What's In Your Elementary STEM Lab?

Often when people come to visit our lower school STEM lab they ask "how did you know what to put it in?" The truth is, we didn't, but we learned along the way. The first thing I would suggest to a school system wanting to create a STEM lab is not to try to buy everything in the beginning. Don't let the tools dictate the learning. Buy as you see needs and desires. I wish we had done this a bit more in the beginning.

This is what we currently have in our lab now that we are 3 years into the program:

• Wonder Workshop Dash and Dot Robots. These are our "go to" robotics for elementary students. They work with 4 different apps- Wonder, Blockly, Go, Path...the various apps meet different levels of coding ability. Their durability is amazing.
• Wonder Workshop Cue Robots. These robots even allow students to toggle between block coding a javascript.
• Sphero Robots. Sturdy for use by young children and can even get them wet. 
• Ozobots Evo and Bit. Start with color coding and move to block-based coding. 
• Makey Makey. Inventor kit that allows students to turn everyday objects into keyboards using the concept of electric circuitry.  
• Cube-lets. Small cubes that connect magnetically to create a larger simple robot. 
• Merge Cubes. Hologram enabled Augmented/Virtual reality ability.
• Legos. Great for engineering lessons. 
• Magnetic building sets. Great for engineering lessons for younger children. 
• Little Bits STEAM Student Sets. Tools needed for invention ideas in the student inventor book.  Each set can engage 3-4 students at one time. 
• Little Bits. Circuits that snap together. 
• LEGO Mindstorm EV3Robotics. Allows students to build, program and command these LEGO based robots.
• LEGO Education WeDo kits. Curriculum, software and STEM, discovery-based project kits.
• Makerbot 3D Printer. Ways to make 3D designs. 
• 5 Lenovo Laptops. 
• 5 iPads.
• Class Set of Chromebooks.
• Microscopes
• Safety Goggles
• Beakers
• Extra large "LEGO" like building blocks. Large enough to set up different areas in the room by creating walls for separation
• Markers
• Glue Sticks
• Glue
• Glue guns
• Tubs
• Scissors
• Aluminum Pans
• Containers
• Duct Tape
• Construction Paper
• Yarn
• String
• Paint
• Other craft type supplies

At the beginning of the year we added one item on each grade level supply list for the lab:

Pre-K -1 pack of popsicle sticks

Kindergarten -1 package of sticky notes

First- 1 pack sandwich baggies

Second- 1 package drinking straws

Third- 1 package toothpicks

Fourth- 1 roll masking tape

Fifth- 1 roll scotch tape

Some of our tools are "go to" items. The robotics and coding platforms are used across the curriculum to teach in classroom concepts regardless of the subject matter. Our students code robots to show learning in everything from language arts, bible, science, math, and geography. The time our students spend in the STEM lab directly supports the integrated units in our lower school. It is taking science, technology, engineering and math and making it actionable.

Student Led Professional Development

I've been at school since 6:45am.  I was anxious about my morning and the lofty goals I had. It's now 10:00am and I am basking in the glory of positive completion! This morning ended a 9 week elective opportunity for students that signed up for the "Lower School Tech Team" elective. This team has worked for 9 weeks to create an Escape Room opportunity for the lower school teachers that taught them about STEAM tools. These 8 students created lesson plans and how to videos and modeled how you can teach using an Escape Room as the lesson.

This morning all the lower school teachers had a staggered start to come in and allow the students to show them how to use Dash Cleverbots, Ozobots, Sphero Robotics, Makey Makeys, and Echo Dots in the classroom. Based on feedback from teachers in January, this was an area they felt they needed more training in. The students manned all 5 stations and had the teachers learn more about these tools. As someone that was both nervous about allowing students to lead the PD and hoping that it truly would be seen as beneficial, I truly enjoyed hearing the interactions and the "aha moments" happening as each grade level worked their way through the challenges. Every grade level got through the 5 challenges in less than 20 minutes and my hope is that the teachers will have walked away thinking about potential ways they can use these tools in their own classroom in the future.

The thing that I am most proud of is allowing these students to have the opportunity to be part of authentic learning. The problem put before them was "The teachers want to learn more about tech tools." These kids showed up at 7:30am this morning (even though on Wednesdays their day starts at 9:00am) and enthusiastically taught their teachers what they knew. They supported without "doing it for them." Every one of them left feeling accomplished, needed, and fulfilled in what they participated in this morning. Students want authentic learning and to share their learning more globally. The morning of sharing with the lower school teachers and the website they created for reference allowed them this opportunity. Remember, this was an elective. Think on that for a moment!

My #ISTE17 Takeaways

Rachelle and myself

Traveling alone to ISTE this year gave me lots of time alone with my thoughts and my learning. Meeting up with my friend Rachelle Poth on the last day led to one of my greatest moments of reflection. When we talked about the things we had done during the week it was very different from each other. Rachelle presented multiple times (and I must say she's amazing at sharing her classroom stories) and I was there as an attendee only.
For me, that moment was a realization that ISTE meets needs in many different ways for many different personality types. It's easy to get lost in the crowd if that is what you want or to be in the middle of everything learning AND social. I was "all in" for learning this week and here are my takeaways to learning more about:

• Google Applied Digital Skills- Yes, I did stand in a 30 minute line for a 30 minute session to learn more about Google's new Applied Digital Skills curriculum.
  
   A free, stand alone curriculum that can be found at https://www.cs-first.com/en/apps. Our school recently started looking at the scope and sequence of digital skills we want our students to have by the time they graduate from our school. What I love about this curriculum is that many of these skills could be mastered with these very relevant curriculum ideas that 13+ year old students would both enjoy doing and benefit from. 
• Snapping, Gramming, and Scoping Your Way to Engagement-  

  

  Shaelynn, Steven, and myself

                              Educators Steven Anderson (@web20classroom) and Shaelynn Farnsworth (@shfarnsworth) created an interactive learning opportunity that challenged me in how to reach students, teachers, families, and constituencies with the use of social media. I've often used social media to share the story of our school using the hashtag #ccslearns but I'll be honest, I think my assumed audience was almost always my professional learning network. I am currently reflecting on how I can use it more to reach broader in my own school community. Steven's sharing of data shows a window of opportunity to reach our families and share our stories in a platform that will be looked at. As most schools can attest, the percentage of emails sent and read by families is small. Why not meet them where they already are looking? And as I've heard often but don't know who said it, "someone is going to tell your story, shouldn't it be you?" 
• Big news from Wonder Workshop: Challenge Cards- Dash and Dot are some of our favorite  robots to introduce robotics to preschool and elementary students. What a great opportunity to meet Charlotte this week- she's the creator of the new "Challenge Cards: K-5 Learn to Code Starter Pack" that hit the market in September. I had a little look at the cards and can't wait to add them to our curriculum. These cards "meet both CSTA and ISTE standards are aligned with Code.org's Computer Science Fundamentals series." (store.makewonder.com)

  

  Charlotte of Wonder Workshop 

• Creating Interactive Professional Development Opportunities- This idea has been growing in my head since Edcamp Gigcity but attending a session by Michele Eaton solidified in my head how I want to do this. I plan to introduce one tool every 2 months to our teachers (I'm working on curating those tools now) via an interactive introduction that they can access at any time. My hope is that in the two months the teachers will try the tool in their own classrooms.

Obviously there were tons of learning moments at ISTE for me both in and out of the conference center, it's like learning from a firehose, but these are the top things I am excited about!