Instruction

Prior to adopting Project Lead the Way teachers and administrators attended a training that provided an overview of the program and project based applications. At that meeting, notes were taken and communicated to teacher leaders to assist in the implementation of those strategies.

Teachers are provided the opportunity to be trained on any equipment being used at the Imagination Lab. All teachers need to do is contact Tracy Ballinger, Director at Imagination Lab to arrange a training. The document above lists the technology that will be used during lessons so teachers are aware of the technology they are using.

Plainfield Community School Corporation hosts a staff retreat in Brown County, Indiana annually. At this retreat, teachers and administrators work together on STEM related topics. District administrators have companies like Discovery Education to attend this retreat to train staff members on project based learning strategies.

All Van Buren classroom teachers (23/23) use the STEM Design Thinking and Define Learning instructional approaches to teach students how to solve real-world problems. This is a spreadsheet below with the teacher roster, indication of instructional approaches used, and teacher evaluation rubric score for indicators related to use of instructional approaches in STEM instruction. There are also examples of lessons teachers taught that lent themselves well to using specific problem-solving approaches.

In this interesting 3rd grade lesson, the teachers collaborate with the school counselor to teach students about wellness. This lesson connects human biology, physiology, and psychology to show students benefits of a healthy lifestyle and positive mindset. The goal is for students to regulate their emotions better.

First grade students explore the sequential nature of computer programs through hands-on activities, both with and without a computer. They examine key aspects of storytelling and devise how to transition a narrative from page to screen. Students develop an understand of the how programming works through hands-on activities.

Teachers use the instructional approach they learned from the Design Thinking training to both develop and teach lessons. Below is an example of one that teachers have created themselves provides autonomy and ownership of the STEM curriculum. This piece of evidence is a design thinking project created by second grade teachers combining science and reading. The students conduct scientific investigations and read articles and nonfiction text on states of matter.

The document above is an agenda for a team leader meeting held on March 3, 2021. Project Lead the Way expectations were discussed at this meeting among team leaders. The following items were discussed:

• Grade level teams need to communicate the second semester module being completed

• It will be expected to complete a Project Lead the Way module every quarter during the 2021-2022 school year

The example above is a lesson plan for a Quarter 3 Defined STEM activity. In this activity, kindergarten students learned about marine biologists; specifically how they study penguins.

Our second grade students and teachers completed a Project Lead the Way entitled My Changing Earth. In this module students learned about map usage and how erosion impacts Earth. The document above highlights the lesson, as well as provides student reflection and pictures.

To the right, fifth graders participated in a STEM group project based on the movie Home Alone. Each member of the group had a specific role as they completed the project. Included is an overview of the STEM project, and a student roles data collection form. Students were also given the opportunity to reflect on their roles and provide a self-assessment, and were then provided with a teacher feedback document.

To the left is an example of a group project that third graders completed. After reading about Bigfoot, their task was to engineer a viewing stand in their groups.

This 3rd Grade STEM group activity record form demonstrates student defined roles (STEM Viewing Stand Project).

The Teacher Feedback Document evaluates the groups' work incorporating student self-assessment information. (3rd Grade STEM Viewing Stand Project).

Kindergarten students worked together as they learned about coding. In this example, students were tasked with moving animals to their food and shelter.

Fourth graders were tasked with a Turkey Snowman STEM Project. Each student was given a role, data collection form, and teacher feedback and evaluation.

Second and Third Grade Students were provided the opportunity to learn about Ozobots at the Imagination Lab. In the lesson plan above, students are tasked with turning their Ozobot into a pet to complete various tasks.

In this Project Lead the Way module, fourth grade students practice steps in coding by creating steps for "Rosie the Dog". Students role played on a life size grid as they acted out the part of Rosie.

At the Imagination Lab, fifth grade students practice computer programming by using software to develop algorithms. On this lesson, students used software to send text and graphics to their Microbits.

Virtual Reality: While at the Imagination Lab, Van Buren 3rd grade students engaged in virtual reality experiences. Students used virtual reality goggles to practice mindfulness. They would use glasses to take themselves to calming locations such as the ocean, a river, a lake. While there students would pause and use calming breathing techniques.

Above is a sample lesson plan a first grade lesson integrating STEM into Language Arts Curriculum.

Third Grade teachers conducted an animal adaptations project while they completed their adaptations unit from their Science book. In this project, students chose an environment and an animal to communicate that animal's adaptations. Included in this evidence are the directions and rubric used to evaluate student projects.

All kindergarten students read books with their families and created a pumpkin that looks like the main character. Each student also filled out a paper identifying what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the book. They presented their pumpkin character and reports to their class. Each student set up a display so the 1st and 2nd graders could come and look at their work.

First Grade students read about the sunflower life cycle. Students investigated and dissected sunflowers. They also made crafts detailing the life cycle of a sunflower. Students took sunflower seeds home to plant. Students ate sunflower seeds.

Every year, Van Buren Elementary students have Fall parties planned by our PTO. This year, our PTO integrated a STEM challenge into the party---students are to build a structure out of gummy pumpkins. The document above is an agenda with minutes of a recent PTO meeting where the Fall Parties were discussed.

In this lesson, First Grade students read about various sounds. After reading about the sounds, students were asked to create a bee hummer to make their contraption sound like a swarm of bees.

One of the many ways, Van Buren integrates STEM into our school is arranging for outside organizations to come in and speak. Inserted above are pictures from two different organizations speaking about their animals:

• The top pictures depict Green Bean, an African Penguin from the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky. Green Bean visited the students at Van Buren, and the students got to learn all about African Penguins by listening, seeing and touching Green Bean.

• The bottom pictures depict the organization, Barn Hill Preserve. The Barn Hill Preserve organization brought some of their animal ambassadors for our students to learn about and view.