What is STEAM?

When we started brainstorming the Woodlawn STEAM plan last year, we used the 'three dimensions' of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as a guide.  We saw STEM and the current educational method as covering the 'Practices' and 'Core Ideas' of the NGSS.  What was missing was the 'Crosscutting Concepts'.  Overall, it is the blending of science with the 'TEM' of STEM as well as allowing more right brain activity (arts).  The Crosscutting Concepts include: 

• Patterns
• Similarity and diversity
• Cause and effect
• Scale, proportion, and quantity
• Systems and system models
• Energy and matter
• Structure and function
• Stability and change

These concepts are related to the arts.  Our concept of STEAM involves adding design, innovation, creativity, hands-on experiences, problem solving, and collaboration to our science units.  As we become more comfortable with these cross-cutting concepts we can better connect art, dance, gym classes with the curriculum in the classroom, using the same vocabulary to reinforce the 'Core Ideas' but allowing the students to practice their design thinking skills in a more kinesthetic way. 

Amazing Travel Posters from NASA

Imagine choosing a planet to visit, picking the best time of the year to explore.  NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs have release retro-style travel posters to peak your interested in intrasellar vacations.

NASA Travel Posters

What did you learn about salmon?

We asked our 4th graders what they learned through the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Salmon in the Classroom project.

Waves, waves, everywhere!

Our 1st grade students have been learning about sound and light waves through stories, observation, and experiments.  During one lesson, the students stopped to think about the source of our planet’s light, the Sun.  Using the ‘Bubble of Darkness’, designed by Patricia Cooke, the students crawled into space.  The Bubble is two 12’x12’ tarps taped together with one corner open for a large fan and another corner open as an entrance.  Once inside, the students can lay on their back and watch the ‘stars’, small holes that were poked into the top tarp.  The students are asked to observe and call out any patterns they see.

The lesson was a perfect link between science and social studies as the students had just learned about the Drinking Gourd constellation that was used by the Underground Railroad to find the North Star.