MiddleWeb

Tagged: hands on learning

Four children collaborating on a project at a low table, drawing and writing with markers in a bright room,

Makerspaces / STEM By Design

Using Makerspaces to Boost STEM Curiosity

When schools give students the chance to tinker, create, test ideas, and solve interesting problems, classrooms become places of curiosity and innovation, writes author and STEM curriculum expert Anne Jolly. Makerspaces can help bring that kind of energy into STEM learning.

Active Learning / Articles

Using Active Learning with Middle Schoolers

When asked to help implement health/biology curriculum, the authors decided to focus on active learning strategies that succeeded in exciting and engaging the adolescent girls in their classes. They conclude that well-designed hands-on learning is worth the extra time and effort.

STEM & the Makers Movement / STEM By Design

Maker Schools: Classroom Tinkers & Inventors

The authors of “Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom” share an exciting guest post at Anne Jolly’s STEM Imagineering blog. The tools and ethos of the maker revolution offer insight and hope for middle schools and for science and math studies, they say. “The breadth of options and the ‘can-do’ attitude is exactly what students need.”

Resources / STEM

The Why and How of STEM

How to turn science, tech, engineering & math into problem- & project-based activities that simulate real-world R&D? Find the basics & the practice here.

Book Reviews / Family Science Night

Family Science Night Fun

Reviewer Catharine Pierce says the well organized fun found in Shelley S. Connell’s Family Science Night: Fun Tips, Activities, and Ideas can enrich after-school clubs and classroom teaching.