One of the best parts about my job is getting to provide STEM opportunities to every maker in my building – currently about 425 students. But, it is such a challenge to forge meaningful relationships with all of those students! While I am fortunate to work with students over multiple school years, it takes intentional effort to cultivate and deepen those relationships each year.
Here are a few of my favorite strategies for building connections in the STEM Lab.
1. Welcome students at the door with STEM-specific greetings.
For my PK-2 students, class begins with their choice of a STEM greeting as they enter the room. I wait by the door and each student selects how they’d like to say hello to me. This strategy is simple, but powerful, as I get a chance to have a brief moment of play with each student before class begins.
I offer a choice of four greetings – STEM Salute, Technology Thumbs Up, Curious Moose, and Maker Move. Each of these options contains a different amount of playfulness, giving students choices about how they’d like to interact. I aim to be exuberant during these greetings and really ham them up!
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2. Start class with quick, get-to-know you activities.
I start my classes, particularly in the early part of the year, with quick, get-to-know you activities – often with a STEM twist.
Here are a couple of my go-tos that take 5 minutes or less:
- This or That: Students stand in the center of the room. Give a this or that statement – “Legos or Keva planks?” and have students move to one side of the room or the other to show their preferences. Make sure you move, too!
- Question of the Day: I post a question on a Google Slide (“What is the best thing you’ve ever built?”) and go around the room so students can quickly share their responses.
- Would You Rather?: Kids of all ages love “Would You Rather?” and it’s fun to put a STEM-spin on the questions – “Would you rather be a zoologist or a volcanologist?” I sometimes do multiple questions and have students move like in “This or That?” and other times do one question and have students individually share their responses.
3. Complete a “Build and Tell” in the early days of class
I kick off the year of STEM in my elementary classes with a “Build and Tell.” This activity works just like a show and tell, except students are building something to share, rather than bringing something in from home. This lesson accomplishes several goals – it gets students engaged in building right away, provides an opportunity for practicing basic procedures around material usage, and it gives students a chance to share something about themselves and learn something about their classmates. I teach this lesson in two sessions – we build on day one and polish and take part in a gallery walk on day two.
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4. Build alongside them!
While I always work on some type of creation while my students tackle a STEM task, I put an extra emphasis on building with my students in the early part of the year. This simple strategy works particularly well for middle school students, as you can engage in some “building banter” about their interests and their lives while working and it can also open up authentic conversations about the design process. The power of this technique is that engaging in the build both legitimizes the task and humanizes you as students see you grappling with complexity and struggling with challenges.
I hope you find that trying out these strategies helps you to build a foundation for relationships that you can keep building throughout the year!