Social Entrepreneurship with Elementary Students: A Perfect STEAM Lesson

I have done a social entrepreneurship unit with three groups of gifted students, grades 3rd through 6th. It was one of my favorite units . . . ever, and from their reactions, I believe it was one of theirs, too. I call it a perfect STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) unit. The first part of this post explains some of the rationale for this project, and the second part describes the unit, itself.

Why a Unit on Social Entrepreneurship

First, I wanted my learners, who are from lower income families, to develop both an entrepreneur mindset and entrepreneur skills along with the creativity and innovation that comes with these skills.

Entrepreneurship education benefits students from all socioeconomic backgrounds because it teaches kids to think outside the box and nurtures unconventional talents and skills. Furthermore, it creates opportunity, ensures social justice, instills confidence and stimulates the economy. Because entrepreneurship can, and should, promote economic opportunity, it can serve as an agent of social justice. Furthermore, entrepreneurship has historically spurred minorities, women and immigrants to create better lives for themselves and their families.  (Why Schools Should Teach Entrepreneurship)

Second, not only did I want my learners to gain entrepreneur skills, I wanted them to experience the benefits of starting a company in order to raise money to give to a “cause” also known as a form of social entrepreneurship.

Not every child is temperamentally suited to be a social entrepreneur. Not every child is suited to be a scientist, mathematician, or artist. But elementary school-age kids do have the natural curiosity, imagination, drive, and ability to come up with innovative ways to change the world for the better. By exposing our kids to a variety of disciplines, including social entrepreneurship, we are teaching them they have what it takes to “be the change.” One well-known expert on social entrepreneurship, David Bornstein, puts it this way: Once an individual has experienced the power of social entrepreneurship, he or she will “never go back to being a passive actor in society.” (Young Kids Need to Learn About Social Entrepreneurship)

Third, this unit met my own criteria for an effective and powerful unit:

• Instructional challenges are hands-on, experiential, and naturally engaging for learners.
• Learning tasks are authentic, relevant, and promote life skills outside of the formal classroom.
• The challenges are designed to be novel, and create excitement and joy for learners.
• Learner choice and voice are valued.
• Lessons address cross curricular standards. They are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities.
• Learning activities get learners interested in and excited about a broad array of topics especially in the areas of science, engineering, math, language arts, and the arts.
• Communication, collaboration, and problem solving are built into the learning process.
• Reading and writing are integrated into the learning activities in the form of fun, interesting books and stories, and writing stories, narratives, journalistic reports.
• Educational technology is incorporated with a focus on assisting with the learning activities not to learn technology just for the sake of learning it.
• There is a natural building of social emotional skills – tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team.

Schedule of Learning Activities

Here was the schedule of learning activities I used for this unit:

•  Introduction
  • Video
  • Online Games
  • Kidpreneurs
• Market Survey – Google Form
• Analyzing Results, Deciding of Products, Testing Products
• Expense Sheet – Expenses and Assets
• Business Plan
• Making and Selling the Products
• Visiting the Interfaith Homeless Shelter to Deliver the Profits

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Introduction

The following activities were used to teach learners about entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship:

Video. Learners were first introduced to entrepreneurship with the following video:

Kidpreneur Readings. We read the Kidpreneurs’ book and did exercises from book – these readings and exercises continued throughout the unit. 

Online Games. They were then given the opportunity to play some online games that focus on entrepreneurship:

• Lemonade Stand – http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-lemonade-stand
• Coffee Shop – http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-coffee-shop
• Building Rush – https://www.coolmath-games.com/0-building-rush
• Cookie Tycoon – http://www.addictinggames.com/strategy-games/cookietycoon.jsp
• The Uber Game – https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/

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Market Survey 

Based on their own interests and hobbies (and with the help of the Kidpreneur workbook), my learners decided on possible products they could make (all products were handmade) and sell. They developed a market survey from this information:

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Analyzing Results, Deciding of Products, Testing Products

Learners requested that their respective classes and family members take their survey. It was quite a treat watching them continually examine the graphs found on the Google form response page. Here is an example from one group’s survey:

From the results, they decided to sell:

• Orbeez Stress Balls – see https://youtu.be/DK1q7WjxcQc for instructions,
• Fingerboards – se https://youtu.be/PS0nmiMkPiY for ideas how to create these,
• Pop Its – see http://www.ikatbag.com/2021/02/cardboard-popper-tutorial-by-kate.html for instructions,
• Sugar Christmas Cookies – see https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10402/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/ for the recipe the kids used.

They started by testing out how to make these products to discover how to best produce them.

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Expense Form

I acted as the bank and purchased the materials for the learners to make products. I saved the receipts, made copies of them, and had each learner create her or his Google sheet to record expenses.

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Business Plan

From all of this information, the learners developed a business plan using the following Kids-Business-Plan simplified for kids. It included:

• Their business name – Gifted Community Craft Story
• Startup costs
• Cost per item
• Marketing strategies

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Highlights – Making and Packaging the Products

Here is a photo essay that shows the students making and packaging the products.

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Highlights – Selling the Products

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Students Delivering Raised Monies to The Interfaith Community Shelter (serves the homeless)

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Additional Resources

• Ten Helpful Tips To Becoming An Kidpreneur [a kid that is an entrepreneur] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ten-helpful-tips-to-becoming-an-kidpreneur-a-kid-that_us_58d42f17e4b0f633072b35c6?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 
• Lesson Plans – Teaching Entrepreneurship http://www.teachingentrepreneurship.org/category/lesson-plans/

Anti-Racist Activities for Upper Elementary and Middle School Students

I am planning to do anti-racist activities with my elementary students (5th and 6th graders) this coming fall.

When you’re essentially [teaching] a kid to be anti-racist, you’re deliberately encouraging them to talk about race and Racism. You’re deliberately teaching them that all the racial groups are equals. You’re deliberately showing them, yes, there are different colors and there are different cultures. And we should value them all equally.

It’s important for parents and for educators to be intentional about preparing our young people for the world that they are inheriting and living in. To not talk about it is a disservice to all young people. So not just black students who need to learn about their blackness and their history, but white students as well and nonblack people of color need to know our country’s history and talk explicitly about it.(How Can Parents Make Their Kids Understand How To Be Anti-Racist?)

During this unit, designed for grades 4 through 8, students will gain an awareness of inequities, privilege and racism in the United States, and how to use their voice to express their wants, needs, and rights (most of my students at my Title 1 school are Hispanic) as well as how to be allies to Black communities through anti-racist actions.

The activities I plan to do (can be completed using social distancing) with my students include:

• Introduction Using Bitmoji Classroom
• Antiracist Children’s Talking Books
• I Am Poem
• Make a Podcast or Write a Song
• Quilt
• Online Book/Zine or Scratch Game

Introduction

Learners are given access to the following Google slide and asked to explore the resources independently.

Anti-Racist Children’s Talking Books

Learners read each of the following anti-racist children’s books either independently or as read alouds. (I bought a set for my classroom.) To view the full set, access the link to the Wakelet aggregate.

https://wakelet.com/wake/uXzH7dah2Zl-SfDnSIyQk

Each learner chooses one book to make it into a talking book. To introduce them to their task of making a talking book using the microcontroller, Makey Makey, they are shown the content found within the web article, Makey Talking Book From Scratch, which includes a video, written instructions, and images.

Once they use Scratch programming to record the reading of their selected books, they program it to correspond to different Makey Makey keys. They can add sound effects available on Scratch to correspond with each of their reading segments. Next, they wire their books with copper tape. They then connected the Makey Makey to their book’s copper wires using alligator clips. Learners can then take their talking books into classrooms with younger grades so they can play their books.

In lieu of and as an extension to this activity, learners can create laser cut or 3D printed characters from these books, using Make “Joy” Using Google Drawings & Tinkercad, as a reference guide.

I Am Poems

Learners search through Stories of 40 Incredible Kids Who Have Changed the World and identify one BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) young person about whom they want learn more. After doing some more research about their selected young person, they write an I Am poem from the perspective of that person. An alternative for older students is to do this activity choosing a Black activist. A sample list can be found at https://www.biography.com/people/groups/civil-rights-activists.

Here is the template for the I Am Poem with an online version found at https://freeology.com/worksheet-creator/poetry/i-am-poem/.

Using Adobe Spark (a free and easy option to create multimedia presentations), they create a multimedia presentation that incorporates both images and a recording of them reading their poems. Here is an example (not made with Adobe Spark but still a good example of what can be done):

Podcast

For this activity, learners created a podcast and/or write a song related to anti-racism. They can create a opinion piece where they discuss their thoughts and opinions about anti-racism, they can create a show where they interview other learners about their thoughts, or they can write and record a song.

Learners are asked to listen to the podcasts, Hey Black Child and Art for Activism with the Butterfly Effect; and listen to the song wrote and sung by Keedron Bryan called I just wanna live for inspiration. (These resources can also be found in the bitmoji classroom.) For older and more mature students, there are the Generation Justice podcasts. These are created and produced by a group of high school and college students, “

Here are some resources about podcasting and recording with students:

• Podcasting with Google Slides – https://medium.com/@gkulowiec/podcasting-with-google-slides-6cbd01b6ee6a
• Creating Podcasts – http://learninginhand.squarespace.com/creating-podcasts/
• Wakelet of Podcasting Resources – https://wakelet.com/wake/u8T1utWZD3HFU7RqFPICd
• 13 Tools to Record Audio on Chromebooks and Other Devices https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/13-tools-to-record-audio-on-chromebooks-and-other-devices
• Why your students need a podcast: How to do it fast and free – https://ditchthattextbook.com/why-your-students-need-a-podcast-how-to-do-it-fast-and-free/
• Recording Audio in Garageband – https://images.apple.com/ca/education/docs/teachers/Apple-GarageBandQuickStart.pdf

Quilt

The inspiration for this activity comes from the Social Justice Sewing Academy. Here are some examples that young people created:

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Learners design their quilt blocks on Powerpoint slides basing it on anti-racist messages they would like to convey. The slide dimension should be 12″ x 12″, the size of the finished quilt block. Powerpoint allows for shapes to be merged to create some more complex shapes. (Google Slides doesn’t have this function.) These shapes are cut out from fabric using a Cricut machine or laser cutter. These pieces are glued onto a piece of 15″ x 15″ fleece. Learner quilt pieces can be combined using the no sew method described here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTWc01iyoHg. Students are asked to write an artist’s statement similar to the examples above.

Online Book-Zine

Learners complete this unit by creating an online book or zine that describes the actions taken or the plans for actions to be taken in order to educate others about anti-racist practices. Here is an example.

Open Your Eyes: See What the World Could Really Be

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

https://read.bookcreator.com

Book Creator is a great tool to use for this. The illustrations can be drawn and painted (like the example) using Paint Online or Sumopaint or a Pixel Art tool such as https://www.pixilart.com/draw or https://www.piskelapp.com/ and then upload those drawings/images into their ebooks. They can then use the text tool in Book Creator. As an alternative, students can do a series of comics using a tool such as Storyboard That. These art pieces are downloaded as images and then uploaded to Book Creator where students can add text.

Scratch Video Game

An alternative to above, learners can create a Scratch game about the actions they can take regarding educating others about anti-racist practices. Here are some examples with the theme of Black Lives Matter.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/411586487

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/222890263/

Learners can create their sprites and backgrounds either with the Scratch painting tool or upload images they make with papers and colors.

Badges

In order to acknowledge student work and progress, they earn badges for producing quality work. We are using Open Access Canvas so the badge chart is embedded into it where they can keep track of their progress in comparison to the other students.

Finally, here is a Book Creator ebook I created for my students to use as a reference:

Anti-Racism Activities

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

https://read.bookcreator.com

Cross-Curricular Lesson: Communicating with Parents

As someone who has been in teacher education for several decades, I often think about – teach about how to make curriculum engaging, fun, effective, authentic, and relevant for learners. I believe interdisciplinary or cross-curricular lessons have the potential to do so. I also add, when I am working with pre- and inservice teachers, that there is not enough time in a day to teach-learn everything that is desirable. Cross-curricular activities can help “create” more time as several content area standards can be addressed in one lesson.

Multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary learning is a “whole” or “comprehensive” method that covers an idea, topic, or text by integrating multiple knowledge domains. It is a very powerful method of teaching that crosses the boundaries of a discipline or curriculum in order to enhance the scope and depth of learning. Each discipline sheds light on the topic like the facets of a gem.

I created the following graphic to show the benefits of interdisciplinary standards.

An Example: Communicating with Parents

This past week I asked my freshman seminar class to do a few activities related to communicating with their parents. The goal of this lesson was, obviously, to have to students develop some more effective communication strategies.

Social Emotional Learning and 21st Century Standards

This lesson, at its core, falls into the areas socio-emotional learning and 21st Century Competencies. Ohio established their own set of K-12 Social and Emotional Learning Standards and the following are related to the goals of this lesson.

• Actively engage in positive interactions to make connections with peers, adults and community to support and achieve common goals,
• Establish and actively participate in a healthy network of personal, school and community relationships.

The Framework for 21st Century also identified communication as an important skill with the following standards.

• Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts,
• Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions.

English Language Arts Standards

Because the learners were asked to do research and write a letter to their parents, English Language Arts standards were also addressed:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Communicating with Parents Poster

Learners were asked to review some online articles about communicating with parents and then make a poster that reflected strategies they believe to be important.

Letter to My Parents

Next, the learners were asked to write a letter to their parents that discussed:

1. What types of communications are going well,
2. What types of communications are not going well,
3. Suggested goals for improving communications.

They were told they were not required to share the letter with their parents. Some examples follow:

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Scratch and Makey Makey Across the Curriculum

I love bringing physical computing into my classrooms:

Physical computing means building interactive physical systems by the use of software and hardware that can sense and respond to the analog world. Physical computing is a creative framework for understanding human beings’ relationship to the digital world. In practical use, the term most often describes handmade art, design or DIY hobby projects that use sensors and microcontrollers to translate analog input to a software system, and/or control electro-mechanical devices such as motors, servos, lighting or other hardware (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_computing).

. . . but as with all use of educational technologies, I believe that it should be used intentionally to assist learners in developing and expanding their content knowledge and life skills.

Best Practices for Physical Computing

• Hands-on/Minds-On: “When students are fully engaged in a task, they are actively doing and actively thinking. While hands are engaged, minds should be questioning, sorting through sensory input, and making connections” (Actively Engage Students Using Hands-on & Minds-on Instruction).
• Development of Learning and Innovation as Well as Career and Life Skills: Physical computing activities should be designed to help learners develop skills as identified as by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning.

Learning and innovation skills are what separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in today’s world and those who are not. These skills include: Creativity and Innovation; and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.

Today’s students need to develop thinking skills, content knowledge, and social and emotional competencies to navigate complex life and work environments. P21’s essential Life and Career Skills include: Flexibility and Adaptability; and Initiative and Self-Direction (Partnership for 21st Century Learning Framework and Resources).

• Cross Curricular Connections: Physical computing, at its best, enbraces content standards across the curriculum.

Multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary learning is a “whole” or “comprehensive” method that covers an idea, topic, or text by integrating multiple knowledge domains. It is a very powerful method of teaching that crosses the boundaries of a discipline or curriculum in order to enhance the scope and depth of learning. Each discipline sheds light on the topic like the facets of a gem.  (A Cornucopia of Multidisciplinary Teaching).

• Relevant and Authentic Learning: Physical computing is often perceived by learners of all ages are relevant to their lives especially with the current push towards learning STEM and coding.

Authentic learning is learning designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications; learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life. Students work towards production of discourse, products, and performances that have value or meaning beyond success in school; this is learning by doing approach (Authentic learning: what, why and how?)

• Learner-Centric – More of Them; Less of Us:At its heart, maker education and physical computing is about centering around the learner. Children and youth are natural learners—imaginative, curious, exploratory testers of theories and creators of solutions. When children and youth have educational experiences that allow them to fully occupy the educational space and are supported by adults who trust their innate abilities and contributions  and are given the guidance, they grow confident in their abilities (At its heart, maker education is always about centering the learner).

• Scaffolded Learning Leading to Learner Autonomy: In Scaffolding Maker Education Learning Experiences, I discussed the following:

Direct instruction is provided through structured and prescribed activities with the goal of learners then being able to eventually go into self-determined directions.  My contention is that learners often don’t know what they don’t know; and that giving them the basic skills frees them to then use their creativity and innovation to take these tools into self-determined directions

• Open-Ended Challenge: As stated above, learning is scaffolded but even with more structure projects as described in this post, they are still open-ended enough for learners to integrate their own talents, interests, and skills into the projects.

Note about using Makey Makey and Scratch 3.0

All of the following projects utilized Scratch 3.0 along with their extensions: Makey Makey and for some, Text to Speech.

Language Arts: Character Development

Standards Addressed:

Common Core State Standards – ELA

• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

National Core Arts Standards

• Students will generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

Learners engaged in a maker-enhanced writers’ workshop. I like having my learners begin by developing their characters. They did so by:

• Describing their character.
• Drawing a picture of their characters.
• Creating a more artistic version of their character using additional art materials.
• Posting a description and image of their character onto Kidblog.
• Using Scratch and Makey Makey to describe the main characteristics of their characters.
• More about the ​Maker-Enhanced Writing Workshop: Character Development can be found at https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/02/17/maker-enhanced-writing-workshop-character-development/

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Language Arts: The Monster Project

Standards Addressed:

Common Core State Standards – ELA

• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

National Core Arts Standards

• Students will generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

Directions for this project can be found at https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/monster-project-using-makey-makeys-and-scratch/.

Example Scratch Code: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/793092586/editor/

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Science: Brain Science

Standards Addressed:

Next Generation Science Standards

• Develop a model to describe phenomena.
• Use a model to test interactions concerning the functioning of a natural system.
• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

• This was part of a larger unit whereby the students were taught about brain science. See https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/teaching-elementary-level-learners-about-the-brain/.
• I adapted the directions for their brain operation game from https://iamclaudius.com/makey-makey-operation-game/. I gave them an outline of the brain with lobes outlined for them to color and rubber cement onto a pizza box (see video below). For their brain parts, I gave them air drying clay. They were asked to create parts that represent the functions of the individual lobes, e.g., eye for occipital lobe, mouth for temporal lobe, a ball for the cerebellum, etc.
• They were then asked to code their games using Scratch. Here is the example I used to get them started: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/283935140/editor/. I instructed them to include, for each lobe, its name and some kind of pun about its function.
• Finally, they hooked up the Makey Makey using the directions found at https://iamclaudius.com/makey-makey-operation-game/.

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Music: Piano

Standards Addressed:

Music Education

• The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians’ work emerge from a variety of sources.
• Musicians connect their personal interests, experiences, ideas, and knowledge to creating, performing, and responding.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

These project used the directions from Scratch Cards, Music Cards, for the Microbit found at https://microbit.org/scratch/.  Instead of a microbit, a Makey Makey was used. See the video below.

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Engineering: Marble Mazes

Standards Addressed:

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
• Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

• This project was adapted from @gravescolleen Makey Makey Marble Maze and 5th grade https://colleengraves.org/2018/05/04/makey-makey-marble-maze-and-5th-grade/.

Sample Scratch Code: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/714923121/editor/

Integrating Maker Education into the Curriculum

Rather than the maker experiences being an after school program, an add on activity, or an activity that is implemented when students have done their regular lessons work, it should be part of the regular, day-to-day curriculum. As noted in USC Rossier Online, “In order for your school and students to be fully invested in maker education, it has to be integrated into your curriculum, not squeezed in” (https://rossieronline.usc.edu/maker-education/sync-with-curriculum/).  Ayah Bdeir, who invented and runs littleBits, had this to say about integrating maker education into the curriculum:

It’s time for maker ed to move into the mainstream. Making should not be relegated to the times spent outside of class, e.g. lunch or after school. Nor should it only flourish in private schools, which don’t have to teach to standards. We need to work to show how making is a rigorous process that leads to valuable new technologies, products and experiences. Specifically, we need to tie maker projects to standards-based curriculum and show clearly the kinds of knowledge, skills and practices students learn as part of making (https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-09-24-building-connections-between-maker-ed-and-standards)

Albemarle County Public School District is very intentional in their implementation of maker projects:

Maker projects can be created to support just about any subject area, from science to history to language arts. Maker education can be a tool for teaching the curriculum that you already have, At a glance, maker projects may appear disconnected from the curriculum. What may look like an arts and crafts activity, or just a bunch of kids playing with Legos, is actually a way to teach about ancient Rome or how to write a persuasive essay. (https://www.edutopia.org/practice/maker-education-reaching-all-learners)

To do this, though, the educator needs to approach his or her curriculum and lessons with a maker mindset. With this mindset, he or she figures out creative ways to integrate maker activities into existing lessons and instructional activities. The educator in these situations starts with the standards and objectives of their lessons, as they typically do with their regular lessons, and then designs and/or locates maker activities that fit the lesson. It simply becomes, “How can I add a making element to my lessons to reinforce concepts being learned?”

For subjects like science, this is a little easier as the labs that often accompany science lessons often have a hint of STEM or maker education. With a little tweaking, these labs can become more of a maker education type of activity. For example, if students are learning about circuits, they could wire cardboard model houses with lights and fans.  

For subjects like language arts, this integration is a little more challenging but with a little creativity, it is possible and exciting. An example is Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach’s program, Novel Engineering:

Novel Engineering is an innovative approach to integrate engineering and literacy in elementary and middle school. Students use existing classroom literature – stories, novels, and expository texts – as the basis for engineering design challenges that help them identify problems, design realistic solutions, and engage in the Engineering Design Process while reinforcing their literacy skills.

Example books that offer engineering or maker education challenges include:

• The Long Walk to Water – http://www.novelengineering.org/project/long-walk-to-water/
• Island of Blue Dolphins – http://www.novelengineering.org/project/island-of-the-blue-dolphins/
• James and the Giant Peach – http://www.novelengineering.org/project/james-and-the-giant-peach/
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret – http://www.novelengineering.org/project/the-invention-of-hugo-cabret/
• Tuck Everlasting – http://www.novelengineering.org/project/tuck-everlasting/
• The Three Little Javelinas – http://www.novelengineering.org/project/the-three-little-javelinas/

The benefits of this type of curriculum integration include all those benefits described for maker education, in general, but also include:

• Increased learner interest in and engagement with content rich lesson activities.
• Lesson activities may become a gateway to content areas for learners who may not have been interested in that content area in the past. For example, making in language arts may spark a STEM interest for students who have previously only been interested in language arts; spark the interest of STEM-oriented students in language arts.

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To help integrate maker education into the curriculum, I developed the following lesson plan template to assist teachers with this process.

Example Maker Education Lesson Plan

Vision for this Lesson and for Student Learning (What is the overarching purpose of this lesson? How does making  enhance the lesson? Consider relevancy, authenticity, transfer to other life situations):

 

Student Voice  (What are the interests and needs of the students? How is their voice incorporated into the development of this lesson?):

 

Standards Addressed (Think cross-curriculum and 21st century skills; think process as well as content learnings):

• Science Standards (see the Next Generation Science Standards at https://www.nextgenscience.org/ or your state standards):

 

• Math Standards (see Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice at http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/  or your state standards)

 

• Language Arts Standards (see Common Core English Language Arts Standards at http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/ or your state standards):

 

• Social Studies Standards (see the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies at https://www.socialstudies.org/standards or your state standards):

 

• Arts Standards (see the National Core Arts Standards at http://www.nationalartsstandards.org/ or your state standards):

 

• ISTE Standards for Students (for detailed descriptions and sub-standards, see https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students):
  • Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

• • Digital Citizen: Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.

• • Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

• • Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.

• • Computational Thinker: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.

• • Creative Communicator: Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

• • Global Collaborator: Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

• 21st Century Skills (see for detailed descriptions at http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework to add specifics):
  • Global Awareness: _________________________________________________
  • Financial, Economic: _______________________________________________
  • Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy: _________________________________
  • Civic Literacy: _____________________________________________________
  • Health Literacy: ___________________________________________________
  • Environmental Literacy: _____________________________________________
  • Creativity and Innovation: ___________________________________________
  • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: _________________________________
  • Communication: ___________________________________________________
  • Collaboration: _____________________________________________________
  • Information Literacy: _______________________________________________
  • Media Literacy: ____________________________________________________  
  • ICT Literacy: ______________________________________________________
  • Flexibility and Adaptability: ___________________________________________
  • Initiative and Self-Direction: __________________________________________
  • Social and Cross-Cultural Skills: ______________________________________
  • Productivity and Accountability: _______________________________________
  • Leadership and Responsibility: _______________________________________

Lesson Challenge Statement – Framing the Experience: (How will the maker lesson be framed or frontloaded?  – What is the big challenge for this activity? What essential questions do you want learners to explore? What overarching concepts do you want learners to investigate? Is the challenge open and ill-defined so there are multiple opportunities for student interpretation, innovation, and creativity?) The maker lesson can be framed or frontloaded through:

• Introducing Essential Questions
• The Use of Scenarios
• Specifying the Standards
• Asking Questions Related To Personal Skills
• Asking Questions to Help with Scaffolding and Sequencing the Activities
• Asking Questions Related To Using Peer Support-Working Collaboratively

(More information about frontloading the maker experience can be found at https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/framing-and-frontloading-maker-activities/)

Required Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills:

Vocabulary: (What vocabulary do you want learners to learn and use?)

Getting Started: (What high impact activity will you do to get learners excited about or hooked into the upcoming lesson?)

• Video: _________________________________________________________________
• Hands-On Demonstration: _________________________________________________
• AR/VR Simulation: _______________________________________________________
• Online Virtual Simulation: _________________________________________________
• Live Guest Speaker (in person or via Skype/Google Hangout): ____________________
• Game (analog or digital): __________________________________________________
• Group Discussion About the Learning Challenge

Tinkering and Exploration: (Will the learners benefit with some free-play tinkering with and exploring the materials?)

Skills and Knowledge Direct Instruction: (What, if any, knowledge and skills do you need to teach directly prior to the maker activity?)

Learner Planning Time: Time for learners to research and plan what they will do for the maker challenge.

Learner Creation Time: Time for the learners to create, to try out several iterations of their ideas, if needed.

Learner Sharing and Feedback Time: Time for learners to share what they are making with their peers; whose role then is to give feedback.

Documenting Learning and Reflection: How will learners document and reflect on their learning? Possible reflection questions include:

• What new skills have you learned because of the maker experience?
• What are the most important learning moments you take with you from this maker experience?
• Would you do this or a similar maker project again? Why or why not?
• Has this maker experience changed you? If yes, how?
• Describe what you have learned about yourself as a result of your maker experience.
• What would you like to change about your maker experience?
• What were the benefits from you participating in this making activity?
• What surprised you the most during your maker experience?
• What did you do that seemed to be effective?
• What did you do that seemed to be ineffective?
• What were the most difficult parts of the maker experience? Why?
• What were the most satisfying parts of the maker experience? Why?
• What personal characteristics made this maker experience successful for you?
• Describe an awareness about a personal characteristic that has been enhanced by your maker experience.
• How does the maker experience relate to your long-term goals?
• How have you been challenged during the maker experience?
• How do you feel about what you made? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike?
• What lessons can you learn from the maker experience?
• What positives can you take away from the maker experience?
• How can you apply what you learned from maker experience in your life?
• What advice would you give to someone else working on the maker activities?
• What did you learn through this experience and how can you use it in the future?
• Looking back on the maker experience, what two things stand out to you the most and why?

(For more on reflecting on the maker experience, see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/reflecting-on-maker-experiences-with-reflection-cards/.) 

Assessment: How will learners be assessed? (This is especially important in a school setting where grades and accountability are expected.)

• Rubric – Based on Standards and Objectives
  • Teacher Generated
  • Student Generated
• Portfolio Artifact
  • Submitted to a Blog
  • Submitted to a web platform like Seesaw
• Peer Assessments

Sharing Out Findings: How will learners share out what they learned with a larger maker education community? Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame stated: Sharing is s a vital aspect of maker culture that is intrinsic to the underlying ethos of what it means to be a maker and by extension, in my opinion, a human being (https://boingboing.net/2018/05/23/adam-savage-at-maker-faire-th.html).

• Use of Social Media?
• Presentations to Local Students and Community Members?
• News Coverage?
• Teaching Others?

 

Elementary Social Entrepreneurship: A Perfect STEAM Lesson

I have done a social entrepreneurship unit with two groups of gifted students, grades 2nd through 5th. It was one of my favorite units . . . ever, and from their reactions, I believe it was one of theirs, too. I call it a perfect STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) unit. The first part of this post explains some of the rationale for this project, and the second part describes the unit, itself.

Why a Unit on Social Entrepreneurship

First, I wanted my learners, who are from lower income families, to develop both an entrepreneur mindset and entrepreneur skills along with the creativity and innovation that comes with these skills.

Entrepreneurship education benefits students from all socioeconomic backgrounds because it teaches kids to think outside the box and nurtures unconventional talents and skills. Furthermore, it creates opportunity, ensures social justice, instills confidence and stimulates the economy. Because entrepreneurship can, and should, promote economic opportunity, it can serve as an agent of social justice. Furthermore, entrepreneurship has historically spurred minorities, women and immigrants to create better lives for themselves and their families.  (Why Schools Should Teach Entrepreneurship)

Second, not only did I want my learners to gain entrepreneur skills, I wanted them to experience the benefits of starting a company in order to raise money to give to a “cause” also known as a form of social entrepreneurship.

Not every child is temperamentally suited to be a social entrepreneur. Not every child is suited to be a scientist, mathematician, or artist. But elementary school-age kids do have the natural curiosity, imagination, drive, and ability to come up with innovative ways to change the world for the better. By exposing our kids to a variety of disciplines, including social entrepreneurship, we are teaching them they have what it takes to “be the change.” One well-known expert on social entrepreneurship, David Bornstein, puts it this way: Once an individual has experienced the power of social entrepreneurship, he or she will “never go back to being a passive actor in society.” (Young Kids Need to Learn About Social Entrepreneurship)

Third, this unit met my own criteria for an effective and powerful unit:

• Instructional challenges are hands-on, experiential, and naturally engaging for learners.
• Learning tasks are authentic, relevant, and promote life skills outside of the formal classroom.
• The challenges are designed to be novel, and create excitement and joy for learners.
• Learner choice and voice are valued.
• Lessons address cross curricular standards. They are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities.
• Learning activities get learners interested in and excited about a broad array of topics especially in the areas of science, engineering, math, language arts, and the arts.
• Communication, collaboration, and problem solving are built into the learning process.
• Reading and writing are integrated into the learning activities in the form of fun, interesting books and stories, and writing stories, narratives, journalistic reports.
• Educational technology is incorporated with a focus on assisting with the learning activities not to learn technology just for the sake of learning it.
• There is a natural building of social emotional skills – tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team.

Schedule of Learning Activities

Here was the schedule of learning activities I used for this unit:

•  Introduction
  • Video
  • Online Games
  • Kidpreneurs
• Market Survey – Google Form
• Analyzing Results, Deciding of Products, Testing Products
• Expense Sheet – Expenses and Assets
• Business Plan
• Promotional Flyer
• Sales and Record Sheet

Introduction

Video. Learners were introduced to entrepreneurship with the following video:

Kidpreneur Readings and Workbook. We began reading the Kidpreneurs’ book (free book can be ordered at https://kidpreneursbook.com/free-book) and doing exercises from the accompanying  workbook – these readings and exercises continued throughout the unit. Here is an infographic from the authors of these books:

Online Games. They were then given the opportunity to play some online games that focus on entrepreneurship:

• Lemonade Stand – http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-lemonade-stand
• Coffee Shop – http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-coffee-shop
• Building Rush – https://www.coolmath-games.com/0-building-rush
• Cookie Tycoon – http://www.addictinggames.com/strategy-games/cookietycoon.jsp
• The Uber Game – https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/

Market Survey 

Based on their own interests and hobbies (and with the help of the Kidpreneur workbook), my learners decided on possible products they could sell, and with my help, added possible organizations where profits would go. They developed a market survey from this information:

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Analyzing Results, Deciding of Products, Testing Products

Learners requested that their respective classes and family members take their survey. It was quite a treat watching them continually examine the graphs found on the Google form response page. Here is an example from one student:

From the results, they decided to sell Orbeez Stress Balls and glitter slime donating the profits to our school. They tested out making these products – different sizes and slime recipes – to discover which would be best for production.

Expense Form

I acted as the bank and purchased the materials for the learners to make Orbeez Stress Balls and Slime. I saved the receipts, made copies of them, and had each learner create her or his Google sheet to record expenses.

(Still making sales – students will update income this coming week.)

Business Plan

From all of this information, the learners developed a business plan using the following Kids-Business-Plan simplified for kids. It included:

• Their business name – Gifted Community Craft Story
• Startup costs
• Cost per item
• Marketing strategies

Promotional Flyer

The learners created the following promotional flyer using Google Docs. Luckily, our school has a color printer so I was able to print them out in color for the learners to post throughout the school.

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Sales and Record Sheet

Another document created by the learners was the order form:

Highlights – Selling, Making, Packaging, and Delivering the Products

Students Delivering Raised Monies to the Selected Nonprofit – The Interfaith Community Shelter

Additional Resources

• Ten Helpful Tips To Becoming An Kidpreneur [a kid that is an entrepreneur] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ten-helpful-tips-to-becoming-an-kidpreneur-a-kid-that_us_58d42f17e4b0f633072b35c6?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 
• Lesson Plans – Teaching Entrepreneurship http://www.teachingentrepreneurship.org/category/lesson-plans/
• Little Entrepreneurs: Business For Kids http://www.bschool.com/little-entrepreneurs-business-for-kids/

Tangrams: A Cross Curricular, Experiential Unit

Now that I am back in the classroom two days a week teaching gifted elementary students, I can do and report on the cross curricular units I plan and implement. There are several guiding factors that I use to design my units:

• They need to be hands-on and experiential.
• Learner choice and voice is valued.
• They need to address cross curricular standards. It is like life. Life doesn’t segment content areas into separate entities.
• They do not depend on the use of worksheets. Worksheets tend to address a single standard or skill. Plus, learning how to do worksheets is NOT a life skill.
• Communication, collaboration, and problem solving are built into the learning process.
• Reading and writing are integrated into the learning activities in the form of fun, interesting books and stories, and writing stories, narratives, journalistic reports.
• Educational technology is incorporated but with a focus on using it to interact with real world physical objects and people.
• A reflective component is included.
• The educator becomes a facilitator whereby activities are introduced and then the learners become the active agents of their own learning.
• The goal is to create the conditions for learners to say they the best day ever.

Tangrams: Cross Curricular Unit

The tangram (Chinese: 七巧板; pinyin: qīqiǎobǎn; literally: “seven boards of skill”) is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It is reputed to have been invented in China during the Song Dynasty,^[1] and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. . It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram)

Goals:

The students will be able to:

• Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently. (CCSS.ELA)
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (CCSS.ELA)
• Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles. (CCSS.MATH)
• Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories. (CCSS.MATH)
• Develop and portray characters including specifics about circumstances, plot, and thematic intent, demonstrating logical story sequence and informed character choices. (ELA and Visual Arts)
• Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams. (21st Century Skills)
• Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member. (21st Century Skills)
• Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways. (21st Century Skills)

Materials:

• Tangrams (can be made or bought – I have purchased several sizes and types over the years)
• Grandfather Tangram book (or via Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74l1ZM-zP0)
• Pictures of Tangram animals from Grandfather Tangram – a set for each student. I like the use of a set of cards so learners can’t see the next animal until they are asked to turn over the card when that animal appears in the story (or a projected via http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=9bfd751c-ca5d-4733-9748-475963892d53)
• Handout of Tangram shapes
• Large Set of Tangrams made out of 48″ x 48″ sheet of plywood (directions for how to make similar ones out of cardboard can be found at https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/oh-happy-day-2622736/diy-giant-tangram-4939798307)
• Tangoes – a set per each pair of students (only higher price item for this unit)
• Templates for 3D Tangrams – found at http://www.tangram-channel.com/3d-tangrams-templates/
• Scissors, glue sticks, tape
• Chromebooks or iPads

Learning Activities

Read Grandfather Tangrams + Learners Create Tangrams for Each Story Character

Each learner is given a set of tangram puzzle pieces and a set of cards that shows how to make each tangram animal in the story. Grandfather Tang is read to the learners either directly from the book or through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74l1ZM-zP0 so it can be projected. The story is stopped each time there is a reference to one of the Tangram animals. Learners construct that animal using their own set of Tangrams.

Check-In with Tangrams

One of my morning activities with learners is to have them check in as to how they are doing that day. The check in for this unit is to create a Tangram that represents how they are feeling. Selections are made from a sheet given to learners:

Giant Puzzling Tangrams

Making the props for this activity is worth the trouble as it is a very high engagement, high learning, high reward activity. To set it up, an area is chosen that is about 50 yards long (outside or in a gym) and the giant Tangram shapes are placed in a pile at the start of this area. Learners are given a card that has the design of a Tangram at the beginning of this area. They need to produce that Tangram and then all get on top of that shape. Their goal then becomes to cross the designated area using the Tangram pieces as stepping stones. If they fall off, they must go back to the beginning and start again. When they reach the end of the designated area, they are given another Tangram shape they need to construct prior to stepping off. This translates into the need for them to maneuver the Tangram pieces into the design while standing on pieces.

Tangoes Tangram Card Game – Paired Challenge

Next, the learners play the Tangoes card game in pairs. The object of Tangoes is to form the image on the card using all seven puzzle in a challenge with another learner in a race to solve the puzzle. It helps build visual spatial skills as the cards don’t have demarcations for the individual Tangrams. I promote some cooperative work as I ask the partner who figured out the answer to help his or her partner to do so, too.

Make 3D Tangrams

Learners are given the printed out templates for a set of 3D Tangrams and construct them.

Create a Story from 3D Tangrams – Take Photos and Write a Blog Post

Learners think of a story using their 3D Tangrams and take photos for the scene(s) of their stories. They then upload these images to their blogs and write about their story.

(Postscript: Wow – I didn’t review their blog posts until after school. We are definitely going to discuss this student’s blog post during on next class session. Great teachable moment to discuss this real life situation of one of their classmates.)