implementing STEM into my classroom by having different workstations that focus on all different aspects of STEM. I hope if you have these resources available you use them and help your students in expanding their knowledge! Yessica

Hi Leslie, Currently, I am student teaching 4th grade math. I believe that STEM, which stands for science, engineering, technology, and mathematics, is extremely important to focus on in the classroom. Technology, research, medical fields, and engineering fields, just to name a few are growing at a rapid rate and in high demand. If students are taught about these subjects and how they work hand in hand, then we can help create a successful future for our students. A fantastic way to implement STEM in the classroom is to have students create and practice hands-on, engaging activities. The activities and lessons should be rich in content and provide critical thinking skills and higher level thinking. This can be done with inquiry, investigation, and exploration. You are never to young to begin exploring!

Leslie, STEM is a widely talked about topic in education right now. It's an approach to teaching and learning that centers around individual students' learning styles and interests. STEM, which stand for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, connects subjects and relates them to each other. One way to implement STEM into your classroom is to let your students come up with something they have to sell and have them make it. They can use fake money and be given a certain amount of time to complete the task. Have the students practice buying, selling and trading. This is a great way to integrate math and social studies together.

Hi Leslie, I like to think of STEM as inquiry-based learning but with science, technology, engineering or math integration. There are specific standards that must be met, but there are so many resources that one can use. I personally love to go on Pinterest, there are so many ideas that can be used in the classroom and you can use it for FREE! You can also use TeacherPayTeachers for activities ideas but you may have to pay for them. I implemented various STEAM (STEM but with Art incorporation) activities in a summer camp, the students' ages ranged from nine to eleven years old. I first started doing easier STEM activities, like making play dough, making buildings using toothpicks and marsh-mellows only, etc. Slowly, I increased the difficulty level over time. By doing this, my students learned to love STEAM activities and did not get frustrated.

Hey Leslie, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. I think that based on the objectives, stem activities must change with the flow of the classroom. This is good because children need a lot of transitioning. Having STEM activities means that your lessons are fun, hands on, and meaningful. With the inclusion of STEM in the classroom, children have a higher possibility of retaining knowledge they learned at school because they were engaged the whole time. One way I would include STEM in my classroom is by making 3 dimensional shapes such as cubes and prisms with play dough and toothpicks! The kids will be so engaged in building these shapes that they will remember what 3 dimensional shapes look like. -Angelica. M

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. I believe that these are important to implement in ECE because these are the core subjects that drive our future engineers, doctors, programmers, astronauts, and so on. Getting children excited and engaged in these subjects at an early age in the classroom is great, and I'm glad that a lot of future teachers like us are interested in doing so.
A fantastic way to implement STEM in the classroom is to have students create and practice hands-on, engaging activities. The activities and lessons should be rich in content and provide critical thinking skills and higher level thinking. This can be done with inquiry, investigation, and exploration.

Hi, I haven't worked with younger students, but as a younger prospective educator and having worked with middle schoolers and high schoolers, I think that a great way to begin implementing stem into the classroom would be through activities with the students. I think that students respond most when they can become invested in a lesson, so I think that having students be very hands on in the classroom will yield high interest, high comprehension, and lasting inquiry for the students. I also think using an activity that has a low barrier to entry but a high ceiling for students will allow all students to be and stay engaged. It will also allow for a range in responses that can allow for collaboration and students to learn off of each other.

Hello Leslie, I am currently in a science methods course and we have many discussions about the integration of STEM in classrooms. One staple to our classroom content is the NGSS practices. You can find more information at https://www.nextgenscience.org/ This website promotes the importance for STEM in modern classrooms and even provides specific examples. Another one of my courses talks about ramps and pathways. (https://regentsctr.uni.edu/ramps-pathways) Ramps and Pathways provide STEM experiences while also scaffolding language develpment amongst students. I hope this helps, good luck!! 

Leslie,

I read about what you did with the foil boats and pennies. We also did something similar in my science methods course. I feel as though this is a great form of integrating STEM into your classroom. You could even go as far as allowing the students develop their own boats and test them. 

Kindergarteners are already great STEM thinkers because they think holistically about their world... they don’t separate subjects but just wonder about everything at once! Here are a few things my kindergarteners do to build their STEM capacity....

-Coding. My kids use the www.code.org course A, which is designed for kindergarteners, but they also enjoy Kodable and Scratch Junior. We also start off with tech-free programming by designing algorithms to get our classmates around the room. 

-Robotics. I use BeeBots for my youngest students. 

-Building. We build towers, bridges, towns, etc., for different purposes and with different specifications and materials and compare them quantitatively (how many blocks high, which is taller or shorter or longer) and qualitatively. A current fan favorite is the earthquake table. :)

-Observations. We’ve talked about using our senses to observe things as well as safety measures and equipment. My kids love to observe different kinds of plants and insects and rocks and things using their magnifying glasses. Then we’ll build shelters or transportation means for whatever we’re observing, taking into account the properties, criteria, and constraints.  I use words like that too, but don’t explicitly teach them... I just work them in with what we’re doing and the kids pick them up along the way.

Kindergarteners are so much fun because you can pretty much just invite them to wonder and they’ll take you up on it!

Hi! I am currently student teaching in a first grade classroom, and I have been curious about how to implement STEM into my classroom as well. I have not seen a lot of teachers in the younger grades do this, and these posts have a lot of wonderful ideas. I believe that STEM is a very important part of learning, and it can help our students as they get older. When we implement STEM, like many others have pointed out, it is important that our lessons are developmentally appropriate for our grade level. One way that I would start including STEM into my classroom is by conducting my lesson plans using the 5E lesson model. This model allows students to engage, explore, explan, elaborate, and evaluate what they are learning. Students can use work on more hands-on activities, and use what they have learned to create something. My first graders currently do not do this very often, but I would like to include it in more of my lesson plans. 

Hi, I am also currently a student teacher, but in a third grade classroom. We really like encorporating STEM projects for our students to work on in class. It is a very useful tool to add enrichment to your classroom. Every day we have what it called 'Genius Lab' where the students get 30 minutes every morning for extra review or to work on missed work. When I have a class of my own, I plan to encorporate STEM projects into my curriculum based on the TEKS we are learing using this time in the morning, or if students finish their work early during science time. I think this will provide that extra enrichment for thoise students that nede to be pushed and think outside the box. 

Hi, I am a student teacher in a second grade classroom.  Our school currently has a STEAM rotation available for the students, so there is not a lot of STEM projects incorporated into our curriculum.  I love some of the ideas I have read so far on how to incorporate STEM into my classroom.

Hi Leslie,

I am also an Elementary Education preservice teacher, with a double-major in Biology. Great question, as it dismantles the common association of STEM education with higher-level grades; Kindergarteners certainly can be exposed! I would certainly implement constructvist teaching by performing interactive experiments, discrepant events, and engaging demonstrations to really reinforce some science topics in these children. Some demonstrations of science themes include studying moon phases by analyzing Earth, Moon, and Sun interactions by using styrofoam balls, flashlights, and casting shadows in a dark room! We did an experiment like this in my education course, and it is very simple to execute and teach. Teaching on the formation of trace fossils using playdough and seashells could also work. When teaching on Mathematics, use tangible objects for counting. Engineering concepts can be introduced in activities as simple as constructing a said object from lego blocks, and then constructing an own invention. Folding paper airplanes, and then testing different models that have manipulated variables would also incorporate engineering concepts, as well as the physics lesson on aerodynamics (make it very simple for Kindergarteners: you don't need to go so much into the physics of aerodynamics, of course) Using online simulators of science experiments would also incorporate the Technology component in STEM.

These are just a smattering of ideas; hope this helps in the least :)

Hello! 

So far within my student teaching I have noticed that not a lot of teachers implement enough stem research wihtin instruction for math and science. Most teachers I feel think it is not as important to implement in their classroom. Though with that being said I was lucky enough to have a mentor teacher that implements stem in her classroom as much as she can. For science the students are very hands on in their obsevations and investigations this allows the students to have a more real life connection to what is being learned. When it comes to technology the students are on chrome books working through several different resources such as epic, starfall, prodigy, etc. to help naviagte them through different content within mathametics and science. As far as the engineering approach we give students the oppurtunty to create something as much as we can. Just recently we had a stem day where we focused on engineering and had the students bring in random household items. When they came to class we told them that with these household items they brought it they are going to create a pencil holder. The size, shape, color, and design could be anything that they wanted as long as it could hold a pencil. This allows the students to become creative as well as engineer a product based on what they feel is best. Students LOVE activities like this. It is also so fun to see what they are going to come up with as well! As far as mathematics the students do a variety of centers within free time to help stimulate different concepts within mathematics. They love doing centers it is something that they take as an incentive. We try to make them as engaging as possible for them as well. These are all different ways I will implement stem in my classroom as well. I feel STEM is somehting that is so important that can help benefit students in their learning. I think that every teacher should implement STEM in their classroom as well. 

Hello,

This is my first semester of student teaching. I am in a first grade class and we try to make science fun and hands on for the students.The way I would incorporate STEM in my classroom is making it interesting for students. I would have a lot of hands on activities for the students to do themselves. I would also have the student try some science that has to do with engineering. STEM builds some much knowledge for the student’s and allows them to explore. I would also push to include the smart board for thr students to come interactive. These are just some ways you can add STEM into your classroom.

Hello!

I am a student teacher in my first semester of student teaching. I am currently in a Kindergarten classroom. I have been learning a lot about how to incorporate STEM activities into the every day curriculum. For my future classroom (hopefully kindergarten) I would definitley start off by introducint the language typically used in math and science. This language can include words such as 'prediction', 'data', and 'observation'.  I would also incorporate fun STEM activities for the students to participate in while they are in centers or doing 'morning tubs'. Some of these activities can include using the computers, building with blocks, and creating three-dimensional figures with various objects. It is always important to implent STEM activities at every possible opportunity. I plan to do this very think in my own classroom. 

Hi there! My name is Kirstie Eadeh and I am currently a student teacher in a first grade classroom. Since I have been in my classroom I have not seen my mentor use too many STEM activities, which is concerning to me because I feel as though students who learn through STEM are set up for success. I think that it is important to create and have STEM activities inside of your classroom because it consist of students critical thinking. These activities look like ands on activities and so whenever I have a classoom of my own, I plan to have at least one STEM activity a week if I am still with the younger grade levels. I feel like one a week is good for the younger ones, but probably 2 or more activities a week if I am working with older kids whose brains are a little more developed and they are more capable of problem solving.

This is such a great question!

There are so many way to incorporate STEM, even at Kindergarten!

The thing that I have learned while taking classes at UNI is that you most likely have been incorporating stem in your classroom without even noticing it! If you have students work with blocks, ramps and pathways, or do things like create their own instruments you are incorporating STEM! all of the examples that I have listed incorporate both science and engineering. There are a lot of online resources to help you find other ways to incorporate STEM. Math can be incorporated just by having students recognize things like patterns, or having them notice maybe something has more or less! If you make some of the little things you do every day more explixit, you will realize STEM is in a lot of things we as teachers already do!

Hi!

I am also studying to become a teacher and have spent a lot of time looking into our regents center for early childhood. A great way to integrate STEM is through a water wall. This is where you have cups with a hole in a different location per each cup and the goal of the students is to figure out where to place each cup so that there is a constant stream of water. This allows for students to engage in science concepts about gravity and the travel and motion of water. You can then integrate math through introducing measurements and simple math problems including cups and water.

Another activity that can be done is having a light and students study how light travels through various objects. This help students study and engage in how light travels or doesn't travel through various objects. They can also do ramps and pathways.

These various activites are great and usually have students yearning for more. These activities also provide students with the opportunity to engage in inquiry in an unstructured way.

Hope this helps!

Hi! I am a senior in college at the University of Northern Iowa. I am in my final semester studying elementary education and am taking my science methods course now. During this science course, we have focused a lot on STEM which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. STEM in science should be started at a young age for it to be beneficial. Children who learn and use STEM in school will be able to develop 21st-century skills they will need in their future with engineering and math. When you implement STEM into your classroom it will create higher order thinking, reasoning, investigation, teamwork, and creative thinking and skills. All children should be able to do all those things in the classroom and starting in kindergarten would be beneficial for them to learn it and use it in their future after kindergarten. To use STEM in your kindergarten class you should provide hands-on learning activities that focus on real-world issues. You should make sure your STEM activities are used with group and teamwork so students can collaborate.  STEM is a great science tool to use in the classroom and will benefit children as they grow up in the real world. 

Hi, I am a college student and during the summers when I am not in school, I have been a summer camp coordinator in my home town area. I have planned a few STEM camps and one of my favorites was on I planned for grades K-2. I used a lot of lessons and activities from the website, Code.org. This site is amazing and has so many activities for children of all ages. One of the nice things about this site is that everything is alreay done and there for you, all you have to do is print the activities out! These lessons are perfect to bring into the classroom and will help your kindergarten students learn some fondational STEM skills. Hope you check this site out!

It is great to see so many people come together over STEM. This thread as changed my perspective about STEM altogether. I thoughts on it used to be that it was an activity put on outside of school time that had to do with advanced levels of science and math. However, I have been reading all the posts about using STEM in first grade classroms! I apprepriate all the extra lesson ideas and the resources that are posted here too.

I like to take a piece of literature that poses a problem and allow my students to design, create, and program different solutions.  It is amazing the activities and creations my fourth graders can accomplish.  I also send home a STEM challenge every nine weeks that allows my students to create with their families.  

One thing I like to bring to the classroom are ramdon LEGOS. I challenge my students to build a specific object. For example I show them a picture of a house. The challenge is to build their own house using the materials (Legos). You can introduce the Engineering Process; Define the problem, criteria (requirements), constrains (limitations), make a plan or design/draw your model. In this whole process they are collaborating, communicating with each other. Finally, they have to present it to the class. On another day you can ask them to build a different object; chair, bridge, habitat (lake, river). Here is when you can connect the challenge to science too. Math with the counting of the Legos, identifying patterns. 

 I would have my students draw a building they would like to build. Then have them build it out of different materials. Thus, incorporating engineering and problem-solving. Another way I would incorporate STEM into the classroom is by having people who work in different STEM fields come in and talk to my students. As many children even at a young age start thinking about what they want to be. Which how can they even think about doing something in the STEM fields if they have not meet anyone in them or have not done anything the realm of STEM.  

Hello, my name is Dayanna Chicas!

I think there are many ways to incorporate STEM into a classroom. One of my favorite things about STEM is that it allows for creativity and I think that is what I would focus on the most. One big thing I would do is let my students build structures with building blocks or other materials such as cards because this deals with the Engineering side of STEM. Students will use their creativity to create the structures and they will be able to test the limits of what they are building to understand different forces that are working against their structure (the Science aspect of it). There are other activities that could be done that include Mathematics and Technology, but overall incorporating STEM can be done every day in a classroom.

Hello, my name is Cinthia Mendoza. I would like to teach kindergarten once I graduate. After my years at University and in the courses I've taken, the idea that young students have a very curious mind is further reinforced. I would love to reinforce this and put this into play in the classroom. I would like us to use STEM in the classroom in order to introduce them to this while creating a positive connection with STEM. I would like to use building/ engineering activities to be able to encourage their bright minds and keep them curious. 

Hello, my name is Anthony Infante.

I hope to become a 4th-6th grade teacher. There are tons of ways that I could implement STEM in my classroom. For example, I would definitely allow my students to do science experiments that include some technology. I feel that the best way to implement STEM is to do hands-on activities. In regard to hands-on activities, we could do activities that require the students to build structures, record their data, and compare and contrast what they have written on technological devices. One activity that I have always wanted to do was allow the students to build an ecosystem. We could use fake animals and other things to get to where it needs to be. For example, we could use iPad's to create a sketch of how they would want their ecosystem to be or to look up research on ecosystems (Technology). What is your ecosystems tempature and how does it relate to boiling tempature and freezing tempature (Math). Creating the ecosystem is what will be the Engineerging part. Lastly, understanding ecosystems will be the Science portion. These activities will allow students to think and create things they never knew that they could. STEM is something I feel is very important and should be implemented as much as possible. 

Hello my name is Azalea Villarreal, 

There are many ways that I can implement STEM in my classroom and as a future teacher of a kindergarten classroom, I would have to be very creative. For instance, I would allow my students to build structures using jelly beans and toothpicks, building blocks, and leggos, which will be the portion of engineering. For the science portion (if we are learning on how flowers grow) an in-class project will be growing a plant in the classroom. Each child will be given a small cup with soil and a seed. As the plant begins to grow the child will measure the height of the plant as it grows. Measuring the plant will be the mathematics portion. Throughout the school year, children will be allowed to play education games which will implement technology.

Hello my name is Irene Asfour and I am a future teacher currently attending the University of Houston.

I cannot wait to implement STEM in my classroom because there are so many ways to do this. STEM is a critical part of our students' lives and it is a subject every teacher can (and should) take advantage of. You can honestly teach any subject and find ways to implement STEM, this is why I believe it is so great! But, let us all be real for a minute and understand the teacher that will be implementing the most STEM in our students' lives will be science teachers (hopefully I will be able to teach 6th grade science one day). 

The ways I plan on teaching STEM in my classroom will be to have an abundant amount of recourses for the students. These resources can range from books to computers, blocks to magents, measuring materials to building tools, and so much more. This is very important because the students will be able to go to these recourses throughout their time in my class. This can be research time, quiet study time, and also (my favorite) project time. One of these recources I plan on having will be a binder with scientific method sheets, vocabulary sheets, and different experiments the students can try. I want the students to look through this binder, find projects they are interested in, and do them. Another recourse each student will have will either be a notebook, binder, or composition notebook with their class notes and STEM projects inside of. If the students keep up with with their notebook the right way, they will be able to go back to it as a study recourse or even something to just go back and come up with more ways to implement STEM into their real life!

Another way I plan on implementing STEM would be to have either classroom plants or (if possible) plant a class garden in the school yard. They will work together to do the research on what plants they will be able to keep up with throughout the year and how to do so, technology can and will be used for this research. They will also measure out the land and soil and how many seeds of each plant they will need. The students will build their garden (along with a fence if needed). After they plant everything and get the garden started the students will work together to keep their garden growing and keep a log (photos, drawings, charts, etc.) on their progess.

Lastly, (for this post) I plan on relating STEM lessons to real world issues and things going on. I want to invite people with different STEM careers to come and speak to my students about what they do, why they do it, and what they did to get to where they are today! These jobs can range from a million different things. The point is so that the students can get a peek to what they want to do with STEM and help them plan their future.

Hello, my name is Liliana Cordova and I am currently attending the University of Houston. I am a pre-service teacher and hope to teach Kindergarten-2nd grade. I have observed various classrooms in which the teacher has incorporated STEM into her lesson. Some activities that you might not think are STEM, actually are. Legos and blocks for example. Students can collaborate to build the tallest tower. The students can make shapes from straws and Play-Doh, stack pennies to make a bridge, and much more.

One way I would implement STEM in my classroom would be to focus on the student's interests to engage them in the lesson. For example, making slime. I would start by asking what they think we need to make slime or if there are any ingredients we could add. While some may ask is making slime a STEM activity. Yes, definitely. The learning part of this lesson would be to understand what a polymer is. Is it a solid or a liquid? What will happen if I add or remove an ingredient? Who can make their slime stretch longer? The importance of STEM activities is for the students to collaborate, problem-solve and build upon these skills that are part of our everyday lives. This is just one way that I envision my classroom activity. I hope this idea helps. 

Hello my name is Jocelyn Ramos, and I want to be a kindergarten or first grade teacher. While I was at school, science was one of my favorite subjects, I just loved the hands-on experiments we did in class and this is something I want to do in my future classes too. A way I would implement STEM into my classroom is that each week my class would do an activity or experiment that focuses on one part of STEM. One week we would do a Science experiment like a rainbow jar that can teach my students about density, the next week we would do an activity focusing on Technology such as playing a coding game where we have figure out the right codes to use to make the coding robot reach all his destinations.The following week we would do an Engineering activity like building bridges out of straws, I would first explain to them different bridges that exist and then they can just which type of bridge they want to make out of bridges. The fourth week we would do a Mathematics activity like building 2D shapes out of toothpicks and marshmallows, we would write how many sides and vertices are on each shape and afterwards we get to eat the marshmallows. By doing this they can really focus on one part of STEM each week instead of being overwhelm by trying to understand science, technology, engineering and mathematics all in one week. In the fifth week we would a big experiment that combines all the parts of STEM since they would have an understand of each part because of the small experiments that we have done. I would do this throughout the year and allow my students to discover the wonderful world of STEM through class activities and experiments.

Hello there! My name is Kim Ly and I'm a student at the University of Houston. I'm currently student teaching at an elementary school, and I found some ways that I would personally use to implement STEM that can be adjusted to a kindergarten classroom. The class that I am currently observing are first grade so somewhat close!

One thing I would use to implement STEM is to introduce vocabulary and intentionally teach them to use it in a classroom setting. I would also try not to dumb down the vocabulary if I can help it. Such as using the words vertices instead of using the words corners.

I would also implement more hands-on activities due to the age range to develop that hand-eye coordination. It would also have children be an active participant and take ownership of their own learning. For example, to learn both science and engineering, tasking children to create the tallest building they can with 10  straw and tape can be an excellent and fun way to teach about structures.

Hello,

My name is Emma Dudley. I am a student at U of H majoring in education. I am student teaching in a 5th grade ELA and Social Studies class. Unfortunately I haven't seen much STEM in the classroom because I am not in a science or math class. I didn't know much about STEM other than it stood for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. 

I would implement STEM by doing hands on activities. For example, I would have my 5th graders build a structure out of marshmallows and toothpicks that can withstand earthquake while learning about natural disasters. 

Hello, 

My name is Zoey Fuqua, I am a 5th year senior at the University of Houston majoring in Special education. I am currently student teaching under a resource teacher that mostly oversees 5th grade students. I do not really see a lot of STEM in classroom this semester, however as a student who is a hands-on learner, I know how being interactive in activity enhances learning. In my classroom I would have different form on ways to solve problems and give my students many hands-on activities. I could give the student manipulatives for math, or do a hands-on science experiment, have them use ipads to turn in work. These are all different way that I would Implement STEM in my classroom. 

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Jimenez.

As a future educator, I hope to teach 1st grade or 2nd grade. Reflecting back to when I was in 1st and 2nd-grade science was actually fun for me because it was full of hands-on activities that involved us using technology to gather information. There is an infinite number of ways that I could use to implement STEM into my classroom. I would divide my students into groups in which they will be building a certain object that will connect to the experiment so that this can get their engineering skills working. I will then have another group doing research on computers to incorporate their skills in technology. This is the age where students are figuring out what they like to do and what their dream job will be. By implementing STEM into my classroom can guarantee them a chance of being creative and building their knowledge at the same time.

Hi. My Name is Cody Mount. I am currently a student at the University of Houston studying Early Childhood Education. I am a student teacher in the Lamar Consolidated ISD right now in a 5th grade Math, Social Studies, and Writing classroom. Unfortunately, I have not seen much STEM in the classroom setting. However, the school I am at does have STEM extracurricular activities after school as well as a STEM specials class that the students go to for about 45 minutes once every other week. During this STEM time they do things such as build models with no directions using limited tools. I would personally try to implement STEM more in my classroom if I were to be teaching in a math or science classroom. I would try to include many hands-on activities that require the students to problem solve and think for themselves. 

Hello, 

My name is Veronica Perez and I am a second-grade student teacher for the University of Houston. I believe implementing STEM in the classroom is important because it motivates students to explore the different fields in science and math. Unfortunately, after observing many elementary schools, I have not seen a full science lesson taught. In some schools, I have noticed that science is scheduled to be taught at the end of the day, and the lesson is rushed or incomplete. I wish for students to be more engaged in science because it opens a gateway of opportunities to learn and experience. My goal for my own future classroom is to incorporate STEM topics in various subjects, and integrate more hands on activities. I want my future students to brainstorm many ways to solve problems, and ask questions along the way. 

Hi!

My name is Alexis Chavarria. I am a student teacher at an LCISD elementary school and am placed in a 2nd grade self-contained classroom. My dream is to teach second grade Reading and Writing! Unfortunately since the classroom I am placed in is self-contained, there is not much time left to focus on Science after reviewing Reading, Writing, and Math all day. During math stations, students primarily work in workbooks or on worksheets. Personally, I would like to incorporate STEM in my classroom by providing students with more hands-on activities instead of just worksheets. For example, I would provide simple manipulatives such as toothpicks or popsicle sticks and allow my students to construct structures with these. I would challenge my students to create different varying structures and encourage them to brainstorm ways to improve their structures regularly. I would also love to incorporate simple science experiments in my classroom! I would allow my students to raise small plants and animals as well so that they could observe their life cycles.

Hello,

My name is Mariana Meza, I hope to become a teacher for early elementary, either being grades PK-second. Since I plan on teaching the lower elementary, I will most likely be self-contained meaning that I have to give each subject the equal amount of importance. In my personal experience, I feel that science didn't really get taught to me until third grade and it was slightly, it wasn't until fifth grade where they gave it the importance and that is because we had the TAKS coming our way. Science is really important, especially in elementary because there is when their interest start. Kids like to be up and running, so a way that I would implement STEM in my classroom will be by having them do a lot of hands-on activities. For example, I remember this one activity I did when I was in fifth grade that I enjoyed and helped me understand the difference of the molecules in the stages of matter. We were separated into three groups, one being gas, then liquid and solid. The group from gas were asked to run around all crazy, the liquid group had to walk around slightly moving, but not as much as gas and the solid group had to stay together and not move around. Although it was a long time ago, this was something that stuck to me because it was presented in a fun-game type of environment and that's something I want to implement in my classroom. Another way I'd introduce STEM is by watching videos. After a long day of instruction, kids need to be entertained, watching BrainPOP would be a good way to introduce subjects or watching science music videos that are catchy to get my students to understand it without even realizing. There's a lot of ways that we can make STEM in the classroom fun, and it honestly just takes the effort and willingness!

Hello! My name is Gabriella Chetta. I am a student at the University of Houston and I am a EC-6 generalist major. This semester I began student teaching in a third grade classroom with a teacher who is self-contained. I have not really seen a lot of STEM in the classrooms I have previously observed in or even in the classroom I am in now. However, I would implement STEM in my classroom by having hands on activities that would help the students gain a deeper understanding of the material. For example, I would engage the students in the in hands on activities that require the students to build, create and work together. I am excited to learn more about STEM and ways I can implement STEM into my future classroom.

Hello, my name is Naidelyn Vazquez,

I believe STEM is something you can apply at any grade level, it will just look a little different so the activities can be age appropriate for the students. For a kindergarten classroom, the way I would apply STEM would be by creating lessons that form some connection with the things that they see every day.  For example, having a hands-on activity where they learn about plants. Conversation can spark by simply asking the students to tell you of the plants that they have at home and then move on to ask what they think plants do for us, how they think plants grow and maybe ask if any of them know what a plan needs in order to grow. After they all start thinking of plant then I would present the activity. The activity would be planting a seed, while we do the steps I’ll be explaining the process the seed will undergo in order to become a plant and eventually turn into something else. There are endless possibilities in how one can implement STEM in the classroom.

Hello,

My name is Andrea Jaime and I have been able to see how some teachers have implemented STEM in their classrooms through my pre-teaching observations. It is pretty amazing to see how creative teachers can be to be able to implement STEM into their lesson even when they are reading or social sutdies classrooms. For instance, I have noticed in particualr in reading, taechers implement sceicne readings to interpret and or study with. Meaning not only are students getting science exposure in their science classroom but are also having more in their reading classroom while learning reading skills at the same time. Teachers are able to easily introdue STEM through easy passages or books as I have seen to fortify the exposure through out or even in activities as many of my cologies have mentioned. Not only is it important for the students to be literate in STEM but must also partake in physical , hands on activites to assist their learning. 

Hi, I am an education major at the University of Houston. I have been student teaching in a first-grade classroom and have observed teachers use hands-on activities to help keep the students' active minds learning in a fun and interactive way. I also have seen teachers have discussions with their students about how science and math affect their everyday lives. Lastly, I have seen teachers allow their students to learn and explore through the use of technology. 

Hello, I think that the words challenge, experiment and design are very important in implementing STEM in the classroom. It's important for kids to go beyond finding answers and as the teachers, we need to give them the opportunities to explore and extend their knowledge. Offering assignments that are hands-on and require students to design a variety of outcomes in all subjects is important. One way I would implement STEM is by using technology in multiple subjects such as reading. The students can maintain their own blog as they are reading books and these blogs can be available to the whole class, to encourage students to discuss their books with one another. The word I connect with STEM is fun, students are engaged and learn in a way that allows them to see that learning is fun. Another way I would implement STEM is to encourage students in trial and error. As the words challenge and experiment are connected to STEM, error is inevitable and should also be encouraged because more is learned from mistakes. There are many connections between different subjects, so there are many ways to implement STEM even if you are only connecting two subjects such as writing and science. 

Hi! I think implementing STEM in a classroom is crucial for students, especially at a young age. I am currently studying Early Childhood Education and am student teaching in a first grade classroom. Students of that age group would benefit most by having games that are targeted in STEM. Building race cars out of everyday household items, and then racing them would be very enjoyable for kids while they are learning important concepts of engineering. Even implementing technology into the classroom, such as iPads, will help students in STEM. I would even tweak the way I ask students questions, and familarize students with STEM vocabulary. Storytelling is also another way to integrate STEM into your curriculum. Reading stories about robots, planes, etc, and having students come up with a solution also teaches them the engineering aspect of STEM. There are tons of ways to connect STEM into all subject areas with elementary aged students, and some are very easy changes in your daily classroom. 

Hello, my name is Jeffery Edwards. I am a teaching and learning major at The University of Houston. I hope to teach math and science to 2nd-4th graders. There are several ways to implement STEM in the classroom. I will give an example for each domain. For science, students can make slime. This gives students the opportunity to have fun and be creative. For Technology, students can use iPads. Schools are utilizing technology more often now. This makes me think, why not use iPads or tablets. The internet has resources students can use to learn. The engineering domain, students can build with legos. The list goes from cars to buildings to be designed. Students can use their imagination to create whatever they want. The last domain is math. I would suggest games such as mathopoly and connect four. To reiterate, there are many ways to implement STEM in the classroom. I hope this will help you, thank you!

As a student at the Univeristy of Houston studying to become a Elementary teacher. I would implement stem in my classroom by, offering a differentiated instruction and environment for my students to experience hands-on learning by being engaged. Allowing students to build, create, and connect to real-world problems and scenarios is what STEM is all about. I will also use technological resources for research, skills, and creativity.  

Hello, my name is Jasmine Ali and I currently attend the University of Houston, studying to become a future Elementary teacher.

Fortunately for the endless resources teachers have out there, online and in person, there are a ton of ways to implement STEM in the classrooms. Personally, I believe the classroom is the number one thing to tackle when implementing STEM into the classroom. Some characteristics of a STEM classroom is flexible, mobile, integrated, organized and team focused. With that being said, it is important to rearrange the classroom to accommodate the projects or activities your students will be doing. For example, if you are giving a lecture or presentation, then the chairs need to be facing the front. However, if your students are going to be doing experiments or working in teams, then there need to tables for them, room on the floor if students want to work on the floor or tables where they can stand and work. STEM is also technology driven, which is why it is important to integrate technology in the classroom. This allows students to work in teams, research their ideas and design solutions. An organized STEM classroom is necessary especially when project-based learning is taking place. Often students will have partially completed projects that they will need to store until they have time to work on it again. Therefore, having storage containers can help keep projects organized and will not clutter the classroom.  Some STEM projects can be very in-depth and lengthy; therefore, it is important to organize the time spent in the classroom. It is important to make it clear to students how much time they have to work for the day.  Lastly, incorporate a lot of teamwork, allow students to bounce ideas off one another and listen to one another.

Jasmine, I loved this response. I am also studying to become an Elementary school teacher. I am very excited and eager to continue my learning this next year. This post helped me think about ways I will incorporate STEM into my classroom one day. Thank you for you words! 

Hi,

My name is Mia and I am doing student teaching in a PreK classroom. The way we implement science in our classroom is by talking about the weather each day. We will call on a student and ask 'how is the weather outside today? Is it cloudy or sunny? Hot or cold? Raining or not raining?' This helps our students realize that the weather changes each day and to be aware of our environment. Since it is now spring, we talked to the students about how the weather will be changing and that it will no longer be cold anymore. I think this is a good way to implement science in a PreK classroom because it is pretty basic and the students are able to understand the difference between raining or not raining. 

There are so many ways to implement STEM in a classroom. I want to implement STEM in my classroom by including Maker Time for my students every week. This means that my students will be provided with time to make things. The students will be provided with a variety of materials and they can create whatever they would like to with the provided materials. I think that this is a wonderful way to allow students to explore and have STEM implemented in the classroom.

It is important to keep in mind what STEM stands for, STEM incorporates science, technology, engineering, and math subjects. STEM could be implemented at any moment when teaching math or science. I am in the process of becoming an elementary school educator and something I have seen throughout my observations is the constant use of technology. In my classroom I would implement STEM by creating fun activities in which students could work on a computer and do research on subjects that pertain to math and science or simply on a topic they enjoy. Lately we hear a lot of STEAM which incorporates the use of art. I think it is important that we show the fun aspects of all of these topics so that students can enjoy exploring these subjects and aspire to persue them someday. I recommend using TeachersPayTeachers to find ideas as to how you can implement these subjects, teachers are creative and have many ideas! In my personal experience I have enjoyed math because I have had motivated teachers, perhaps we should start by showing our passion for these subjects a little more! :) 

Hi Arianna! 

Implementing STEM lessons in your kindergarten class, I think would be very benefiacial for your students! STEM makes everything more fun and enjobale for your students. Using hands on activities is involved in a lot of STEM lessons, and that helps keeping all students engaged. All students like to be up and moving around. It makes lessons more mmeorable for students. To incorporate science in other subjects, engineering is a great way to connect subjects. Using building blocks can be used for students to build with, and there are many learning opportunities that can go along with kindergarteners and building blocks. STEM lessons also incorporate real world things, which is very important for students and it's never to early to start tealking about real world things. 

I love the idea of implementing STEM into any classroom, so I think this is a great idea! STEM is a great way to make learning fun for students, because they are doing things with their hands! Especially in kindergarten, I think it is so important to keep students moving! We are doing a STEM camp at my college this summer with some kiddos, and my group is hosting a 'Pool Party' for our STEM groups! We are using things like noodles and toothpicks to build towers, creating a water slide for a marble using noodles and tape, and creating noodle boats to see how many pennies they will hold! These are just a few of the STEM activities we have tried while being students at Wright State, and I hope maybe some of these ideas are helpful to you as well. :)

I am also studying to become an Elementary teacher. These post have helped me to see just how important it is to incorporate STEM into classrooms. Also, all the different activities there are for the students. 

I believe that STEM is very important, but so are the fundamentals. Students need to have a background or scaffolding to allow their knowledge to have connections. If I were to simply begin a hands-on type activity without the students having the vocabulary and basic concepts understood, they will not retain the information of the activity. This is important when implementing these types of inquiry based instructions. Just be cautious and mindful of the students learning and STEM would make a fantastic addition to your classroom routine!

I think implementing STEM in the classroom of young learners is great. It allows for great opportunities for hands-on learning as well as develop their problem-solving skills. During my fieldwork, I taught a STEM lesson adapted from one I had found based on the story The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems. The students were learning about forces so I think I found the lesson at a perfect time! The lesson presented the students with the challenge to build a school bus to get the pigeon to school. I used the challenge to segue into instruction on wheels, axles, force, pushes and pulls. I told the students they had to use the information they learned to become bus engineers and build a bus that would get the pigeon to school. Ultimately, I think it all tied well together. The students absolutely loved the lesson! 

I agree that the implementation of STEM in the classroom is critical for young learners.  I am a future elementary educator, currently enrolled in an introductory STEM course.  It is extremely helpful for a student to get to experience project-based STEM learning and contribute to different activities involving more than just math, english, history, etc.  I'll have to look at your lesson based off 'The Pigeon Has to Go to School'.  That sounds fun and I would love to adapt it into my future classroom!

There are some really amazing activities and resources that you can use to start incorporatin STEM into your classroom. Especially when you are discussing children that are so young just showing them some science and having them begin to think throuhg it is getting them on the right path. I have also seen oppurtunities through Google to get younger audiences interested in coding through coding games. Another very useful resource is Think Engineering. It is a website that has a ton of lesson plans that range from K through 12th grade. They have fun enganging hands-on activities that get the students to begin thinking like engineers. 

I recently worked in a preschool with children transitioning over to kindergarten. One thing we would do is set up STEM bins! There are so many activities that can be set up for them!! One of my favorites that we had was a bug bin. There were lots of small plastic bugs, and things that could be used to 'catch' the bugs. Also, you can use popsicle sticks and Velcro to have the students try and build something. 

Hey Leslie, 

If I were to implement STEM into my classroom I would use a lot of hands on activities. If we were going to be focusing on mathematics I think they could maybe play a board game where they are able to enjoy and also be learning at the same time. We can also have them integrate these subjects by having them create something, putting it to the test, and checking for understanding. I think if students are creating something it would be really easy to implement mathematics or technology or engineering in there. During this time it is very significant to know technology and we need to provide that help to our students through STEM. 

STEAM is such a great way to get student working collaborativley and being hands on with the assignment. It allows for a lot of building freedom where they can use their creativity and practice listening and speaking skills all at the same time. In the Elementary age, this is a vital skill for them the practice and learn. You could do building lessons where the students are with partners and have to build the highest tower with specific objects and make it friendly competition with other groups. 

STEM is something I want to incorporate into my classroom from the beginning. We already talk about setting an atmosphere of collaboration and community in our classrooms; why not build off of this mindset and structure lessons in such a way that students are using technology and creativity to experiment and design solutions to questions they discover through teacher facilitated learning. Children are already curious, setting up lessons to promote learning through activities that challenge students to design or experiement while learning about specific topics can easily incorporate STEM into the classroom. Our goal as teachers is to give students a strong base on which they can build and grow through out their education and into their eventual contributions to society. Through careful planning students can learn with STEM activities and even have these activities incorporated into other subjects. While learning about money, you could have students use legos, or even bring in different objects and allow them to create a shop, and practice buying and selling. Students could also design a new object and promote this object as part of the lesson.

Hi Leslie, 

I just had field experience in a Kindergarten classroom where STEM activities were implemented in the classroom. For both of the activities that I observed, students worked with each other. The first one where students had to grab 'random' supplies, provided by the teacher, and create a figure of what their house looks like. This activity allows for each student to explore different materials and do a try and error when building their house. Students are also learning from their peers by visualizing the materials that can be used for certain parts. The second STEM activity was having students create a barrel that will carry paper apples. Students had to work with their table partners to create this barrel and insist that three apples would be able to sit on the barrel. Both of these activities are simple and easily connected to STEM.

Thank you, 

Sarah Campbell 

Hey, I am studying to be a teacher too! I am in my final year and graduate in the SPring. I will implement STEM as making as a hands-ons as psossible for my studnets. SO they are not just watchign videos and doing readings. This why they can have fun and get a undertsanding of the concept. 

Hi all~I am new to NSTA and how the forums work.. however, after reading many of the threads I thought I would throw a few things out there that I am doing and learning as I continue to learn and grow in teaching STEM to kinders.

I have been teaching Kindergarten for over 20 years and unbeknowst to me early in my career, I have learned that jsut being in kindergarten relates to STEM almost daily. I like to teach as cross-curricular\interdisciplinary as I can so each month I have at least three different STEM projects that relate to certain areas we are learning about in other areas. 

I think the one thing that can be forgotten is that a project is still a STEM activity as long as you are using three of the four 'letters'. I know working with the new teachers in my building this is something that I have to stress so that they do not get frustrated and focus on trying to get all of the letters in the project.

Lots of fun things that I have done and actually taken a student showcase to ISTE in 2019 sharing and explaining how kinders are able to do these activities and how with growth mindset and the idea that Mistakes are A-Okay (the number one rule in my classroom) build the groundwork to be successful problem solvers. 

A few examples I have done with the kids that they shared during the conference were:

September: Chicka Chicka Trees.. and building a family home

October: Fall Rakes and Fall Tree Symmetry  Five pumpkins fence

November: create a cornucopia  build a wigwam

December: Make the Grinch (This is when I introduce non-negoiables for the first time)

January: Make Martin Luther King's birthday cake

February: Black History Month and Garrett Morgan

March: Leprechauns and Lucky Chrarms

Aprll: Autism Awareness

Lijke I said, just thought I would share.

Hi! I think the best way to incorporate STEM into your classroom would be by providing many hands on learning experienes. It would also help to be aware when you're planning to try to integrate these different subject areas into one lesson to provide an enriched learning experiences. 

Hello! STEM is a neat way to say that science can be used in some capacity in every topic. Some examples are reading articles about scientific topics, learning mathematical equations based on scientific equations, and developing prototypes and designs of objects like paper airplanes, and even marble mazes as well. It can be an engaging way to keep the students interested in the lessons.

Hello,

I agree that implementing STEM in the classroom is a way of engaging the students.  It will open many doors for them and light up an interest in science. I believe that if we expose the students at an early age into STEM it will give them the opportunity to learn how to problem solve, tap into their curiosity to explore and learn new things.  Not only are they learning but it will let them see that there is a whole new side to science.

I would love to implement STEM activities into my future classroom especially with Prek's.  Any ideas on activites that are adequate for them since they are little?

I would love to implement STEM activities into my future classroom especially with Prek's.  Any ideas on activites that are adequate for them since they are little?