Do you remember being a kid on the first day of a new school year? Wearing new clothes, carrying fresh spiral notebooks, finding your seat with a mix of excitement and worries. What are the rules? Will other kids talk to me? What if the work in this class is too hard? What is this year going to be like?

As teachers, we try to ease those worries. We introduce the rules and routines on the first day, but a classroom culture takes more time. Before we can really teach content, we first need to create a classroom where students feel safe asking questions, working together, and learning from mistakes. 

Many educators like to start the year with hands-on STEM. A YES engineering challenge is a shared experience that helps set the tone and establish how this class will work together.  As students learn the Engineering Design Process, they also learn expectations and classroom norms, begin to see themselves as capable problem solvers, and give teachers valuable insight into how their new students think and behave.

[This post is part of our series, Engineering Practices in the Classroom. See prior posts: Intro, Engineering Design Process, Exploring Materials, Problems in Context, Balancing Criteria and Constraints]

“Introducing... the slipper of the century!” a seventh grader gestures towards his teammate, who starts walking down the middle of the classroom wearing one bright red slipper with a neon-yellow strap made from scrap fabric.

The student announcer continues, “We made the Stupendous Street Slipper using recycled cellulose as a base for our outsole…”

[This post is part of our series, Engineering Practices in the Classroom, which explores what engineering practices are, why they matter, and what they look like in real classrooms. Today, we’re focusing on the valuable practice of weighing criteria vs constraints when solving a problem.]

Three middle school students are huddled at their table, deep in thought.

“We’re at $7.75,” one student says. “So that’s under $9.00.” They all look at each other.

The medicine cooler they are designing has a maximum budget of $9.00, so there's room if they want to spend a little more to improve the design. After some discussion, they decide to add aluminum foil to the outside of the box for an extra layer of insulation.

As educators, we know that students thrive when families get involved and help reinforce learning. Research suggests that this is especially true for STEM. While positive STEM experiences in school have a significant influence, discussions at home amplify that impact by shaping a child’s interest and identity. One study found that childhood conversations about science at home are one of the few early experiences that significantly predict whether a student will later identify as a “STEM person” in college (Dou, 2019).

Even so, many parents hesitate to talk about topics like science and engineering with their kids. Even when family members agree that STEM learning is very important, a few common barriers get in the way:

Summer programs are a perfect opportunity to give students meaningful hands-on STEM experiences. We have a full round-up of enrichment curriculum for district summer programs, and new units for anyone planning a one-off multi-age STEM event. 

But how do YES units work for a one-week STEM camp? Themed day camps are popular with parents because they keep kids learning and break up summer boredom. If you've ever planned your own STEM camp, you already know that the key is having a solid plan for each day well in advance so you can gather materials and plan.

We’ve got you covered.