1. Yes... I said it! Collect trash! When students are engaging in the engineering design process, you never know what materials they might use. This is when trash comes in handy! We keep a pile of materials in the corner of the room at all times. The students know they can go to this pile at any point to get easily accessible materials they might need. The best part of all is once parents realize you are collecting trash to upcycle you will receive an abundance of paper towel rolls, baby food jars, etc to add to your collection!
2. Prepare for Noise! Open your mind to a noisy, fun, hands on environment where students are actively involved in their learning. It might be noisy and make you clam up, but look around the room. What do you see? Yes, everyone is engaged! That's what STEM education done right will look like in your classroom. Students will need room to be creative, innovative, critical thinkers.
3. Be an Engineer Alongside your Kiddos! Jump in there neck deep and get your hands dirty. You are asking kids to think critically about how to solve a problem, you do it too. Showing the kids you are an engineer and have a different solution to the problem is a great model of the engineering design process. Sometimes you will fail. Sometimes the kids will fail. Failure is a part of life, however it should be showcased as a positive part of life. We all fail at times and kids should understand how it feels to persevere and not give up!
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