Standard 1

PES students engage in STEM learning experiences that integrate all STEM disciplines with an emphasis on processes and practices associated with STEM.

Paine's students engage in STEM learning experiences that integrate STEM disciplines and emphasize processes for problem solving. 

Engineering Design Process 


One way that all learners at Paine Elementary consistently engage in STEM process and practices is through the use of our common district-adopted problem solving model - the Engineering Design Process (EDP). In 2017, Alabama rolled out our new AL Digital Literacy Computer Science (DLCS) standards for elementary schools. In response, TCS began providing professional development to support these standards, and looking at current models of the Engineering Design Process (EDP) in order to create a graphic for Trussville students. This graphic would be used across the district to guide the process of strategically solving problems. 

All elementary STEM teachers and Lead Technology Teachers (LTTs) received initial training in the use of the EDP. The LTTs brought this learning back to teachers at Paine to start building a foundation of STEM practices in our classrooms, and STEM Lab teachers began introducing it to our students. Posters of Trussville's model for the EDP can be found in our STEM lab, STREAM Studio, and in many teachers' classrooms throughout the building.
 

For 30 minutes each week in the STEM Lab, students in all grades are scheduled to participate in activities related to the Engineering Design Process. In addition, the EDP is used in science and math classroom lessons and integrated projects, in extracurricular school STEM experiences, like ENRICH, and in our new STREAM Studio. 


The internal review allowed us to look at some data pieces to see how we have grown in our STEM EDP instruction. In our old pacing guides for elementary student's technology classes before implementing the EDP, we noticed that students were not receiving instruction specific to problem solving. As a result, we began explicit instruction in the steps of the EDP and students are now getting more experience and are becoming more effective users of the EDP, as seen in our current pacing guides.    

Mrs. Brandon's STEM students in the imagine phase of the EDP

Mrs. Benson's STEM students in the plan phase of the EDP

Mrs. Benson's STEM students in the create phase of the EDP

We have observed improvement in our students’ understanding of how to break apart a problem and work toward solving it, though we have noticed some steps in the process seem to come easier to some students than others. Observational evidence shows that students feel confidence and eagerness in the create phase - they want to skip research and planning and jump right in and start creating. As a result of students’ struggles with the planning stage of the EDP, we plan to intentionally design lessons that provide practice at this stage to increase their understanding the importance of this phase. Conversations have also revealed that having sufficient time needed to deeply explore the testing phase, the redesign phase, and the making improvements phase of the EDP. Storage of projects for over 1300 students is also a challenge for our STEM program. Reflections on these observations have resulted in our seeking and examining solutions for our time challenges to better provide students opportunity to experience these critical parts of the EDP. Solutions we have found include breaking up projects over multiple days, and including more digitally-based challenges to reduce the need for project storage in our large school


In addition to STEM lab and the use of the EDP in classroom, problem-solving in STEM has become more ingrained in the practices at Paine through the creation this year of our STREAM Studio. This space provides resources and a larger space for creating and storage of projects, and you will find a large replica of our Engineering Design Process on the wall to help guide all the work that takes place there. The school media specialist has purchased more STEM kits, STEM related books and robotics to allow more opportunity for student engagement in this space. Teachers received specific professional development in the proper use of the STREAM Studio for additional STEM related lessons. In these initial stages of use, we are encouraging our teachers to collaborate with our school media specialist to help scaffold the design of STEM challenges that incorporate their curriculum. So far, the usage of this space for STEM experience has increased every month as evidenced by our reservation calendar. STEM skills will become even more ingrained as we continue to develop and implement our STREAM studio for student use at Paine Elementary School.  

STREAM Studio school logo

   

Teacher EDP training in STREAM Studio

4th grade STEM Lab students using the EDP to design cars

3rd grade STEM Lab students coding challenge using Dash and Dot

5th grade STEM Lab students going through the design process using Exraordinaires

scheduled STEM Lab 


Another way that students at Paine Elementary experience STEM learning experiences and participate in STEM processes and practices is by attending class in our STEM Lab on a weekly basis.  Our school's weekly schedule has our students regularly engaged in a STEM curriculum that systematically integrates the Engineering Design Process (EDP), the AL Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards (DLCS) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  


When the DLCS standards were released, we realized that the curriculum we were teaching in our technology course for K-5 no longer was sufficient to provide students all of the hard and soft skills they would need to be successful in STEM careers. As a result, STEM lab class was specifically created and replaced the technology class in 2017, so that all students could engage and grow in STEM learning experiences. Now all Paine K-5 students participate in STEM with a professional STEM teacher for 30 minutes on a weekly basis.  


STEM units and lessons are designed by our STEM teachers, are closely aligned to the DLCS, and integrate at least two STEM disciplines in addition to literacy and fine arts standards, as well. These integrated lessons incorporate multiple disciplines: engineering design, coding and computational thinking, measurement, estimation, literacy, art. When designing our lessons, we refer to the state course of study for science and math to ensure that our lessons support and integrate the learning students are doing in these areas. Some example of student experiences include:


Because of the level of engagement that these experiences provide for students, teachers have expressed interest in having a dedicated place to provide more extensive STEM experiences for their students, as well. As a result, this year, we have developed the STREAM Studio, discussed further in Standard 6. This new space and the professional development for teachers in using it is an exciting and powerful new step for us in ingraining STEM practices throughout our school.

5th Grade STEM Lab student displaying his 3D Design in Tinkercad

3th grade STEM Lab students partner coding using block programming

Kindergarten student in STEM Lab demonstrating having met criteria for Iggy Peck design challenge

4th Grade students test prosthetic fins they designed after sharing the book Winter's Tail. 

Kindergarten Art students performing experiments integrating science and art

5th Grade Music students integrating technology, math, and music

1st Grade students design a communication device to explore sound science standards. 

Classroom projects and content


  A final way that all students at Paine Elementary experience STEM learning experiences and participate in STEM processes and practices is through integrated classroom projects designed by our teachers. Throughout our building, you can find experiences that integrate STEM with our social studies, science, math, and literacy standards. Grade levels are provided common planning times to design experiences for our students like the following: 

Because of the design of our science and math curriculum and the design our specials schedule, we know that 100% of our students are getting regular exposure to quality STEM experiences on a weekly basis. Work that we have done as a faculty - professional development for STREAM Lab, integrating computational thinking into curriculum, ENRICH classes, Engineering Design Process professional development, and building-wide STEM events - have proven to further ingrain understanding and use of STEM processes and practices with our students.