Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Tag: stem

  • Changing Mindsets: STEM Is NOT Content Areas in Isolation

    As this fall semester has started, I’ve heard several stories about STEM classes and STEM teachers in other schools that have troubled me deeply. Some paraphrased quotations from new, full-time STEM teachers, have included: I’m going to teach some math lessons, and then we are going to do some hands-on science experiments. Later in the semester we…

  • Ordering Supplies for STEMseeds Camp: Jitterbug Robots

    In two weeks, Amy Loeffelholz and I will be leading a 3 day workshop for elementary STEM teachers in Yukon, Oklahoma, which we’ve named “STEMseeds PD Camp.” (It’s June 2-4, 2015.) One of the planned STEM projects we’re going to do is “Jitterbug Robots,” a lesson my wife (Shelly Fryer) learned to do and enjoyed last…

  • 30 Reasons I Love Teaching Elementary STEM

    This is my 20th year in education but my second year back in the classroom, teaching STEM full-time to 610 4th and 5th graders at Independence Elementary in Yukon, Oklahoma. Our STEM program is very unique, since it’s in the “specials “rotation for all students that also includes PE, Music and Art. This is the…

  • Learn About Coding & Minecraft: Saturday April 18 at PLAYDATE OKC (free!)

    Would you like to learn more about free apps students can use at school and at home to learn basic computer programming? (These include HopScotch and Scratch Jr.) Would you like to learn more about Minecraft and MinecraftEDU, including ways these programs can be used by students to create simulations, learn problem solving, and practice…

  • STEM, iPad & Google Workshops in June 2015

    Dates and locations for my summer educational workshops and presentations are getting finalized at last. A couple things have changed in the past few weeks which have affected scheduling. Since my wife was selected as a “lead” 2015 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator, which includes a free day at ISTE, I’ll be attending HackEd this year on…

  • Explain Everything Minecraft iPad Project (Treehouse Challenge on Area & Perimeter)

    Today in STEM class my 4th and 5th graders used the iPad app “Explain Everything” for the first time to start narrated slideshow videos about the “Treehouse Challenge” project we’ve spent three lessons on last week and this week. It went great!    by  Wesley Fryer  This is the third semester I’ve taught students a variation of an…

  • Join Our 10th STEMseeds Google Hangout Saturday April 4th

    (cross-posted from STEMSeeds.org) Please plan to join STEMseeds’ tenth live, Google Hangout with elementary STEM teacher Kylie Sanders on Saturday, April 4, 2015, at 10:30 Eastern / 9:30 Central / 8:30 Mountain / 7:30 Pacific time. Kylie is an elementary STEM teacher in Piedmont, Oklahoma, and is finishing up her first year in this fulltime…

  • Thanks to Donors Choose Supporters of Classroom Sphero Project

    Today I finalized the thank you letter and submitted photos for our fall classroom Sphero project on Donor’s Choose. Thanks to the generosity of our donors we now have THREE additional Sphero robotic balls to use in Makers Studio during STEM class. Here’s the letter I submitted to our donors along with six photographs. If…

  • Cool iPad Art & STEAM Apps & Hacks

    Wednesday after school I shared a few different iPad apps and a great STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) drawing device with our art teacher at school whose classroom is just down the hall from me. Here’s the list of links I sent her afterward as a follow-up, along with a few other videos and…

  • Group Building Design Challenge in STEM Class

    (cross-posted with permission from STEMseeds.org) This semester in STEM class as one of our first lessons, I’m using the following “Group Building Design Challenge” to get my 4th and 5th grade students collaborating, designing, communicating, and creatively constructing in groups. This lesson idea originally came from an Oklahoma A+Schools workshop my wife, Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) attended,…