STEM, which is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, includes areas of study that are important for students of all ages to interact with. Pressure to increase the prevalence of STEM programs in schools sits alongside the ever-present reality of the current teacher shortage.

The impact of this deficit is felt annually as schools scramble to employ qualified individuals to teach STEM courses. Most school administrators attempting to strengthen their STEM-course offerings aim to add teachers who can make the content engaging and relevant to increase student interest.

How can Ethical Thinking Impact STEM Learning?

Breadth in the potential of studies that live under the umbrella of STEM can be beneficial to human life or detrimental to the world in which we live. It is beneficial when it is approached to improve the quality of life and the world around us; a curse when that desire for improvement is closed off too soon with a “by any means necessary” approach, as in the possibility that the study may cause physical, mental, or emotional harm to the subjects. This fine line that lies between doing what is right and wrong is why ethical thinking is essential in STEM and research. It creates the needed balance between researching to make discoveries for man’s good and self-fulfilling research at the detriment of man.

Cutting-edge discoveries in the studies within the scope of STEM have the power to help our country. Our nation’s armed forces can be strengthened or weakened, our ability to provide adequate healthcare can be hindered or advanced, and our progress with space exploration can continue to be progressive or regressive. Reasons such as those dictate the need to ensure that ethical thinking is embedded in our STEM curriculum.

Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning (SEL) has exploded in recent years as educators work to find solutions to meet the children’s needs. The need to build empathetic, socially and emotionally balanced decision-makers drives the work of SEL in our schools. Several social-emotional learning frameworks encompass several competencies, but responsible decision-making is found in most.

This focus on ensuring that our students are responsible as they make decisions directly correlates to ethical thinking in STEM. If our students are taught to be responsible, they will be more likely to make ethical decisions if they enter into a STEM field. Just as integrated units of studies are utilized for disciplines such as English language arts and social studies, the integration of SEL into STEM classes will aid in teaching our students that being effective in STEM is beyond being good in math, science, and technology. It is also utilizing those strengths in a manner that aids in the betterment of mankind and never at the detriment of your neighbor.

Strategies to Develop Students’ Ethical Thinking

Incorporate Real World Examples

It is imperative that as we are teaching students to be ethical thinkers in STEM, we allow them to examine real-world situations. Examining real scenarios provides learners with the chance to witness firsthand some of the decisions that must be made out in the field each day.

Furthermore, they are given an opportunity to analyze the decisions that have been made and determine if said decision was the best course of action related to positively impacting the world around them. Examining the examples also provides the students with situations to reflect upon when they consider how to solve STEM-related problems.

Integrate STEM Assignment Choices

An effective way to engage learners in the learning process is to allow them a choice to display their knowledge. This idea of choice is also a sound practice as we work to develop students’ ethical thinking. Providing students with the opportunity to decide what problems they would like to tackle and allowing them time to think through how to solve the selected problem helps build independent thinking.

It also pushes learners to consider and examine ethical ways to solve problems. Once the choice has been made, provide space for the students to articulate their reasoning for their selection and their method for solving the problem. Incorporate room for discussions focused on their use of ethical reasoning as they worked.

Expert Experience

It is a sound practice to invite field experts into the learning space to discuss their work in STEM. Require the guests to come and address the students on the successes and pitfalls of working in the field. Ask them to share situational scenarios they have personally encountered. Have them explain and walk the students through their process of making ethical decisions in STEM while still getting the best results. Finally, have students ask clarifying questions to fully understand the magnitude of making decisions that are not ethical in STEM.

Build Collaborative Peer Teams

Teaching students to utilize peer teams as they maneuver through ideas for solving STEM-related problems can be highly beneficial. It provides them with a sounding board to examine every angle of a problem and decide on the best course of action.

Through collaborative peer teams, the learners can have a partner to help them problem-solve for the correct answers, but more importantly, someone to help them reason and weigh their decisions for ethical value. Peer teams aid in reminding students that as they engage in STEM-related work, others depend on them to make ethical decisions that will benefit the world around them.

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There are many benefits to STEM learning in the classroom. STEM is something we see more frequently in our classrooms to prepare students for an advanced future and stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Why is STEM learning important? Well, it is used to push students forward in their learning. There are many benefits associated with implementing STEM, such as improving creativity, increasing collaboration, condoning critical thinking, and boosting curiosity and cognitive skills.

Thinking “Outside the Box”

Students are prompted to come up with their own ideas and immerse in more inquiry-based learning. They strive to answer their own questions so that they do not rely on teacher guidance as much and tap into their engineering side.

Collaboration

Through increased collaboration, students tend to improve communication and leadership skills. They communicate with one another to talk through problems and scenarios to learn and grow together.

Critical Thinking

STEM Learning condones critical thinking. Thus, students actively conceptualize problems and relate to the world around them. They also use logic to reach conclusions and make judgments in different situations.

Creativity and Cognitive Skills

This is where students begin to open their imaginations. If students are curious about their education, they may be more likely to make unique discoveries. When engaged in STEM subjects, students can develop and strengthen their cognitive skills. From there, students can potentially learn the basics of advanced concepts such as coding or engineering.

Inexpensive STEM Challenges

There are many STEM challenges that are inexpensive and time-friendly that students can complete.

Paper Airplane Challenge

The challenge is to make a paper airplane that can carry cargo and glide more than ten feet. In this challenge, the “cargo” are coins. The winner is the student who can fly the most amount of money! Materials for the challenge include:

• Construction paper
• Tape
• Handfuls of coins
• An open doorway

Two different parts make up the entire challenge. In the first part, the students should aim for accuracy; the planes need to fly through a target successfully. The steps to complete this first part are as follows: use tape to mark a line on the floor ten feet from the doorway that is being used. Then, stretch a piece of tape across the door about a fourth of the way from the doorway top. At this point, students will throw their airplanes, attempting to fly over the tape and not run into the wall. The winner is the one that is the most accurate with the heaviest plane (the most amount of money, in coins.)

In the second part, the goal is to fly the furthest distance. The steps are as follows: use tape to make a starting line on the ground or floor. Then, determine what “in-bounds” is based on your surroundings. Students all start with the same weight on the paper airplanes and take turns throwing for distance. You should mark the planes’ landing positions with a marker if multiple rounds are played. The winner is the one who threw their plane the longest distance.

Play-Doh Marble Run

There are two parts to this challenge. The first part incorporates Play-Doh, cups, and craft sticks. It is recommended for ages ten and up in groups or slightly younger if adult assistance is provided.

The students must build a marble run with a Play-Doh path. The paper cups come in handy for support, and they can be cut and customized to fit as appropriate. The Play-Doh should be easy to mix and mold. Per marble run, you’ll need four to five containers of play dough. You can also be creative and make your Play-Doh. As far as a base for the marble run, a cheap cookie sheet works, is sturdy, and is easy to clean and use again. This type of marble run takes about 45 minutes for completion.

The other part of this challenge is to utilize only a cookie sheet and Play-Doh. This may be more suitable for ages six and up. The setup for this challenge is simple: all you need to do is prop up one end of the sheet and you’re ready to go. Then, roll the Play-Doh into long shapes like long, skinny snakes and roll the marble down!

Straw Roller Coaster

A final challenge that incorporates STEM is building a straw roller coaster. Materials needed include:

• Cardboard box (sturdy base)
• Solid-colored straws
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun/glue sticks
• Ping pong ball
• A bowl to catch straws at the bottom (optional)

Adult assistance is needed with the hot glue; the recommended age for this challenge is eight and up.

Adult assistance may also be needed initially to get the track going, and then students should be okay going forward. A good tip: remember to hold the straws in place for several seconds until the hot glue dries. Also, building from the top and working down may be an excellent strategy to try!

This challenge is also recommended for partners as one partner can cut and glue, and the other can work to hold the straws in place. Partners should take turns. Finally, this challenge can be as simple or complex as you wish; you can add as little or as many straws for ramps and turns as you desire.

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Increase STEM Interest Via Competitions

According to the survey, one key way to draw more U.S. students to STEM subjects is by increasing participation in fun science projects and classroom competitions. Almost 60% of respondents recommended these ideas would increase their interest. Countless amounts of STEM-related science experiments and competitions are on the internet that can help to increase students’ interest. Here are a few favorites.

There are a number of STEM competitions available for middle school and high school students to demonstrate their skills. The Google Science Fair is an online science and technology competition open to students and teams ages 13-18 years old. In addition to that, the International Science & Engineering Fair is a precollege science competition open to students in grades 9-12 where students compete in regional and national competitions within 22 different subcategories in STEM fields. Meanwhile, the First Tech Challenge is open to students in grades 7-12 where students design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in the challenge.

Science projects were another key way that students suggested would draw their interest into STEM subjects. The STEM Laboratory is a great website to get science experiments and projects ideas for young, elementary school-aged children, while Science Buddies is a great website for science project ideas for middle school students.

Relate Lessons to Real-Life Situations

Making STEM relatable to real life was another idea that 49 percent of respondents in the survey suggested. In order to engage students more deeply, you can structure your STEM lessons to relate to what students already know. Giving students concrete examples, talking about past experiences, bringing up current events, or even inviting in a guest speaker to talk to students are all great ways to relate the real world to your STEM lessons. Going on a field trip and using media as a tool is another creative way to optimize learning and connect students to the real world. Field trips offer students a hands-on way to connect what they are learning to the real world, while media tools like YouTube, newsfeeds, social media, and podcasts can help gain students’ interest by bringing the real world to the classroom.

Using Humor

Adding humor to STEM subjects through videos and projects was another suggestion that would gain student interest, said 32% of students surveyed. While STEM subjects aren’t usually associated with humor, if it will gain student interest in STEM, it’s worth a try.

With the gaining popularity of social media and apps such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, today’s children are drawn to more creative and entertaining ways to capture their attention. These apps allow users to be creative and make videos that use music and other graphics. Educators can use these popular platforms to increase student interest in STEM subjects by allowing their students to video their STEM experiments and projects in a creative and imaginative way that uses humor. These non-traditional, technological ways of sharing information may be just the thing to capture students’ attention when it comes to STEM learning.

Survey Highlights

Students believe that the U.S. government can help boost enthusiasm as well. Twenty-five percent of respondents said the government can be supportive by backing up STEM-related competitions and projects, while 23% suggested they can provide better resources and classroom technology. Twenty-one percent believed the government should support STEM-related awards and scholarships, while 18% suggested more funding and after school math and science clubs.

When it comes to improving a key component of STEM – math – survey results showed that one third of students said that more one-on-one assistance, as well as using real-life examples, were the best ways to do it. Twenty-one percent of students suggested improving math skills through fun games, technology, and interactive multimedia would do the trick.

While STEM interest for students may be on the decline, what we can learn from these survey results is that there is hope in increasing the interest of STEM education and future careers in STEM for our youth. By taking these results and implementing the student suggestions into all STEM lessons, we can effectively gain student interest.

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Implement All Components of a Great STEM Lesson

There are six characteristics that make up a great STEM lesson. Ideally, every STEM lesson should have each of the following components. Use these as a guideline to help you create your lesson. STEM lessons should:

1. Focus on real-world issues
2. Be guided by the engineering design process
3. Be hands-on
4. Promote collaboration
5. Apply math and science concepts
6. Have multiple correct solutions

Ensure You’re Crafting an Effective Lesson

When designing your back-to-school STEM lesson, there are a few questions that you can ask yourself to ensure that you’re crafting an effective lesson. Here are a few questions to ponder.

• Does this lesson identify a current real-world problem?

Your goal is to entice students with a real issue that they’ll want to learn more about and find a solution for. Think about current issues you’re having in school or your community and use these to attract students.

• Will the students be able to relate to this issue?

Choose an issue that you think your students are concerned about. The more they are able to relate to the issue, the more they’ll be invested in finding a solution.

• Does this issue have multiple correct solutions?

The key to an effective STEM lesson is that it must have various correct solutions. Students should be able to use their higher-order thinking skills to come up with different solutions that would all work effectively to solve the same problem.

Utilize Technology

Technology is another important component of a great STEM lesson. Students need to utilize technology in appropriate ways to help them throughout their quest to find an answer. Think about how your students can use it to help them in their research or as part of their design.

Planning for a back to school STEM lesson will help ensure that students have the skills and knowledge to partake in STEM lessons throughout the school year. Also, it’s important to remember that in an effective STEM learning environment, students may fail to solve their problem. Failure is OK, because students will learn from their mistakes and try again. Consider it a step in the right direction to discovering a new correct solution to the problem.

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