When do I "do" STEM and still Teach Everything Else?

Classroom teachers are so overwhelmed with administrative duties, curriculum demands, district assessments, NCLB, state testing, implementation of CCSS (and the list goes on).  So, when these folks ask this question, they are most likely asking partly out of desperation and partly out of sarcasm.

The good news is that once you've identified how to locate resources and implement STEM, this one is a piece of cake!  Locating resources that will fit into your curriculum will help you to consolidate and actually make your planning, implementation and assessment easier.

Here's how its done using the Mars Rover Celebration Curriculum Module as an example:

Planning: Once you've identified the resource you'll be using, flip to the curriculum section.  Curriculum developed by reputable people and organizations will have an entire section devoted to the standards alignment.  Most curriculum developers are in the midst of revising these tables to include CCSS, but the state for which the curriculum was developed for should be there as well as the National standards.  Then, go through the tables making note of which standards your state or district require you to teach.

Implementation: Once you've finished your coffee while looking over the curriculum section of your resource, you can begin to either consolidate skills with other lessons and projects or spiral them in a meaningful way to help students further develop these skills.

Assessment:  Teachers tell me that this one is the toughie with STEM projects.  When teachers talk about assessments, they generally mean tests, but in the real world, you don't have to take an algebra test next week.  An assessment can be any piece of work that helps students to display competency and/or mastery.  Students who participate in this project will end up creating, writing and preparing numerous different artifacts that can easily be used as assessments- Science Notebooks, Rover Manual, Presentation Skit, Mars Rover Model....

Now that you know the basic steps, get started!  Your students will be excited to participate in class and will learn a wealth of real-world skills in addition to their grade-level curriculum.

Mars Rover Celebration Curriculum

Our curriculum team has just wrapped up this year's portion of the Mars Rover Celebration Curriculum.  We chose to write the tough lessons first and next year we'll revise the lessons using teacher feedback, do a little polishing (because as we tell our students- you can always improve your writing and communication, right?) and tackle the remaining lesson plans.  Since Curiosity is now safely on Mars and getting ready to do some exploring, I suspect we'll have a lot of teachers exploring this curriculum this upcoming school year.  All of the completed lessons to date are located here.  You'll notice two different sets- one set for grades 3-5 and one set for grades 6-8.  For the most part, we tried to be as consistent as possible in presenting concepts in an inquiry-based fashion, but sometimes needed to deviate from that plan to solidify some skills and concepts.  If you use this curriculum or a portion of it in your classroom, drop me a note and let me know.  I'd love to hear your feedback!

Using Google Earth...on Mars?

In writing curriculum for the University of Houston/NASA Mars Rover Celebration, I had the opportunity to explore a little more in Google Earth...Mars.

What a great way to engage students and take a trip to Mars!  By activating the Google Earth Mars function, students can explore Mars freely on their own by spinning Mars to different locations and clicking icons that display facts and images.  Students can even visit specific locations on Mars by using the "Fly To" feature or chat with Meliza, Mars' resident alien, to learn more about the red planet.  

If free exploration isn't for you, students can take a guided tour of Mars, narrated by Ira Flatow and Bill Nye. Or, if you're feeling creative, record and narrate your own tour of Mars.

For an out-of-this-world experience, download Google Earth at: http://earth.google.com/mars/

Mars Rover Celebration Update

I have been working with the University of Houston to create a curriculum unit based around the Mars Rover Curiosity.   We're working on polishing the last of the lessons and getting them posted on the UH Mars Rover Celebration web site.

The Mars Rover Celebration curriculum is an all-encompassing six week unit for students in grades 3-8 that can be used in the classroom or in informal education settings.  Throughout the unit, students learn about the solar system, focusing on Mars.  Using the information they have learned, students work collaboratively in teams of 4-5 to design their own mission to Mars and build their own rover (from found and low-cost objects).   Each lesson is aligned to National Standards (as well as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) and contains an Essential Question, Vocabulary Cards, and a Science Notebook for student use.  There are also key literacy elements woven through the unit to make it a STEAM unit rather than a STEM unit.

Since this amazing project is funded by a NASA grant, the cost for using this curriculum unit with students is...FREE.  And, if you are in the great state of Texas, you can bring your students and their rovers to participate in the Mars Rover Celebration capstone event where students can show off their work and meet other students from around the state!

By the end of the summer, all 30 lessons (15 for grades 3-5 and 15 for grades 6-8) and all of their lesson components will be posted on the UH Mars Rover Celebration site.  Check them out and use them in the fall to get your students re-engaged in learning!

Mars Rover Celebration Curriculum

What a fantastic opportunity!  My newest project is working with the University of Houston for their Mars Rover Celebration project!

Each year the University of Houston hosts over 700 students in grades 3-8 who have worked enthusiastically to build mars rover models that carry out specific science missions on the surface of Mars.

 Students build models as part of a six-week STEM education project about Mars. They are given design criteria for a rover, and are required to conduct basic research about Mars that will determine the operational objectives and structural features of their rover.

This project has run successfully for ten years in spite of not having a formal curriculum to use.   Now that funding has been secured by a NASA grant, I'll be working to develop a formal curriculum to help more students and teachers participate in this project.