Incorporating Language Arts in STEM

     Teaching STEM to elementary school children aims to teach science, technology, engineering, and math as an integrated team of skills instead of breaking them up. The four components are taught together with real life scenario and hands on learning. STEAM embraces this same idea. Incorporating arts into STEM is important because it helps to develop the whole child and their abilities to showcase the integration of these skills in the future. When you look at science standards, almost every single one has an ELA component to it. THIS is why the “A” is important in STEAM. Students must learn how to communicate their learning orally or in writing, give explanations, and asking and responding to questions. The possibilities are endless when it comes to how to incorporate Language Arts into STEM learning. It might even be better to think of this integration of concepts as integrating STEM into Language Arts.

     I love the idea of using theater when teaching STEM skills. In the video below, you will see some FANTASTIC teachers using engaging theater techniques to assist the learning of math and science concepts. It just seems so fun to use the art of acting to teach STEM concepts.

Another way to incorporate ELA and STEM is through a wide variety of books for all ages! You could read “The Three Little Pigs” and have young children design and test their own house designs to experiment with structures and how much they can withstand. You can read the amazing book, “Junkyard Wonders” and have students use recycled materials to design and create something and then write about their creation. You could use the story “The Mitten” to incorporate sequencing and coding skills that show the timelines of events that occur in the book. Finally, use the classic book, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” to challenge students to build a tree that can withstand as many letters as possible. This also helps with letter recognition!

     There are multiple books that challenge students to solve real world problems. Books such as “The Water Princess”, “Wangari’s Trees of Peace”, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, and many more teach about environmental issues and can be useful in challenging students to recognize and design solutions to problems that effect the world.

     There are so many ways to incorporate STEM learning and ELA. The trick is to just be creative and know no bounds!