STEM in the classroom is not a new idea. For years now, educators have proven that incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into daily lessons enhances student engagement and learning (Cevik & Bakioglu, 2022; Li et al., 2020). Once Jack Anderson Elementary School, in Sumner County, TN, became STEM-integrated, we assessed that the students needed an outlet to make cross-curricular connections, enhance their digital skills, and a way to take ownership of their learning. This is where the idea of a
STEM Journal was created! Our journals have been both digital and physical notebook-style over the years as times have evolved. Students can take pictures of engineering projects or videos of themselves. STEM Journals truly keep students engaged and authentically capture the design process in action!
Cross-curricular connections are cool!
STEM often gets shoved into the science teacher’s lap, which is understandable in a school that is new to STEM programming and new to a culture of STEM. However, once educators are versed in project-based learning (PBL), they quickly understand that STEM is for all teachers and all students, and mindsets change as excitement to share PBL strategies across content areas! STEM Journals are used to support English Language Arts (ELA) teachers to strengthen summarization skills as student's practice summarizing their learning for each part of a PBL unit. Summary skills are often an area of weakness, and there has been tremendous growth in this area in the classroom and on state testing over the past several years. Let’s examine an annual PBL: MArs Exploration and see how reading passages, like
The Lion of Mars
by Jennifer Holm, are integrated into the PBL. The students use the depiction of a Mars settlement, from
The Lion of Mars, to gain ideas for a Martian settlement culminating project. Each chapter has wonderful ideas and images of what life would entail, and students use their STEM Journals to house these chapter summaries to prepare for the final project. These chapter summaries used in this PBL unit have helped to strengthen foundational literacy standards focused on summarizing text, sentence structure, and grammar.
Own that STEM Journal!
Teaching a child to take ownership of their learning is a tricky task. Providing a place for them to reflect helps to bring accountability to the learner (Veine et al., 2019). Imagine taking part in a collaborative, hands-on engineering challenge and excelling at it, but having no time or place to reflect on how your efforts made the challenge a success. Reflection is a key ingredient to growth for students, and STEM Journals provide a place for them to do just that. Ownership in learning starts with the act of reflection. Looking back and asking yourself: Did I pay attention? What connections did I make? Is the work that I produced reflective of my best effort are all key components in taking ownership of learning? After each STEM learning experience, students respond to guided and free-form reflection questions in their STEM Journals. For instance, after an engineering build or challenge, students reflect on what could be done to make improvements, connect to schema, and catalog key details. This helps the teacher assess students’ ability to plan and organize, along with the level of participation by each student in the group. This aids the student as they create documentation of their learning and provides them a place to show ownership in their learning, which leads to a feeling of pride, autonomy, and accomplishment.
We’ve got skills…digital ones!
The majority of Jack Anderson Elementary’s STEM Journals are digital. We found that making these journals digital increased student interest while improving their fluency in typing and digital creative skills. Technology standards for upper elementary encompass everything from typing speed to using the most advanced portion of digital tools on various platforms. Our students attend a technology class weekly and practice learned skills in their STEM Journals. This fall, we held a STEM Family Night where 5th-grade students showcased their digital knowledge. Our theme, GROW and GLOW through STEM, had each 5th grader create a multimedia presentation showing areas to grow and improve both academically and personally. The magic was seeing students demonstrate digital skills they mastered, with very few needing assistance from a teacher. The consistent practice in the digital portion of the STEM Journal across all academic areas is why students are able to demonstrate proficiency with these digital creative skills.
STEM in the classroom does not require a journal to be successful, however, it does give students a place to demonstrate their creativity, effort, and thought processes. Kids want to tell the world how awesome they are and a journal is a place for them to do just that. The key is that, as teachers, these journals become assessment tools and a method of accountability for students and student learning. STEM Journals can be as minimalistic or as elaborate as desired, and students are a great source of fresh ideas for reflection questions. As you put STEM Journals into place in your classroom, please share your experiences in the comments below or ask a question.
References:
Cevik, M., & Bakioglu, B. (2022). The effect of STEM education integrated into teaching-learning approaches (SEITLA) on learning outcomes: A meta-analysis study.
International Journal of Progressive Education,
18(2).
https://doi.org/10.29329/ijpe.2022.431.8
Li, Y., Wang, K., Xiao, Y., & Freud, J. (2020). Research and trends in STEM education: a systematic review of journal publications. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(11).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020-00207-6
Veine, S., Anderson, M. K., Haugland, N., Espenes, T. C., Soyland, T. B., & Wallin, P. (2019). Reflection as a core student learning activity - Insights from nearly two decades of academic development.
Journal for Academic Development, 25(22), 147-161.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1659797
