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A STEAM Lesson for fifth graders incorporates the Engineering Design Process.
Fostering greater understanding of engineering concepts among children is important. Draxler (2013) explains that kids learn about "the natural world in science classes" (para. 3) without understanding of "the human-made world built on top of it" (para. 3). She states that this kind of teaching "rarely appears in the curriculum until college" (para.3) and then only a small percentage of college students major in engineering. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) (2014) sets forth that children learning science and engineering practices in the early years lays "the foundation for a progression of science learning in K-12 settings and throughout their entire lives" (para. 1). So, it is important to build upon children's natural curiosities and expose them to thinking like engineers early on and long before college.
This Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) lesson plan about matter was co-taught to a gifted and talented fifth-grade class by a university professor and an elementary classroom teacher. Collaboration among experts across fields resulted in the lesson design and incorporated science (metals and their properties), technology (using and understanding technology systems), engineering (the engineering design process), art (sculpture), and math (data and proportionality). The lesson resulted in students' greater understanding of matter (metals) through the roles of engineers and artists. The engineering aspect of this STEAM lessons lends itself well to fostering understanding of solid matter (such as metals) and its interactions.
Content Integration
Science and Engineering
The topic of metals and their properties was selected for the focus of this fifth-grade lesson. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013) recommends examining powders, metals, minerals, and liquids for properties such as color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility. The focus was narrowed to observing the properties of color, hardness, and response to magnetic forces for this lesson. TeachEngineering (2015) points out several examples of metal items that children can relate to, such as cellular phones, tablets, computers, bicycles, cars, televisions, appliances, and rocket ships.
Art
When thinking of metals, there is a natural visual art connection to sculpture. For the scope of this lesson, we looked at the basics of sculpture and sculptural design considerations with...