Jeanettra Watkins is a veteran teacher for Chicago Public Schools, District 299. She has served in several capacities both in and out of the classroom. Jeanettra is the South Regional Science Fair Coordinator and for over 50 schools. She has also written Curriculum frameworks as well as district assessments during her career with CPS. As an educator her passion is continuing the education process as a life-long learner. She also enjoys traveling abroad and shopping.
This activity was chosen to fulfill the NGSS Standards while simultaneously introducing STEM in the classroom.
Ultimate STEM Top 5 component
Creative teacher designed lessons encourage outcomes that draw out student’s strengths
- Teachers use real world situations and tools that engage students to connect to their own world
- Students develop their own evidence which leads to relational understanding. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” (Confucius)
- Student discussions in various groupings allow students to drive the lesson and take ownership of their learning by sharing their interpretations and giving feedback.
- There is not one right answer. Lessons direct students to articulate concepts in their own words and/or provide their own examples or creative responses.
- Students with varying ability levels can collaborate with peers and meaningfully contribute to the their group’s success. Multiple intelligence are addressed in each lesson.
Brown Paper Bag Stem Challenge
The purpose of this activity was to motivate students to become more engaged in the classroom. Students often times feel bored and when they are bored then I am bored. I want my students to become self-sufficient and dependent upon one another while I act solely as the facilitator. I also wanted to build relationships while simultaneously increasing critical thinking skills. The wonderful thing about this lesson was although it didn't begin as I expected it was still phenomenal. The students actually had fun through scientific inquiry while applying the technological design process.
Preparation for the activity is minimal and can easily be done right before class starts. In order to implement the lesson I divided students into groups of 4 students. You may tweak the sizes of the groups to accommodate your classroom. Students curiosity was instantaneously drawn to the brown paper bags. They wanted to know what was in the bags and what purpose did they serve. I told the students that we were going to have a little challenge to stimulate their minds. I then told them they would have 20 minutes to build the tallest structure possible using only the materials in the bag. They could manipulate the materials in any way they choose. For example, break spaghetti or tear apart pieces of tape. The only requirement was the entire marshmallow had to be on top of the structure. Then the students determined the rules for measuring and choosing which structure was the tallest.
Students were totally engaged and really enjoyed the lesson. As a matter of fact it became a competition. The students began yelling at other students who weren't in their group. Some of their responses was “ Don't Look at ours”. “You are cheating”. They also became critical of their own team members. “Hey don't use too much tape”. “Be careful with the spaghetti so it doesn't break... needless to say I was very pleased. The materials are common everyday consumables that I am certain you have lying around the house. You will need standard sandwich brown paper bags , one marshmallow, spaghetti, yard of tape, and a yard of string.
Following the activity students reviewed their data and utilized the engineering design process in order to evaluate their structures and redesign them. The next day students came in class with new plans and redesigned their structures..
( Lesson adapted from Starfish Education)
The purpose of this activity was to motivate students to become more engaged in the classroom. Students often times feel bored and when they are bored then I am bored. I want my students to become self-sufficient and dependent upon one another while I act solely as the facilitator. I also wanted to build relationships while simultaneously increasing critical thinking skills. The wonderful thing about this lesson was although it didn't begin as I expected it was still phenomenal. The students actually had fun through scientific inquiry while applying the technological design process.
Preparation for the activity is minimal and can easily be done right before class starts. In order to implement the lesson I divided students into groups of 4 students. You may tweak the sizes of the groups to accommodate your classroom. Students curiosity was instantaneously drawn to the brown paper bags. They wanted to know what was in the bags and what purpose did they serve. I told the students that we were going to have a little challenge to stimulate their minds. I then told them they would have 20 minutes to build the tallest structure possible using only the materials in the bag. They could manipulate the materials in any way they choose. For example, break spaghetti or tear apart pieces of tape. The only requirement was the entire marshmallow had to be on top of the structure. Then the students determined the rules for measuring and choosing which structure was the tallest.
Students were totally engaged and really enjoyed the lesson. As a matter of fact it became a competition. The students began yelling at other students who weren't in their group. Some of their responses was “ Don't Look at ours”. “You are cheating”. They also became critical of their own team members. “Hey don't use too much tape”. “Be careful with the spaghetti so it doesn't break... needless to say I was very pleased. The materials are common everyday consumables that I am certain you have lying around the house. You will need standard sandwich brown paper bags , one marshmallow, spaghetti, yard of tape, and a yard of string.
Following the activity students reviewed their data and utilized the engineering design process in order to evaluate their structures and redesign them. The next day students came in class with new plans and redesigned their structures..
( Lesson adapted from Starfish Education)