STEAM Curriculum
The STEAM Curriculum promotes critical thinking in children ages 8-12 while engaging in fun activities.
STEAM Time directly relates 21st-century skills: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. There are several components to each class. The students who participate are disappointed when the class ends, as they are having so much fun in engaging activities, which they rarely get to experience in a school setting.
Some examples of what a STEAM class includes:
messages sent in secret code
math puzzles and riddles
science experiments
engineering challenges, which include planning, implementing, and improving
brainstorming - focus on Many, Varied, and Unusual responses
improvisational acting - scene starters lead to collaboration, creative thinking, and a funny skit
“STEAM Time directly relates 21st-century skills: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. There are several components to each class, described in detail below. The students who participate are disappointed when the class ends, as they are having so much fun in engaging activities, which they rarely get to experience in a school setting.”
Secret Codes: Students receive a message written in code. They have to decipher what kind of code it is (letter before, letter after, box code, space code, etc.), then write a message back to me in the same code. This involves trial and error, perseverance, and pattern recognition. The step of writing a message back in code is applying what they just figured out while producing a new message, a daunting task. Help is given every step of the way, as needed.
Math Riddles/Puzzles: These range from tricky word problems with a twist to early algebra to logic problems. All involve deductive reasoning and critical thinking, packaged in a way that tickles the children’s brains just enough to motivate them to keep going.
Science Experiments: It is essential to distinguish between a science demonstration and a science experiment. A demonstration shows an interesting physical phenomenon; for example, a cloud in a jar or a tornado in a bottle are cool things to create. To turn this into an experiment, students record the steps and their thought processes in a small book AND subsequently change one variable. They then compare (and record) the results to the original data. By conducting these experiments simultaneously, students feel a sense of community, curiosity, and shared learning. These are fascinating examples of physical science that engage children in inquiry-based science. This is designed to increase their wonder about the world – the opposite of content-based instruction filling them with factual information.
Engineering Challenges: Through the process of planning, implementing, and improving on their designs, students engage in the complete design process. Then, they communicate what they build to the group. Other members offer positive feedback on specific aspects of the products their peers create. This could involve paper and masking tape, Legos, toothpicks and marshmallows, or other easy-to-find materials.
Brainstorming: Different from typical brainstorming, this activity is designed to promote divergent and outside-of-the-box thinking. Students stretch their brains to find ideas that are Many, Unusual, and Varied about a specific topic. Then, they share the ideas one at a time. The other group members evaluate whether each idea is common or different, promoting higher-level thinking and active listening.
Show Me the Funny: This improvisational acting activity involves children devising a short skit about a specific event. Students collaborate and develop ideas, find ways to include all participants, do a run-through while fine-tuning the ideas, and then perform the skit for an audience (family members or parents who may be available). This is usually the favorite activity, requiring collaboration, creative thinking, memorizing a sequence, and presentation skills.
The session lasts 75 minutes, and we often don’t get to all of the activities. The goal is deeper learning and thinking, not speed. Prior to the class, families are informed of the simple materials needed for the science and engineering components.