Building Meaningful Projects - Week 3: How to Use One STEM Challenge Across Subjects
Turn a single hands-on challenge into a rich learning experience covering science, math, writing, and beyond.
This is Week 3 of a 4-week series dedicated to explaining how to build and apply meaningful STEM-based challenges that evoke deep thought and a love of learning.
You have a great idea… the perfect idea… and you’re ready to turn it into a powerful STEM challenge.
So how do you layer in the academics in a way that makes logical sense?
Why Integration Matters
The primary objective of STEM challenges is to apply the knowledge your learner has gained towards solving a real-world problem. Achieving that goal requires knowledge from several disciplines, not just a single subject.
When you think about it, the parallels to modern-day careers become clear:
Engineers use math and science to design, and then report on their findings
Doctors use biology to diagnose medical issues, and communicate new findings in medical journals
Graphic designers use art and math to create their designs and price their work
It is rare that you find a career that solely depends on mastery of a single academic subject.
One of the greatest benefits of STEM challenges is gaining an understanding of the interaction between subjects. Solving a challenge requires a multi-disciplinary approach. A perfect example is sketching a prototype — the sketch itself is a form of art, but math is needed to determine its dimensions, angles, and proportions.
How to Plan a Cross-Subject Challenge
At the core of building a cross-subject challenge is a singular goal:
Take a real-world, open-ended challenge and wrap multiple subject areas around it.
It sounds simple, but takes thoughtful planning to successfully build a challenge. The key is to interrelate the subjects together while tying them back to this challenge so that the challenge serves as the hub of a wheel and the subjects form the spokes.
Step 1 — Start with a real-world challenge that promotes deep thinking
We covered design and selection of different types of challenges in Week 1 and Week 2 of this series. This thought-provoking challenge is the centerpiece of your project.
Step 2 — Identify the subjects and core concepts within each subject
Ask yourself:
What are the natural academic questions that arise from this challenge?
How can these subjects interrelate to enhance the learning accomplished within the project?
You don’t need to include every subject in every project, but here are a few examples to help you build out your projects:
Step 3 — Map out the activities for each subject
Now that you’ve identified the relevant subjects and core concepts, how will you leverage them to bring learning to life? This step culminates in a series of tasks that will help guide your learner through these key concepts. Here are some examples for a challenge that involves an object rolling down a ramp:
Science: Predict how object weight and starting height affect distance traveled. After testing, explain the forces involved.
Math: Measure the object’s travel distance. Track attempts. Graph results and calculate average distance.
Writing: Write a reflection: What worked? What failed? What would you change?
Art: Sketch your design. Label each part and explain what it does.
Social Studies: Relate the project to historical events and research the similarities. For instance, how did ancient civilizations use simple machines to build large structures?
Step 4 — Plan for reflection and revision
As learners tackle your challenge, how can you set them up to accomplish the deep learning that will anchor their newfound knowledge while cross-correlating the subjects you’ve touched on?
This will likely necessitate some level of analysis to determine what worked successfully, where improvements can be made, and how to communicate results or findings.
Prompts can be useful to stimulate thought and avoid situations where learners aren’t able to quite understand the learning that occurred. Here are a few examples:
“What was the biggest challenge you faced? Which scientific force added to that challenge?”
“What surprised you during testing? How could a sketch help you easily understand the math or science that can improve your design?”
“How did your research on ancient civilizations help to brainstorm various design concepts?”
Here is a sample reflection page including areas to sketch, tabulate data, and reflect on prompts:
Step 5 — Keep it flexible and scaffolded
While this post has touched on several subjects to assist with project generation, not every challenge has to incorporate every subject every time. Instead, let it flow naturally, incorporating the subjects that make sense for your challenge.
As a rule of thumb, depth is often more important than breadth. Covering two to three subjects well often leads to better outcomes than trying to touch on five subjects superficially.
Finally, don’t be afraid to work with the learners as they tackle the challenge. If their solutions tend more towards math instead of science, or if they’d rather record a video than write about their experiences, roll with it. The learning will happen, and they’ll be so much better off for it than if they had just completed worksheets covering a single subject.
Here’s a simple planning template to help:
Final Thoughts: Learning Isn’t Accomplished in Silos
Real life isn’t broken into subjects, and the best learning shouldn’t be either. When kids apply knowledge from multiple subjects towards an engaging challenge, vague concepts become tangible as they aid in sketching, designing, and building a prototype.
And hearing their excitement as they explain what they’ve accomplished to others? Truly rewarding.
— Greg
In our final week we’ll explore how to use one STEM challenge for group learning and also across several sessions, maximizing the learning from a single, very powerful challenge.