Employing Science Standards

Employing Science Practices

How can we employ the Science Practices to develop our STEAMwork for the upcoming STEAM Theme Days at Fifth Grade?

Our team will meet soon at PLC to discuss our STEAM efforts. As we discuss this, I hope we can think about how to more deeply develop our efforts using The Science Practices. The chart above will help us.

To start, I think we can do the following:

Plan Prep: Ask Questions, Investigate, and Collaborate

There's a certain amount of reading, research, and study that will set the stage for the real world hands-on investigation. We need to decide on the materials we use and who and how we'll lead that preparation. During this prep, I think we should help teams to develop a good structure and process for the investigation by explicitly discussing what good collaboration looks like. We also need to explicitly discuss the value and process of questioning as well as the investigation time line and process.

Use Math

In math class, I'll match the investigations math needs and process with our current topic focus and learning for all.

Investigation Process and Roles: Design a Model, Argue, and Analyze

In order to complete all of the practices above, we may want to institute the following roles:

• Lead Engineer: The person who leads the design process and collects and organizes the materials.
• Lead Designer/Discussion Facilitator: The individual who draws and labels the model on big paper.
• Lead Writer/Discussion Coordinator: The person who leads the discussion, shared Google doc writing of the argument, and video presentation.
• Lead Presenter/Videographer: The person who video tapes all aspects of the project and puts together the final presentation.

Presentation: Explain, Present, and Respond to Questions

Teams present to one another and field questions. The presentations are also shared with family members via our newsletter. We could possibly invite family members in for the presentations if time permits.

I want to think more with my team about these titles and roles. I'll look around to see what other roles people use in this regard. I also want to think about our roll-out process and steps in the days to come. I welcome your thoughts and ideas.