Cross-curricular connections throughout different subject and content areas help to make lessons more meaningful and relevant for students. Thoughtfully-crafted STEM lessons that leverage technology-rich resources similar to what your students are using outside the classroom are great ways to engage students in interdisciplinary instruction.
As a STEM educator, I work with teachers at my school to develop engaging and inquiry-based lessons that help ignite student curiosity and foster their love for learning. Through the many Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) I belong to, I often hear teachers say the same thing: They want to include more STEM content in their instruction, but they are not sure how to get started.
Here are a few technology-rich strategies that help you to incorporate STEM content into different subject areas:
Start with an e-book (ELA connections): There are some phenomenal STEM books that can serve as the jumping off point for your lesson. When you start with a book, it is easy to make those cross-curricular connections, because they already appear for you in the story.
For example, in honor of both Black History Month and the recent Mars Rover landing, my 4th grade students read Counting on Katherine, which follows the story of Katherine Johnson and her contribution in mathematics to the NASA space program. This book can help build connections between space, math, perseverance, diversity/adversity, discrimination, education, etc. Students are able to make connections with characters in the book, and are able to reflect on their reading this way.