Using a STEM activity in classrooms and more importantly the entire STEM philosophy seems to be really gaining momentum in my school district…and being a middle school math and science teacher I couldn’t be more excited. The STEM philosophy really blends well with my style of “hands on” teaching.

There is one problem though…the Stem Philosophy doesn’t currently lend itself well to our current provincial mandated curriculum…meaning…there aren’t a whole lot of STEM resources for me as a middle school Science and Math teacher to use…

Before I go any further into today’s blog post I guess I should explain…

What Is STEM Education

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications.

Elaine J. Hom, LiveScience Contributor

So now that you have a better understanding of exactly what STEM education is, let’s get back to my current problem…lack of a “print and go STEM activity”…

Earlier this week I had a double science block and a group of kids who needed to finish up their unit work…not to mention I was in a bit of a time crunch…knowing that we didn’t have any STEM resources on hand I asked myself…

What’s a teacher to do when you need a STEM activity are there are no resources available?

My answer is usually to create them myself, however, as I mentioned above…I was in a bit of a time crunch…so I turned to the place I knew would have teacher tested – student friendly STEM resources all ready to print and go for me! Teachers Pay Teachers…and let me tell you there are some AMAZING STEM activities out there!

(On a side note…I can definitely say that this summer will be spent creating a bunch of Middle School STEM teaching resources!)

So after a quick search on Teachers Pay Teachers I bought this STEM product from TPT seller Smart Chick.

This STEM activity suited me perfectly…Seeing as though this was an off the cuff activity I needed a STEM activity which required very few materials.

Smart Chick wrote in her TPT product description that all I needed was a medium sized stuffed toy but seeing as our school follows the FISH philosophy, I felt it fitting to use our stuffed fish (aren’t they just the cutest…if you’d like your own set of these FISH, you can get these little guys here).

So, I bought and downloaded the STEM activity and quickly came up with a little nonsensical story about how our fish was in grave danger and needed to be protected from the scary dinosaur. I further explained that the only way to keep our fish safe and protected was to build magical chairs that needed to be taller than the dinosaur.

My students thought the story was quite funny and we all had a good laugh….they think I’m silly and I’m O.K. with that…that’s why they pay me the big bucks…lol!

Anyhow, I next divided my kiddos into teams of 5 and sent them off to build their magical chairs!

As I roamed around the classroom what I witnessed next was…well…truly magically…

kids collaborating and brainstorming different ideas and strategies of how they were going to build their magical chairs to save their fish.

I was witnessing STEM education first hand and knew I somehow needed to incorporate more STEM activities!

The lesson was a complete success. The children were 100% engaged with the content and were not only able to absorb it but create practical solutions.

So, here are the final magical dinosaur-protecting fish chairs my students designed!

A few of my kiddos decided that as a happy ending they should all have magical chairs…hence the extra magical chairs for the crazed sword wielding bad guy, our ravenous bunny, our demented soldier and of course our fish eating dinosaur…who all ended up living happily ever after because of their magical chairs!

I love teaching middle school!