Combining STEM + literacy is an ideal way to engage students. Below is a sampling of activities from my curriculum guides and conference presentations that highlight the natural connection between STEM and language arts.
The Ubiquitous Engandered Species Project
Paired reading: Sea Otter Heroes
Endangered species projects are popular in schools across the country. Use this lesson with Sea Otter Heroes and some of my other endangered species titles to ratchet your unit to the next level.
Investigating Epidemics (and Pandemics)
Paired reading: Ebola: Fears and Facts
With the barrage of news about coronavirus, this activity about how a pathogen can spread among a community is particularly timely. (From the American Society of Microbiology).
For additional ways to pair Ebola: Fears and Facts with literacy, download the full curriculum guide.
Palm Oil Audit and Happy Rhinos
Paired reading: Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
Palm oil Audit is an eye-opening activity that incorporates technology, data collection, graphing, and science communication skills. It might just change your habits, too!
Happy Rhinos connects students to endangered species using design thinking and language arts.
For additional ways to pair Zoo Scientists to the Rescue with literacy, download the full curriculum guide.
Ocean Clean-up Design Challenge and Aging Plastic Experiment
Paired reading: Plastic, Ahoy!
I love design challenges. Whenever I present them at conferences, I see so many creative ideas! My Ocean Clean-up Design Challenge has a host of activities about marine debris that activate students’ prior knowledge and expand their thinking.
The Aging Plastic Experiment allows students to test how long it takes specific items to decompose. This lesson from Turning the Tide on Trash: A Learning Guide on Marine Debris originally published by the EPA. Use the button below to download the guide, and then turn to page 23 “A Degrading Experience” to begin.
In addition to the aging plastic experiment, the guide includes a number of other valuable activity ideas. [Note: I was unable to upload the entire Turning Tide on Trash because it is too large a file. I’ve uploaded unit one. If you are interested in the rest of the guide, please contact me.]
Additionally, download the complete Plastic, Ahoy! curriculum guide for additional links to literacy. I especially love the Waste Audit Analysis in this guide.
A Language of Your Own
Paired reading: Eavesdropping on Elephants
Scientists at the Elephant Listening Project discovered that elephants use many different sounds to communicate emotion. Have students partner up and challenge them to use sounds and movements to convey emotions (fear, greeting, sadness, excitement, warning, surprise, etc.)
without using words. Can their partner guess what emotion they are trying to convey?
This is lesson #3 on page 5 in the Eavesdropping on Elephants teacher guide.
Extensions:
- Watch the video of two elephants greeting each other (see p. 23 of the book). Ask students to notice the movements and sounds of the elephants, then discuss:
- What types of behaviors and sounds did the elephants use to communicate their
feelings? (i.e. low rumbles, trunk waving, ear flapping, etc.) - How were their behaviors and sounds similar to or different than the ways in which humans greet each other?
Math + Financial Literacy
Paired reading: Neema’s Reason to Smile
Although Neema’s Reason to Smile is a traditional picture book about equal access to education, it also has financial literacy and math connections.
- Math + Words = Word Problems
- Math + Money
- Compare/Contrast using Venn Diagrams
- and more!
