Teaching & Learning in a Pandemic: Spring 2021

Teaching STEAM at the Elementary Level

By: Laurie Ummels

Learning Targets

At the end of this lesson, readers will be able to explain the importance of having a STEAM class in elementary education.

At the end of this lesson, we will learn how Abby, the STEAM teacher, adjusted her teaching during the pandemic.

Abby had to get creative in figuring out items to use, which the students would already have at home to make projects.
Abby had to work even harder to encourage and motivate her students to want to do projects since they aren’t physically together.
Abby has noticed that it is even harder for the younger ones as they need someone to help them. Therefore, she has had to rethink some ideas.

STEAM: an educational class based on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics to improve critical thinking

STEAM class consist of:

creative activities
hands on group projects
expands your thinking/brainstorming
promotes STEAM inspired jobs

The purpose of STEAM is to expand the minds of young children. It helps with critical thinking, teamwork, social skills, and problem solving. According to Leo (2016) “Creativity is the most important ability in the 21st century.” With that being said STEAM is an important part of education. You can tell a difference from going from not having a STEAM class to having one. The students start to get more creative than ever before. According to Kroeger (2016) “STEAM creates the students to become tomorrow's movers and shakers.” This is something that all elementary kids should be learning all across the world.

Interview

The person that I interviewed for my lesson is Abby Cockrell. Abby is the elementary STEAM teacher at Suffolk Christian Academy. As my topic is "Teaching STEAM at the elementary level", Abby has knowledge and experience in this subject. STEAM is a fairly new class to the school, but she does an amazing job teaching it. You have to have someone pretty creative to teach this class. If you ever met her, you would immediately know this is her. While doing the interview with her, she gave the impression that, although there are challenges to this virtual platform, it is a task that can be accomplished. You have to put in a lot of creativity for these students for it to work.

Takeaway 1

She learned to get creative during the pandemic with online teaching.

When the pandemic first began, no one knew what was going to happen. Teachers had to quickly learn and adjust, switching from classroom teaching to a virtual platform. Whether it was on Zoom classes or lessons being sent home. STEAM is one of the harder classes to adjust as it is a hands on class. Abby made the comment that STEAM was a fairly new class so most of her projects she found online or on Pinterest.. However, she wasn't able to do all the projects that she would normally do. She had to think of what students would have at home, as she couldn't provide them with the supplies they needed (A. Cockrell, personal communication, February 18, 2021).

Takeaway 2

She learned new ways to encourage her students from a computer screen.

For younger students, it was difficult for them to understand the changes at the beginning of the pandemic. Why can I not play with my friends anymore? Why is all my school online? When am I going back to school? From attending school everyday to just seeing each other on a computer screen, it makes it difficult. When you’re in the physical classroom it’s a lot easier to interact with one another. During the interview, Abby stated “It is a lot harder trying to encourage a student to be excited and motivated about a project while they are not with you physically.” (A. Cockrell, personal communication, February 18, 2021). You have to think outside of the box. Especially when it comes to preschool age.

Takeaway 3

She learned to adjust teaching the younger ones online and doing activities they could enjoy.

Anyone who works with young kids or even having young kids of their own knows that it’s hard for them to do work alone. They aren’t able to read, they are just learning to write, they need things explained to them more than older kids do, etc.. Not all parents were able to stay home with their kids, making it more difficult to do projects over zoom with students. If everyone was in a classroom it’s simple to walk around, helping and explaining what needs to be done. However, this was not the case. She had to rethink some of her ideas as some things could not be accomplished.

Conclusion

Based on the information I have gathered, I believe that STEAM should be a top priority class in all elementary schools. Even going through a pandemic, these STEAM educators have been able to adapt to provide the best learning experience for the students. According to Linder and Eckhoff (2020) “STEAM helps provide children to approach problems in a new way.” I like this a lot, as right now we are having to approach the problem of learning in a new way. We need to understand that it is harder for students to learn during the pandemic. However, it is possible. We have to keep learning fun and engaging for them. Based on my interview with Abby, her experiences were successful with online learning, considering the circumstances. She stated that “She uses computer programs, games, and videos in her lessons.” (A. Cockrell, personal communication, February 18, 2021) That made it easier for online teaching as they could do all of that on their own. Overall, STEAM is a great resource option for elementary students.

Questions

STEAM class helps students to:

a. Develope social skills

b. Problem solving skills

c. Think outside the box

d. All of the above

What grade has been the hardest to adjust to the virtual learning?

a. Fourth grade

b. Kindergarten

c. Ninth grade

d. Sixth grade

Answers

1. d

2. c

References

Kroeger, J. (2016, August 1). College of Education. Importance of STEM Education in Elementary School | College of Education. https://education.fsu.edu/importance-stem-education-elementary-school.

Leo, C. (2016, October 18). From interdisciplinary to transdisciplinary: An arts-integrated approach to steam education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043125.2016.1224873?journalCode=uare20.

Linder, S. M., & Eckhoff, A. (2020, February). NAEYC. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/feb2020/breaking-down-steam.

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