Blog - i Heart STEAM

Children’s STEM Author: Micheal Anderson

This is the first summer celebration in STEM! As we wrap up the 1st season of the I Heart STEAM Teacher Podcast, I want us to focus on anything and everything we can celebrateIntroducing Children's Book Author.... Micheal Anderson! We will be discussing her book Zoey's Big Move to the Lou. Micheal and her family have a rich background in STEM careers... including her children!You will here the backstory, which is AMAZING, and reason Micheal decided to make this a must on on her to do list, and we are so glad that she did! All children should be able to find themselves and see themselves in the book characters that they read about for inspiration! We THANK YOU, Micheal! You are a mover and a shaker. So many of us notice ... read more

Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: Set It Up Series

Claim, Evidence, Reasoning in the K-5 classroom has changed my teacher life, and I’m pretty sure many other elementary teachers! This is part 4 in the Set It Up series!So, yeah… I remember when it first came across my desk I was hesitant. Why? Well.. because someone is always coming up with a new way to say something, repackage, and basically take the old and make it new in education. That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the terms Claim, Evidence, Reasoning. It looked like the scientific method, went through the same process, but would require me to teach something else to my students.Scientific Method?As for the scientific method, I love a good learning and investigation process. If you are answering questions scientifically, ... read more

The Engineering Design Process For Kids: Set it UP Series 2

Engineering Design Process for kids adds so many valuable lessons to your content at school. Having systems that work in place is ESSENTIAL for a successful STEM or STEAM classroom. The Engineering Design Process is a process, but it’s a system that will NEVER let you down.On today's episode, I break it down for you! Why we need this process set up as a routine! When should you set it up? What do you do at every step along the way?Grab some helpful resources!Resources are a teachers BEST friend! Explore the I Heart STEAM website, and you will find them everywhere. If you want a point to start… Grab the Ultimate Guide mentioned earlier. This Engineering Design Process planner linked here is ... read more

Design Thinking in the Classroom: A System for Bettering your Students

Design Thinking in the classroom actually came to me later than the Engineering Design Process. I must say, I like it a lot! It’s like the cool older brother of the design processes. It doesn’t matter which one of these you use in the classroom when it comes to creating and designing with students. It does matter how you… SET IT UP as a routine for elementary students. Welcome to the Set It Up Series... Issue 3! Read the past issues and get all they systems and processes you need to create a STEAM culture: Let them Curate and The Engineering Design Process for Kids.Let’s lay this one out for you and get you started!Design Thinking StepsEmpathizeDefineIdeatePrototypeTestThese are the basic Design Thinking Steps. You can add more in ... read more

Engineering Design Process for Kids

Engineering Design Process for kids adds so many valuable lessons to your content at school. Having systems that work in place is ESSENTIAL for a successful STEM or STEAM classroom. The Engineering Design Process is a process, but it’s a system that will NEVER let you down.What am I saying here? A really successful STEM or STEAM classroom is one that can allow students to drive instruction. You can’t just let them run a muck…. (a muck, a muck, a muck) That would be a quote from a favorite movie of mine. Squirrel moments happen to me sometimes! Back to the Engineering Design ProcessAlright, alright… so The Engineering Design Process. You want your students to know this circular process backwards and forwards. What happens during ... read more

The BEST STEAM Lesson EVER: Set It UP Series 1

The best STEAM lesson I ever taught is golden. It works anytime. Anywhere. And…. they love it.Do you believe students in general enjoy looking at classic works of art? I mean… really looking like some cool cat at an art gallery opening? Do they know how to evaluate and process what they are looking at? Maybe even form their own opinion or uses for the work of art?Yeah… most elementary students aren’t there… yet. Until I taught the best STEAM lesson I ever taught.Join me in this first episode in SET IT UP... How we make STEM and STEAM run smoothly on a daily basis...Setting up this lesson gives you a system you can always have on hand to teach your content! Teach your students how to curate! Check out the full ... read more