For years, I’ve struggled to figure out how to help my students think like scientists. After all, I gave them plenty of hands-on experiences with STEM Challenges, labs, and more (but who can ever have enough, really?)! I finally sat down one day and journaled about it. What traits was I really looking for students […]

Time is a precious, precious classroom resource. We are forced to make concessions and compromises to all the wonderful lessons, projects, and labs we know will enrich our students!   With that in mind, when it comes to STEM Challenges, what should be our focus: breadth or depth?  I share my thoughts in the video […]

Everyone LOVES STEM Challenges, right?! Nothing in life is that simple! Good news though: most students do love STEM Challenges, and the few who don’t might just learn to if you make a few small adjustments in how you implement STEM Challenges! In the video below, I’ve identified the three most common student types who […]

Christmas is coming, hooray! Since this season is a time of sharing, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite things for the classroom. In fact, I think it would be extra fun to give one away every day for five days starting December 15! If you’ve ever seen one […]

Last week, I shared with you how vital the post-build activities are to getting all goodness from your STEM Challenges. If you’re going to devote the time, you may as well get every last drop of value, right?!  In addition to the gallery walk, present/demo, Q&A, and individual design analysis, I find the group discussion […]

Time constraints sometimes cause us to short-change the rich post-build activities: presentation, Q&A, discussion, and design analysis, but don’t do it! Taking the time to let students discuss and analyze their designs is absolutely crucial to developing skills and making meaning of the whole process. In this video, I’ll take you through the steps I […]

Do you consider yourself a beginner, experienced, or an advanced teacher in implementing STEM Challenges? Watch to see where you are in your journey and what to add to your bag of tricks to level up your game! Or if you prefer to read & reflect, I’ve included the video transcription directly below it. If […]

I just know a lot of you will disagree with me, but I am not a fan of STEM Challenge budgets for student materials in most cases. I am always happy to engage in friendly, healthy debate though! Watch the video below or read the transcript to see my take on it, then let me […]

Have you ever caught yourself thinking there just isn’t time for hands-on science? I have been there. I am not proud of it. There were far too many times in the early years where science was really a nonfiction reading comprehension / watch experiment demonstrations because how do you do hands-on science with 40-minute class […]