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Learners engage in self-directed STEM learning guided by professional staff members who are effective facilitators of learning.
Learners engage in self-directed STEM learning guided by professional staff members who are effective facilitators of learning.
Student Led Discussions in Math Investigations and Math Congresses, Student Managed STEM Projects, & Self Directed STEM Centers and Challenges
At Cahaba Elementary School, all teachers facilitate learning experiences in which students have autonomy and opportunities to engage in collaboration and creative and critical thinking. In Standard 6, we discussed how we incorporate scaffolded inquiry from Kindergarten to 5th Grade. Students begin in Kindergarten with structured inquiry, in which teachers control the flow of the lesson and teach students how to collaborate and to think critically and creatively. As students graduate through each grade level, they transition into more autonomous types of inquiry, like controlled and guided inquiry, in which they apply the critical thinking processes they have learned and begin expressing their own creative thinking. By 5th grade students are able to engage in free and open based problem solving inquiry. They are choosing their own topics of inquiry and problem solving, using creative and critical thinking on their own, and not only managing their own learning, but directing their experience as well.
Scaffolded inquiry is the method we use to teach students to become creative thinkers and effective collaborators who can direct their own STEM learning experiences, but scaffolding isn’t effective unless students have opportunities to practice autonomous learning. So, each grade level provides students with opportunities to practice critical and creative thinking in different autonomous learning experiences like student-led discussions, student managed projects, and student directed centers and challenges.
STUDENT LED STEM DISCUSSIONS
STUDENT LED STEM DISCUSSIONS
MATH INVESTIGATIONS & MATH CONGRESSES
Teachers in every grade level facilitate student led STEM discussions with math investigations, math congresses, and number talks. These student-led discussion activities allow students to practice solving problems using critical and creative thinking skills in an autonomous learning experience.
MATH INVESTIGATIONS
Math investigations are one type of student-led discussion activity where students solve a problem using critical and creative thinking. All students at Cahaba are introduced to new concepts using math investigations. Math investigations are rigorous, investigative problems or tasks where students collaborate with peers and construct conceptual knowledge. These tasks have multiple entry points and a variety of solution strategies, allowing students at all levels to build on individual background knowledge. While students are participating in self-managed collaboration to complete these tasks, the teacher talks with students asking, assessing, and advancing questions and facilitating productive struggle. Math investigations are followed by a math congress or classroom discussion. The following links are examples of math investigations.
1st Grade Measurement Investigation
2nd Grade Adding/Subtracting 100 Investigation
3rd Grade Multiplication/Division Investigation
Math Investigations Picture Carousel
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MATH CONGRESS
Math congresses are another type of student-led discussion activity where students solve a problem using critical and creative thinking. Math congress is an instructional, discourse strategy where students are provided a forum to discuss and listen actively to one another’s solution strategies and thinking. It follows an investigative task where multiple entry points and solution strategies are evident. Students justify their own thinking and reflect on others’ thinking. It provides students with a positive and safe setting to share and challenge ideas. Students are reassured that their ideas are valued and contribute to the learning of the entire class. Usually, students gather in a designated location in a central classroom location (carpet area). The teacher role in math congress is to scaffold ideas through pre-selected student work, facilitate discussion by posing assessing and advancing questions, and guide students to formulate mathematical connections. After teachers pose a question, students lead the discussion. The teacher only guides them if they lose focus. Teachers utilize a combination of the following instructional practices to assess understanding and reinforce ideas and strategies communicated by students: use of hand signals to represent agreement/disagreement, turn-and-talk to reinforce understanding, and student restatement of others’ ideas. These quick allow teachers to see immediately whether or not students understand. Students also work with peers to help gain knowledge, understanding, and practice. Math congress focuses on developing mathematicians in the classroom rather than focusing solely on finding the correct answer. Students learn how to lead conversations and stay focused on the topic, back up their answers with evidence, and how to develop new problem solving techniques by thinking about how their computational strategies compare to others. Our curriculum includes math congress across all grade levels and units.
STUDENT MANAGED LESSONS & PROJECTS
STUDENT MANAGED LESSONS & PROJECTS
STUDENT MANAGED STEM LESSONS & PROJECTS
Student managed lessons and projects are another way all Cahaba Elementary School teachers facilitate autonomous learning experiences in which students engage in creative and critical thinking and collaboration. Teachers design a variety of lessons and projects in which students work individually, with peers, and in small groups so that students learn how to manage themselves, work with a partner, and be a part of a team.
Student Presentation to His Family
Thomas Rotenberry - ALABAMA OUTDOORS - END OF THE YEAR PROJECT - 7058486 - Google Slides.webm_________________________________________
INDIVIDUALLY DIRECTED STEM LESSONS & PROJECTS
First of all, students learn to take ownership of their own learning by demonstrating critical and creative thinking skills in self directed lessons and projects. Self-directed lessons and projects are completed by individual students, but allow students to get advice from other students and bounce ideas and suggestions off of each other. In the 5th grade Alabama Outdoor Family Vacation Project, students plan a 7 day/6 night family road trip to 3 to 5 Alabama parks, considering activities, gas, food, and other expenses for the whole family with a $4,000 budget. Then, they have to present the vacation plan to their families.
This activity is organized as a slideshow that guides the students through gathering data, organizing, planning, and research processes, but students have to make the choices, gather and organize the data, problem solve the issues, create the presentation products, and determine how to present the project to their families. Choices are driven by their own student-directed inquiry. For example, students have to determine which parks to visit based on the activities their families like or things they would like to see. They also have to create a Google Map showing the path of the road trip, so students determine the course of the trip considering time and gas efficiency and things they might like to see along the way. As students work on their projects, they discuss their choices with others to gain different ideas and perspectives about their planning. For example, two students collaborated with each other about how they could add an extra stop on the trip to see each other while keeping the trip within their budgets. Another pair of students have families who are friends. So, they collaborated to plan a trip in which the families travelled together. They planned it so that sometimes all the kids in both families were doing an activity and all the adults were participating in a different activity. Other times, the families were participating in different activities based on the things their families liked to do. They collaborated on the budget to reflect their co-family trip.
CO-DIRECTED STEM LESSONS & PROJECTS
Co-directed STEM lessons and projects are another technique teachers utilize in planning autonomous learning experiences for students to practice critical and creative thinking. Co-directed lessons and projects involve students working with a partner in an inquiry, investigation, or project. Some co-directed STEM lessons and projects are designed to give students autonomy in decisions but require them to use a specific process or practice. Other co-directed experiences allow students to choose the practice or process they will use to complete the task.
The 4th grade water filtration lesson is an example of a co-directed STEM investigative design project in which students must use an assigned process or practice, but make all the decisions about design and construction within the process. In this investigative design project, teams of students are provided with a plethora of materials and given a challenge or problem to solve, "Build a water filtration system that will successfully clean tainted water." Students had to work collaboratively to plan, research, design, and build an effective water filtration system and test the results. Then, as a class they discussed reasons some teams were successful and some were not. The teacher merely redirects discussion if it gets off topic or probes students with questions if students get stuck or begin having trouble leading the discussions. By the end, students are able to determine that improper research or layering of the components in the system were the reasons some were unsuccessful.
Water Filtration System Lesson
Windham Water Filtration System-001.mp4_________________________________________
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Cybersecurity - Encryption Lesson
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Some co-directed STEM learning experiences allow students to utilize their own methods and planning processes to solve a problem with very limited scaffolding. After learning about encryption, students pairs are put into a scenario where they must decrypt a secret message. Partners discuss what they learned about encryption, make plans, and apply strategies to be the first to decode the secret message. After the message is decoded, the winning pair discusses the planning and strategies they used to win the race. Other pairs discuss why their planning and strategies were less efficient or effective.
STEM TEAM LESSONS & PROJECTS
Finally, teachers at Cahaba create autonomous learning experiences in which students work in teams on lessons and projects to demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills. The 3rd grade Dilemma in Detroit investigative design project is an excellent example of a STEM Team project at Cahaba. In this investigative design project, students were divided up into groups of four. The teacher presents a brief of the problem-based scenario. Students learn that they must use the design process to design and build a gravity powered vehicle that is capable of traveling in a straight line for a distance of 6 meters. Each team uses Student Response Sheets that guides them through each step of the design process. The teacher simply monitors student teams to make sure they are staying on task. After every group completes testing, students are brought back into whole group to discuss how design impacted their results.
3rd Grade Dilemma in Detroit Investigative Design Project Lesson
3rd Grade Dilemma in Detroit Investigative Design Project Photos
Dilemma in Detroit Carousel
IMPACT OF AUTONOMOUS LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Autonomous learning experiences in which students can think critically and creatively allow students to practice important 21st century workforce development skills that will prepare them for the working world. In self-directed learning, students organize plan, and apply practices and processes to complete a task or project. They learn the importance of time management and meeting deadlines and begin taking pride and ownership in their own work. In co-directed learning, students add to their 21st century skills. They learn how to collaborate, communicate, negotiate, and comprise with a partner. They also learn how to divide up tasks to complete a project, come to understand the importance of completing their assigned tasks in the project, and learn to trust partners to complete their tasks. STEM team projects help students develop the ability to work with multiple people who have different personalities, ideas, and skills.
STUDENT DIRECTED CENTERS & CHALLENGES
STUDENT DIRECTED CENTERS & CHALLENGES
STEM BOXES, CENTERS, CHALLENGES, AND CHOICE BOARDS
STEM Boxes, Centers, Challenges, and Choice Boards are a third way in which students participate in self-directed STEM activities that foster critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills.
STEM BOXES
Many of our teachers have STEM Morning Boxes. These boxes have a design card and contain materials like gears, blocks, legos, and erector sets. The design cards are simple, open-ended, and introduce foundational engineering concepts, while allowing students to choose something they want to build for a specific purpose. For instance, they might be asked to build an amusement park ride for gummy bears using the gears or a car for Xmen using the erector sets.
STEM CENTERS
Many of our classroom teachers and specialists offer STEM Centers. Classroom teachers offer interdisciplinary STEM centers 1 - 2 days a week while they work with small groups or for enrichment time from 2:00 - 3:00. They also offer math centers called math workshops.
Photos of Classroom STEM Centers
In Math Workshops, students rotate through five different centers and complete designated independent tasks. One center is a teacher-led invitational group, but the other four centers are entirely self-directed. Teachers use formative assessments given throughout the unit to determine the types of centers in which students will participate. The teacher led center gives teachers the opportunity to reteach a concept from a formative feedback task or formative assessment, expand on a guided instruction/mini-lesson previously taught, expand on a problem set using debrief questions, review homework, reteach a concept, conduct a cumulative review, or provide other tasks specific to student needs. Self directed centers allow students to practice or expand upon concepts and skills they have learned in the unit.
1st Grade Adding & Subtracting Within 10 Math Workshop
2nd Grade Time, Shapes, and Fractions Math Workshop
3rd Grade Area and Multiplication Math Workshop
4th Grade Fractions Math Workshop
5th Grade Volume Math Workshop
The librarian and STEM/technology specialists offer STEM Centers as part of different units. STEM centers are rigorous, interdisciplinary, self-directed learning experiences in which students participate in investigative tasks or design projects about the unit topic. Students attend STEM Lab for 40 minutes once a week and they attend library for 40 minutes every other week. So, depending on the topic, centers are presented one of two ways in specialists' classes. In Library, student groups rotate through 4 - 6 STEM Centers in one class period. Each small group will travel to a new table with a different center every 5 - 10 minutes.
STEM Boxes, Centers, Challenges, and Choice Boards
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Covid Build It Challenge
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In STEM Lab, students participate in STEM centers in two different ways depending on the age group and type of supplies utilized in the centers. Kindergarten through 2nd grade classes utilize supplies and kits that can be deconstructed at the end of each class. So every class in this age group is divided into 6 groups of no more than 4 students who participate in one of six centers for the entire class period. Each week all six centers rotate to a new student group. Center rotations are complete in 6 weeks time when all 6 groups have participated in all 6 centers. 3rd - 5th grade classes participate in long term projects that take a few weeks to complete. So each grade level class participates in whole class centers and every 2 - 4 weeks classes rotate to a new class center. For example, there are four 4th grade classes at Cahaba. So, for 3 weeks, class A does the Solar Robots kits, class B does the architecture kits, class C constructs water filtration systems, and class D works on TynkerCad projects. After 3 weeks, all classes are finished with their center. So, the centers rotate to a new class until all 4 classes have participated in all 4 centers.
STEM centers begin with research or an investigation in order to create or report, and require students to apply a process and use STEM practices. The materials provided in the challenges require students to use out- of-the-box thinking to figure out how to accomplish the task with the materials given. Another key component of STEM Centers is that they necessitate communication, collaboration, and teamwork. Photos of STEM Lab Centers
STEM CHALLENGES
Our STEM/Technology Specialist offers STEM Challenges and competitions that are entirely student-centered, managed, and directed. Some STEM Challenges are simple intrinsic-learning challenges like the Code Warriors and Flash Typists challenges. The Code Warriors Challenge encourages students to complete grade level Code.org courses. Students who complete the course by the end of the year get their name on the Code Warrior Wall and are presented with a certificate at our end of the year awards ceremony. The Flash Typist Challenge is a competition in which students are encouraged to practice their typing skills in our Typing Club Program. Each week, the STEM teacher looks at the report for each class. The student at the top of the leader board with the highest words per minute and best accuracy gets their name displayed on the Flash Typists Leaderboard Wall for the week. Our students are highly competitive, it is not uncommon to see the leaderboard fluctuate between a large number of students in each class.
Code Warrior Wall
Flash Typists Wall
Still other challenges are enrichment challenges. These challenges are posted on our STEM Learning Platform on the announcements page and our students earn prizes for completing the challenge. There are many different enrichment challenges. One upper elementary grade level challenge is the "Rubik's Cube Challenge." Students are challenged to figure out the algorithm for solving a Rubik’s cube. A primary grade level challenge is our "Sunset Challenge" in which students take a picture at sunset and chart the time that the sun sets every night for a week. The "Build It" challenge encourages students to engineer their own products or to build their own robotics at home and to video the process or the product to share with the class.
Students Doing the Rubik's Cube Challenge
Rubik's Cube Challenge
20191017_130101.mp4STEM CHOICE BOARDS
Finally, students participate in self-directed learning at Cahaba using STEM Choice Boards. STEM Choice Boards are digital or paper charts that have different activities in each box. Students may be asked to select one or more activity boxes to do. STEM Choice Boards are offered to every grade level but are most utilized by our 2nd - 5th grade students. They are offered as Enrichment, rewards, fun at home, and special boards are created for the holidays. Some boards are digital and offer online simulations, games, activities, videos, and field trips activities. Other boards ask students to create things or complete tasks.
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