STEM and Language Arts - Perfect Together

by Renee Heiss

• Combine STEM and Language Arts in one lesson?  Sound impossible?  Not really!  Just follow these simple guidelines:
• Target the STEM area you want to emphasize for this week or month.  Examples include: Famous computer scientists, innovators from history, the different kinds of bridges – the list could be endless.  Look at your curriculum and pull the pertinent topics for your students to research.
• Make sure the topics your students choose are different from each other.  For example, if one student choses how the Brooklyn Bridge was built, you could allow another to research the San Francisco Bay bridge.  Then have a comparison discussion after your students present their research.  Having your students choose different, but related topics eliminates the boredom of reading 25 papers on the same subject.
• Allow students to work in groups only if you give them guidelines for dividing up the work.  Consider these ideas:
• Assign a specific goal to each student, such as creating a poster, performing research, editing the final report, and presenting to the class (may be combined with another goal).
• Provide interim deadlines for each aspect of your assignment.
• Create a completion chart on your bulletin board so groups can see if they are falling behind.
• Give students a group grade rubric, such as this free resource: Project Based Learning Grading Rubric so they can see what you expect from them.
• With older students, cooperate with the other teacher (STEM with language arts and vice versa).  Students may earn a grade in each subject for the same project.  The STEM teacher might grade on content, while the language arts teacher would grade on grammar. Or have them perform experiments in science class then work on the research paper and presentation in language arts class.
• ·       Give students visual and verbal prompts to help them focus their research, essay, and presentation in a creative yet organized manner.  Try this resource for your 4^th-8^th grade classes: STEM Stories - A cooperative classroom writing activity for 5 groups grades 4-8
• Encourage innovative ways to present their topic.  Going back to the bridge concept, your student might come in with a model of the Brooklyn Bridge to add interest to their presentation.
• Middle and High School students can have a more comprehensive exploration of a STEM/Language Arts linked assignment.  Try offering comparison papers like linking ancient pyramid builders with modern architectural buildings.  Once they understand that they have to research two separate topics and link them together, they will be less likely to copy a paper they found online!

Creativity! STEM! Research! Language Arts!  What an amazing combination of resources in one assignment that will liven up any curriculum.

For daily STEM prompts, click HERE. Have stimulating discussions every day and use these as the basis for research projects.

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