January 2, 2025 will mark my 70th day as the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) Educator at PS 1, The School of Leadership & Creativity. In June 2024, I applied for this position not because I was unhappy in the Self-Contained Grade 4 and 5 classroom, but rather because of how exciting this posting sounded for the learners in our community. For over 7 years, I had embraced project-based learning and a strength-based approach within my self-contained classroom. I saw this position as an opportunity to bring these practices to more families and students within our learning community and as a new challenge for myself as an educator.
It was a professional risk.
But as I tell my students, "When we do hard things, our brains grow."
I had been a classroom teacher for 20 years, primarily working with grades 3, 4 and 5. I am a highly regarded Special Educator within our district and this would be quite a change. I knew that I would make many mistakes in this new role, but I was intent on using each of these mistakes as learning moments and opportunities for growth as a facilitator of learning. There were many new resources to learn how to use, new curriculums to unpack and a lab space that needed a lot of TLC. I was worried about establishing relationships with students and families. Shifting from working with 12 families to 370-500 families per week felt daunting. My passion for SWANNs (Students with Abilities & Novel Needs) inspired me to make the new STEAM lab an inclusive space, with a focus on UDL (Universal Design for Learning). It has been my experience that sometimes cluster teachers do not take this population into consideration when planning within their area of specialty.
PS 1's Shared Why Statement is, "We are a community to belong and and a space to thrive." I really wanted our STEAM lab to be a microcosm of our larger learning community.
I also wanted to ground our learning in the Global Competencies and make space for practices that help students become leaders of their own learning such as Visual Thinking Routines, Virtual Exchange, Project-Based Learning and Inquiry.
This is an ambitious vision and I know that I am not going to meet these goals within one school year. I am also know that my experiences in the STEAM lab will help me to bring clarity and change to that vision.
I am truly grateful that my administration chose to give me this opportunity and for the support they continue to provide to me in this new role. The last 70 days of learning have been some of the best days I have had in my entire teaching career. Below are just a few of the powerful insights and discoveries we have made along the way in the STEAM lab.
STEAM helps nurture the childhood wonder and curiosity most adults eventually lose along the way.
My first unit with our Grade 1 and 2 students introduced the steps of the Engineering Design Process through the lens of Bridge Design. Students took on the role of Civil Engineers by participating in an assortment of bridge design challenges that included a variety of materials such as snap cubes, legos, craft sticks, tape, construction paper, pipe cleaners and cups. Students learned about 5 different bridge types and made connections to the history of local and international bridges through literature. They created criteria for successful bridges based on their tests and their experiences crossing bridges.
By the end of September, many of our young engineers made trips across the Verrazano Bridge to visit the pumpkin farm. As they crossed the bridge on the school bus, several teachers reported me that their students erupted with joy as they pointed out the parts of the bridge and proudly shared that it was a suspension bridge. Another parent shared with me that when her family drove out to Long Island, her son pointed out every single type of bridge they passed and fully explained how they were different in their construction and design. Other students came to me and enthusiastically asked me about bridges they "saw in the wild" that did not really seem to fit the 5 bridge types we explored in the lab.
My students' joy, wonder and curiosity was contagious! I now find myself paying just as much attention to the design of bridges of the East River when go past them on the BQE or ride over them on the subway. I find myself looking for the same features we spoke about in our first unit as my students' ideas and questions roll through my brain. It sounds ridiculous, but the lighting in the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge at night against the cityscape truly takes my breath away as it never did before. And this doesn't just happen when I look at bridges. My PreK and K student explored the Engineering Design Process by investigating railways and taking on the roles of Mechanical Engineers. I can't help but pause to gaze with childlike amazement when I see the lights of a train as it comes into the station. In, "The Sense of Wonder," Rachel Carson wrote:
“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years … the alienation from the sources of our strength.”
I feel so lucky to be given this opportunity to step away from the disenchantment of adulthood. It's a gift that I didn't anticipate when I took on this new role.
Now, as I unpack new curriculum and materials, I ground my planning in questions like, "How can I view this from the perspective of childhood? What will my students notice, wonder and think?"
STEAM provides an organic space for students to engage with mathematics and thrive.
There are many students who express frustration when it comes to math. The source of that frustration can have many roots. It can be related to how instruction is carried out in classroom, the speed at which content is covered, relationships with math teachers and how mathematics is assessed. Over my 21 years of teaching, most students have expressed to me that are not good at math and that they don't like math. Most students have expressed to me that math is not part of their identity. This was also true for me as a student. It wasn't until I became a teacher, that I really started to fall in love with mathematics.
Truthfully, the best math teachers in my life were my parents. I learned very important mathematical concepts from "project-based learning" that happened at home. I learned how to create equivalent fractions because my mom didn't have a complete set of measuring cups and spoons. To bake cookies and cakes, I had to find the equivalent fractions to get the recipe right. I learned place value by rolling coins with my dad. I learned how to estimate decimals by keeping a list as we went through the grocery store so we would stay within budget. I learned how measure profits and losses by running a lemonade stand for several summers. These purposeful experiences were more effective than any worksheet or math lesson in my early years.
STEAM provides those same organic moments for our young mathematicians. For example, our first unit with grades 3 and 4 also focused on introducing the Engineering Design Process, but in this unit the students took on the role of Aerospace Engineers. They used a variety of materials and designs to investigate the model rocket design that could hold the most weight and travel the farthest when launched with a stomp rocket. This unit was derived from the Boston Museum of Science's STEM Curriculum: Engineering Adventures - Liftoff: Rockets & Rovers. This curriculum suggests that the students record how far rockets travel by laying out pictures of the the Moon, Mars, Titan and Pluto at specific distances on the classroom floor and having students write those locations down to record distances.
I had those signs prepared, but when the students began to design their first rocket test, they suggested that we use a really big ruler to measure the space between the stomp rocket and the spot where the rockets landed. This gave me an opportunity to introduce them to a tape measure and from that point forward, the students worked together during rocket launches to measure the specific distances traveled by their rockets.
This led students to ask questions like, "How are meters and centimeters different? How many meters do you predict our rocket will travel? Why?" I also noticed that after a few launches the students began to estimate how many meters the rocket traveled prior to finding the exact distance.
The students spent time recording their measurements on tables and used those tables to analyze data. They observed trends and used those trends to discuss their design decisions as Aerospace Engineers.
Their data analysis also helped them to identify possible failure points in their designs and ask questions like, "If we can measure how far a rocket travels, how could we measure how much air pressure we are using during each launch? How are weight and force different?"
In all the years I taught the upper elementary units in measurement, I don't think I ever saw this much engagement and deep thinking from my students.
This type of deep thinking happens when the learning is rooted in content and real world experiences that are important to the students.
Another great example of this is currently happening in our unit on Solids, Liquids & Gases with Grade 2 students. For one of their investigations, they needed to become Chemical Engineers and design three new juice colors for a Strawberry Orange Juice. The students needed to find out which of the three colors were preferred by students in their class and another class. The students had to design the way they would keep track of the votes. I gave them two suggestions: a bar graph or a tally chart. So far, most of the Grade 2 students have chosen to collect their data using tally charts. Like the students in Grade 3 and 4, they used their tally charts to analyze data and look for trends. They demonstrated the fastest way to count the tallies. So far many students have shared observations like, "Wow, most people prefer the lighter colors for Strawberry Orange Juice or colors that are similar to the fruit!" Like my upper grade students, they are using their data to write reports that support their claims about their design.
“A student who solves a problem by memorizing a formula, forgets the formula in a year. Then, they are no better off than they were a year ago. A student who solves a problem by understanding the true nature of the question will never forget that ability.” - Binal Patel
In both of these units, the students had the opportunity to use math to amplify their voices and as an educator, I was able to directly teach into the Next Generation Math Standards.
There was no burden in the mathematics because it was part of something greater and largely directed by student voice and curiosity. I think that if we gave students more opportunities to engage with math through project-based learning, there would be more joy associated with mathematics instruction.
Learning in the STEAM Lab is richer when it is guided by student voice and choice.
Finding the rhythm in planning for PreK through Grade 5 for one subject area is challenging, especially when you have been given the task to create a department that will have a sustainable future. I am a very organized soul and thorough planning is one of my superpowers. My experience as a Special Educator showed me that I should always have backup plans but also demonstrate flexibility, so I can be responsive to my students' interests and needs. I am taking all this prior experience into my new position as STEAM Educator. When I met with my supervisor at the beginning of the year and she asked me, "What is your vision in regards to planning out units?"
I explained, "It's going to be like a tree. We are all going to start out exploring the steps in the Engineering Design Process through team building challenges. Then we will branch out within each grade level."
However, I didn't anticipate that part of my practice would include branching out even further within specific classes so I could honor student voice and choice.
For example, although all Grade 3 and 4 students in the STEAM lab participated in our Rocket Launching Unit, there are some classes that took our investigation down roads I didn't anticipate. During the second rocket launch, all small groups were given the choice to either create their rockets out of a plastic film or foam and needed to provide a justification for their choice. This was part of my plan on how I was going to honor voice and choice within the unit. In one third grade class though, all the small groups independently chose to make their rockets out of the plastic film. I was disappointed no one wanted to test the foam, but they all strongly believed the foam was too heavy and was going to have air escape when rolled.
After they launched all the rockets and analyzed the data, these third graders asked if during the third rocket launch they could all make their rockets out of foam so that it would be easier to compare the data. This was a very different path from what was happening with the other classes. For the third rocket launch, all the other classes were testing rocket sizes. I could have brushed their suggestion off because it wasn't part of the plan, but there was a lot of sense in their suggestion and I thought that it was proof that they were paying attention to the roles of controls and variables during scientific investigations. By honoring their voice, I also helped to nurture what PBL Works describes as Self-Directed Learning. This group of students did not get to test out different rocket sizes as the other classes did, but that doesn't mean they lost out.
They were able to have a very rich discussion around two carefully planned scientific investigations with easily comparable data. They created an opportunity for synthesis that had to be prompted in the other classes. They were true leaders of their own learning.
Another time this happened in our Rocket Launching Unit was with one of our Grade 4 classes. After the students, completed their third rocket launch where they analyzed data related to rocket size, two students asked me, "Ms. Mesk, I am wondering how those rovers on Mars were able to escape the force of gravity on earth. How did we launch them? I also want to know how we got those satellites off of earth's surface." These wonderful questions were able to wrap up our unit in a very different way for this class. I explained to the students that the reason we were adding weights to our model rockets was to account for scientific equipment they may need to carry like rovers or satellites. I explained that the rockets helped the rovers and satellites escape Earth's gravitational pull.
Another student piped up, "But Ms. Mesk, what is a rover? Why would we need to send a rover to Mars?"
I began to explain that a rover is a robot that collects data in the same way that the #Endurance22 Team used the AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) to collect data in the Weddell Sea when they located Shackleton's Endurance. This helped the students to understand the role a rover could play in place like Mars, a place that is not yet safe for humans to explore independently just as in the Weddell Sea. (PS 1 has a relationship with the Endurance22 Team and we had taken some recent periods to prepare for the release of the documentary.)
One student then inquired, "Ms. Mesk can we learn more about rovers next week?"
Without hesitating, I replied, "Absolutely."
The original curriculum that I used as a source for this unit did include a lesson on rovers and provided the materials so that students could create their own paper model of a rover. I adapted the lesson to connect to the weight limits we found consistently traveled the farthest when we launched our rockets. Students were able to construct their model rover, but could only add a limited amount of tools to their rovers so that they could take off from earth to land on Mars. After students constructed their rovers, they did some writing about their rover and the types of data it would collect.
Again, I could have brushed this request off, but I felt like it was the perfect bridge between our first unit on Aerospace Engineering and our second unit on Robotic Engineering. I framed our lesson on rovers as an opportunity to show how different types of engineers often need to collaborate to meet a shared goal. This moment of Self-Directed learning showed that the students in this class were searching for connections between the content in the STEAM lab and their own personal interests.
This class wound up starting the Robotics Unit a little later than the the other upper grade students, but I don't think they lost any opportunities. I actually think they gained an opportunity the other students didn't receive. Again, this was a resource available to me and I made the choice not to include it in my original design of the unit. However, had I included it for all Grade 3 and 4 students, it may have been a force-fit for the other classes.
This particular Grade 4 class had prior knowledge about rovers and were very curious about the connection between gravity, rockets, robots and rovers. It was a unique set of learning experiences and questions. I believe that teachers are not exclusive holders of knowledge in a classroom. They are facilitators and guides who should empower students to seek answers when they are curious.
"Student voice is already there. It's not something we give. It's something we honor. And we do when we listen." - Monte Syrie
I think that as teachers we often see teachable moments that we really want to embrace because of the passion coming from our students. I feel very lucky that as the STEAM Educator, I can respond to that moment and direct the students towards the path they are seeking. I don't think all teachers feel like they can respond in that way because of demands outside our classroom walls. I wish that honoring student voice and choice was not a novel experience in education.
I am so very excited for the upcoming 107 days of learning in the STEAM lab. I am curious to see how both my students and I grow as learners and leaders. I am eager to see how my vision for this school year unfolds, grows and changes in room 331.
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