STEM SERIES PART 3: Boosting Science Literacy with BrainPOP Science for Middle School Success

STEM SERIES PART 3: Boosting Science Literacy: Implementing BrainPOP Science for Middle School Success

In this episode of Classroom Dynamics, we're diving into the fascinating world of BrainPOP Science. Join us as Dr. Michelle Newstadt, a dynamic educator and Senior Director of STEM Learning Design for BrainPOP Science, walks us through the importance of Science and STEM education.

With extensive experience in middle school education, Dr. Newstadt brings boundless energy and innovation to STEM learning. Her passion for inspiring students is evident as she discusses phenomenon-based science and evidence-based writing, aiming to make science education engaging and accessible worldwide.


Unlike traditional textbook learning, BrainPOP Science elevates middle school science education with student-driven investigations, engineering projects, and interactive activities like simulations and 3D worlds. It challenges students to gather information, explain phenomena, and express ideas through writing, fostering a deeper understanding.

Integrated with engaging movies, BrainPOP Science enriches learning experiences while empowering teachers with class management tools and insightful data on student performance. It revolutionizes the way students engage with science, making it comprehensible and enjoyable.  Check out this sample investigation!

Stay tuned as Dr. Newstadt shares insights into the captivating world of BrainPOP Science, promising an educational journey that will inspire how we teach and unlock scientific curiosity in every student.

Additional Show Notes:

BrainPOP Science CER Case Study: BrainPOP Science Accelerates Evidence Based Writing and Reasoning Skills

https://content.brainpop.com/rs/567-ANS-609/images/BrainPOP%20Science%20Research%20CER%20Case%20Study%201-Pager%20%282%29.pdf?version=0

Social media 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/brainpop/

https://www.facebook.com/brainpopofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/brainpop_official/

https://twitter.com/brainpop

Blog

https://blog.brainpop.com/

Events

https://www.brainpop.com/classroom-solutions/resources/events

Transcript

0:00

[MUSIC] I'm Adam Todd and welcome to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. I've always believed that the best way to engage students in a 21st century classroom is to immerse them with the transformative tools that will empower each and every one of them to excel in the world that awaits. My goal is to ignite the spark that propels you and your students in an advanced tomorrow and your journey into that future starts right now.[MUSIC] Classroom Dynamics is supported by Logitech. As education continues to evolve, so does Logitech Education, your partner in content creation for the classroom. With Logitech's cutting edge technology, students not only learn but also become content creators. Whether it's in-person or online, Logitech's tools are designed to inspire educators and learners alike. Capture every educational moment in stunning detail and edit, produce, and share your creative journey with ease. Logitech Education, inspiring the next generation of creators. For more, visit Logitech.com/education, transforming classrooms, one innovation at a time.[MUSIC] Introducing the Logitech Zone Learn Headset, a sleek and sophisticated tool crafted to enhance your learning experience. Designed for adaptability, this cutting edge headset effortlessly transforms any environment into a focused learning zone. Be it at home, in a bustling classroom, or on the move. With Crystal Clear Audio and Advanced Noise Canceling Technology, the Zone Learn Headset tellers a personalized learning space for your undisturbed concentration. Armerce yourself in coursework, language learning, or virtual presentations with confidence. The precision microphone insures your voices heard clearly in virtual classes and meetings, adding impact to your presentations and discussions. Logitech Zone Learn, where sleek design meets advanced technology, revolutionizing the way you learn. Elevate your study sessions, enhance virtual experiences, and embrace the future of education with Logitech. Always connected, always focused, always learning. The Zone Learn Headset, your key to success. For over 20 years, higher ground is designed functional technology protection, helping students to work or learn anytime, anywhere. I'm Mark, President of Higher Ground, and I want to share with you how you can get a free sample of any of our rugged shells, sleeves, or clear backpacks. Visit hggear.com/sample and use your school's email and address. One thing, don't tell Alex because he'll be stuck with all the paperwork. Request yours and see for yourself how higher ground can help save your students and school, downtime, and money. Just remember, don't tell Alex. Mark, we're on the sample request filling my inbox. Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, the podcast where we get into the exciting world of technology and education. Hi everybody, I'm your host Adam Todd and today we're exploring the fascinating and relatively new world of brain pop science. Featuring my special guest, Dr. Michelle Nusdap, a dynamic educator and science enthusiast who serves as the senior director of STEM Learning Design for Brain Pop Science. With a wealth of experience in middle school education, Dr. Nusdap brings energy and innovation to STEM learning and is dedicated to making science education engaging, interactive, rigorous, and accessible to students and teachers worldwide. Her passion for inspiring middle school students is palpable when she speaks about phenomenon-based science and evidence-based writing as a means to develop student science knowledge and practices. So prepare to be inspired as Dr. Michelle Nusdap joins us to explore how multi-dimensional science education can benefit you and your students. But before we chat with Dr. Nusdap, let's unpack what brain pop science is all about. What distinguishes brain pop science from brain pop, the product you may already be familiar with, is its focus on middle school science, transcending traditional and sometimes stagnate textbook learning, brain pop science elevates middle school science learning to new heights with ready to use student-driven investigations, engineering projects, and interactive activities such as simulations, three worlds, and data manipulators. Brain pop science embraces the power of active learning, challenging students to gather information and explain phenomena, especially with a focus on the expression of ideas through writing and investigations are meticulously structured to activate prior knowledge, encourage observation and verify understanding through checkpoint activities. Additionally, students are prompted to reflect through self-assessment opportunities and describe what they noticed during an investigation. Interactive data graphs add an extra layer of engagement for students which can lead to a much better and deeper understanding of what's being studied. But don't worry, brain pop fans, brain pop science also has engaging movies integrated strategically within the investigations, therefore enriching the overall learning experience. Students watch these familiar style movies that are woven in recording observations that tie back to the guiding question. And when it comes to the teacher, you can take control of your online class environment by creating a class, generating assignments, and accessing helpful class data, including student skill performance. This not only helps the teacher keep tabs on what's going on throughout, but also helps teachers make better informative instructional decisions. In essence, brain pop science helps make science copper-hensible and enjoyable while providing an advanced and interactive learning environment, transforming the way students experience science-related topics. Now coming up next, we'll chat with Dr. Michelle Nusdat as she shares insights and tips into the captivating world of brain pop science. Get ready for an educational journey that's sure to inspire how you view the process in which we teach science and how we can unlock scientific curiosity in every student. We'll be right back. Are you a dedicated educator searching for fresh and engaging resources to inspire your students? Look no further than highly motivated on teachers-paid teachers. Discover a treasure trove of easy-to-use lesson plans, vibrant visuals, and interactive activities designed to captivate young minds and ignite their love for learning. Unlock the potential within your classroom with highly motivated from differentiated laptops to test prep passages on a multitude of topics. Our wide range of materials catered to most elementary and middle school grade levels. Join the community of passionate teachers who have already transformed their classrooms. Visit highly motivated on teachers-paid teachers and get ready to inspire, motivate, and empower your students like never before. Highly motivated on teachers-paid teachers where knowledge meets inspiration. She's the senior director of STEM Learning Design for Brain Pop Science and her passion for making science education engaging, interactive, rigorous, and accessible has helped to shape brain pops approach to science education. Dr. Michelle Newstat brings expertise in educational research, pedagogy, and the integration of technology to ensure that brain pops STEM content not only meets academic standards, but also fosters a love for learning. Through her leadership, Michelle continues to contribute significantly to the evolution of STEM education, empowering students to explore and understand the wonders of science and technology. I'd like to welcome Dr. Michelle Newstat to Classroom Dynamics. It's so great to have you here today. Awesome. Thanks so much for having me. So before we even start and get into what brain pop science is, and it really is amazing, just tell everyone a little bit about your background in science and also in STEM education, and of course your role with brain pop today. Sure, absolutely. So, sort of going way back, I was a geology major. I love to get out into the field and really see science all around me. And my college science experience really inspired me to get more involved in, you know, to continue with the field. So I actually taught me on high school science in New York City, and then my learners kept asking me these questions and sometimes demonstrated different struggles, or they had alternative conceptions about something in science. And I found myself I was asking more and more questions. So of course, that brought me back to grad school. And at grad school, I studied science education, specifically a focus on curriculum and instruction. And I was incredibly fortunate to be on some National Science Foundation grants using to see how we use technology to really enhance learning for all of our learners. And then I looked at post-post grad school. I did a postdoc, and I looked at science literacy and students writing in science, specifically, and how peers can give feedback. And that was really, really great again in the text space. So I started work in a startup and doing all sorts of curriculum design and looking how learners sort of take bite size pieces and learn. And then I moved into the nonprofit world. And I looked and I was part of the innovation team and the research team. And then fortunately about three years ago, I started at BrainPop Science. And at BrainPop, I am the senior director of Learning Design and my focus is STEM. And what that means is I have an amazing team who not only generates the content, the engaging quirky BrainPop content, but we also help create the learning experience. We want to make sure it's accessible for all of our learners. And we also create the teacher experience. So how do we support teachers in the act of inquiry-based science? You actually said a really important word there experience, right? Because experience for you and myself, when we were little is not the same experience as the kids have today, just because of the amount of technology that they have at their fingertips, right? So that's actually a really important part of BrainPop Science, isn't it? Absolutely. So what we do is we want to make sure when a learner comes into BrainPop Science that we level the playing field. They start with a phenomenon. And this is intentional to activate prior knowledge, bring in past experiences. But if a learner, for example, has never made a smore before, and we're asking about chemical reactions or physical changes, we start with someone roasting a marshmallow and making the smore. So everyone engages at the same time. And then we purposely scaffold the experience throughout to ensure that if a learner has a bit of a struggle, that's okay. There's purposeful struggle built in for every learner. And the experience is a cohesive experience. So it brings each learner to a really high cognitive demand task at the end, which is our claim evidence in reasoning. So BrainPop Science is relatively new. It's a new offering that's designed for middle school. Tell us about BrainPop Science. And can you walk us through its unique approach with that? Absolutely. So BrainPop Science is new. Many of you probably know BrainPop. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary, but BrainPop Science just launched about two and a half years ago. And it is absolutely designed for the middle school audience. In our design, we really want to focus on learners practicing the practices. So what does that mean? That means that every investigation, which is a lesson is built around the idea of learners should be using models and they can analyze data and they really use mathematical thinking in their everyday approach. So we have designed these lessons, these investigations to start with a real world phenomenon. How can we get learners interested? How can we get them engaged and see science all around them? And then our learners are the doers. So they need to engage with all our interactive resources. So we have simulations, data manipulaves that have real world data sets from like NOAA NASA. We have related readings and primary source materials. And throughout all this, learners answer questions. They also make observations. So these observations then carry through the whole investigation. And at the end, they have to answer this guiding question. The guiding questions given to them at the beginning of the investigation so they can continually think about it. So for example, why can't you un-bake a cake is one of the guiding questions? So it's a scientific question, but it's engaging. It's interesting. It's something that many of us have experienced before when you put something into the oven for like cupcakes or cake or cookies, whatever can un-bake. So students then answer that at the end in a claim evidence and reasoning format. I love that. So you have investigation, observation, experience, and claim-based, you know, all it just really takes the whole circle of STEM and science really and it kind of does really combine it into one new, almost a new topic. Yeah, I'm trying like a new topic of study, right? It really is. Because if you think about it, right? You we always had science and that was good. And then the technology came into play. You could even put the A for steam in there if you really wanted to and add another layer to that onion. But it really almost has evolved in the last couple of years as almost a whole new topic, you know, comparatively to just either looking at it as science or STEM. I love that framing because I've never heard that before, but if I think back to my early years in, you know, elementary school, middle school, a lot of the science expectation was memorization. It was so unbelievably different. So now we're in this really unique and I think incredible time. It's an awesome opportunity for teachers and learners to really dig in, have evidence-based statements and arguments and really critically think my goal as a as a teacher wasn't necessarily for every learner that I had to become a scientist. But I wanted every learner that I had to see that they can think and be a scientist. They can think critically. They can analyze. They can write and have an evidence-based statement at the end. And I think that's the evolution of the science classroom these days. It really has morphed into, like you said, steam or STEM, but it has this multi-dimensional component that it all has to come together, you know, the parts, you know, the holes is greater than the some of the parts kind of feeling in our modern day science classroom. And that's not always easy for a teacher to do. No, it's a huge challenge. It's absolutely, it takes more time. The approaches students have to dig in. They have the multi-modalities to interact with to really start making connections. And again, like the students are expected to be critical thinkers and bring creativity and the same challenges for the teachers, you know, this is new. I like to think about my first year as a teacher and I thought I was just rocking it. And then I look back and I kind of cringe. I'm like, oh, those poor students, I really, I thought I was doing great, but did I, you know, was it okay? And it's similar with these new standards coming out, with these new expectations. Teachers have to give themselves some grace. And the educational community has to support them. So, for example, in BrainPop Science, we know this is hard work. Everyone on our team has been in the classroom and taught this way. So all of our resources are embedded that teachers, we help support say, hey, this is where a student might struggle. This is how you can help them through it. Here's another resource you can provide. Or hey, this claim evidence and reasoning thing, we know students often really struggle with the reasoning part. Let's give examples that you might see coming out of your classroom in ways that you can support the learner to get to the next level. So it should not fall in the teacher. It has to be a whole community. It's really the responsibility of everyone generating content, any technology or anything like that. We need to offer different supports for every teacher who is at a different point in this inquiry based approach. So I've asked this question a couple times during the STEM series that we have going on for this month, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. But what is your own personal definition of STEM and how does it play a role with BrainPop Science? Yeah, I love that question. So for me, it's that multi-dimensional component. It's the interdisciplinary, everything coming together. So if you think about a scientist, and I'm not talking about someone in a lab, necessarily, I'm talking about the baker, you know, there's science everywhere. They're, they're needs, there's math in that, right? I don't know a single scientist or someone who does the act of science without thinking and having computational skills, engineering components. I love the idea of engineering embedded with the sciences. So often in the past, when engineering was taught, it was when I was a learner, and I did this as a teacher too, you know, I didn't realize I built like the classic toothpick bridge, right? But it was, it didn't have the science with it. So STEM and STEM to me are the idea that none of this should be taught in isolation. It all builds on itself as an educational community. We need to build resources that embed that together. Because it's the fabric that holds that whole thing together anyway. Absolutely. Like once you start pulling them apart, we take the context out of it for the learner. So for example, in our engineering projects, we make it a very specific point to pick the, the content standard that we're aligning to first before we develop a problem statement. Because if we can't tie it to the science content, then they're engineering or agitering, but they're not necessarily designing a solution to the problem. And similarly, on the flip side, if we just make it that there's a single solution to a engineering problem, then they're not bringing in the steam that creative components are not bringing in the math. They're not bringing in the technology in different design pieces to figure it out, to prototype, to iterate, and then see failures. Okay. So when you bring it out altogether, all of a sudden you have this thinker who's thinking in these different dimensions. And I think it's incredible. I like how you said that too, because failure is okay. And I don't think a lot of teachers, even students to some degree, I think when I was a kid, I was afraid to fail more than anything. And I think if somebody would have said to me, it's okay to fail. That's the best way you're going to learn. I maybe I would have taken that, you know, or I wouldn't have. I don't know if I would have run with that at the age eight or nine. But I think for teachers, I think they're almost afraid to fail at the lesson or have the end result fail when that's not really the whole purpose of it anyway. You almost want somebody to fail in this in this situation because you want them to have that, okay, how am I going to figure this out? How do I get over the problem? What else is connected to it that could help me figure it out? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, in our engineering projects, we have purposely built in the idea that, hey, your first attempt at a prototype, it likely is not the best one. Even if you solve the problem that we gave you, we're going to put in another component. We call it sort of the rack constraint internally, which is the idea of we're going to make it more challenging. So if you didn't fail the first time, we're going to push you to fail and figure out how to improve on the second time. Similarly for teachers, like having an engineering project, having something that is is very new to you as a teacher. I mean, that's terrifying. And you're up in front of 30 plus kids and middle schoolers. I mean, I love the middle school age group, but middle schoolers can be, you know, all don't look through you with daggers, right? Absolutely. So I see, I, you know, I feel for the teacher as well in terms of, you know, if a lesson fails, can we be upfront about it to our learners and say, oh, that didn't go well, but what did go well? What part of the process and how can we improve together? And that's also a part of like the steam component, but yeah, the failure piece. I know as I know for my students, that was the absolute toughest thing. I know for my own kids, building in the idea that perfection is not part of it and perfection is definitely not part of science. So yeah, I think it's really interesting to think about it that way. Okay. So with that answer, how do teachers then use brain pop science to make it just engaging? Because I think the engagement part is probably the biggest piece, especially from especially for middle schoolers. And of course, accessible for everyone. How does brain pop work that out? So that's a huge focus for us. As you said, the engagement piece is incredibly important. So what we start with is actually during our brainstorming sessions, we say to ourselves, okay, here's the standard, here's the topic we want to hit. And we start thinking of all the different sort of quirky, odd things that might hit that topic. And we really try to approach it in a different way than a teacher may have and help do some that heavy lifting for them. So that's where we start in our brain storming sessions. And then we go into the idea of what phenomenon can we show? So sometimes we're very purposeful and do something that really all of our learners can really say, oh, I've seen that before on the street or something like that. And other times, we really are purposeful of exposing learners to new situations that they may never have seen, heard of or anything like that. And then in our phenomenon, we're extremely purposeful in the video or the image that we show and the scaffolded questions to make sure everyone's understanding and engaging to start. And then brain pop is really known as and brain pop science for engaging learners where they are and making it sort of fun. I've used a word quirky a few times, but like our related readings in our movies are purposely giving analogies and ideas that really kids can relate to even the concept is complex. We're approaching a learner and the child at the at the level where they are and acknowledging that they are fully capable of understanding this tough concept. So we do that. We also our simulations are purposely built in a way that we help learners focus on the key ideas and the key practices. We do that through questioning because I know in my classroom sometimes middle schoolers have a tendency to be a little click happy when we get into things. So we make it in a way that they have freedom and autonomy to look around, but we also create some guardrails so they don't get too far off track so they can stay in that in that in that in that concept. We also make sure that our resources that are embedded in our investigation are about 10 to 15 minutes long max. So if the investigation is being broken up over several class periods, a learner can have a natural stopping point. So we do all that and we've heard from the field that teachers are able to different kids like different things, but it tends to be that phenomenon that brings everyone together and it starts that discussion in class and they're there's your prior knowledge too right you're bringing that in and that's usually what will gain a lot of engagement you know. So if a kid is sitting there going okay no I understand I experienced that I've seen that before I've heard that before it does at least lend to the spring board into the investigation. Absolutely and we also want the teachers to be above an opportunity to surface those ideas because you know when we're in the classroom and a learner brings something up it's often not completely wrong but sometimes they start out with a slight alternative conception coming in which is totally fine we just need to know about it so we can continue to bring in additional ideas so the learner can do that or they might come in with a ton of background knowledge and we might need to push them and differentiate and that's what we do in brain pop science. We offer differentiation for that learner that needs that extension but also for that learner that might need a little bit more of that you know foundational knowledge it's there and can be assigned to a learner. So then let's go into an investigation what does a brain pop science investigation look like and let's take like a seventh grade middle school level like what does that look like how do you you know how does a teacher go about starting you know what's the process what's the overall lesson what does it look like for them. Yeah so I like to start at the end so I'm going to start at the end of an investigation sort of to give a little bit of a where we're going on the journey so every investigation ends with a scientific explanation or an argument and this is an opportunity for students to write their open text boxes and the end result is an evidence-based writing statement so the claim is a one sentence claim answering the guiding question that carries throughout the investigation students gather observations that turn into evidence so the evidence statements that we encourage them to have at least two four two pieces of evidence from different resources and then the reasoning which I mentioned earlier is the toughest piece. So are and the reasoning encompasses you know scientific principles and they really connect their claim and their evidence so that's sort of the end result that's the package that learners end with for teachers we like to think about it it's 45 minutes plus a C.R. claim evidence and reasoning and we provide classroom slide decks that the teacher can start so we've noticed two approaches from our teachers they start with a classroom slide deck so everyone's in the same spot everyone does the activate section with the phenomenon together and then they move to the observe and check with all these interactive resources they may have learners turn and talk to each other and share observations that they made from a simulation or data manipulative so for example if we are doing what I talked about earlier can you unbake a cake the end result is that no and then they're going to show all the evidence and they then in the reasoning talk about the chemical reactions and what happens there so in the initial phenomenon that they might watch as a group there's actually a video of a cake rising in a nothing and you could see the browning and we often see teachers say hey what what are some signs of chemical reactions what are we and turn and talk or we have a whole group and then in that example they go into the observe and check there's a simulation where they gather observations there's a reading where we talk about food and chemical reactions and physical changes we also have embedded assessments so a teacher can get a quick snapshot of what they know and this is all happening often in a class period and then they may do the CER the next day or they bring it home for homework or sometimes teachers assign this and students work on their own or in groups and the teacher might be working in small groups doing something else like a station activity. So you said something important assessments I think a lot of teachers and even kids if you know if they are listening but teachers for the most part do cringe too when they hear assessments mostly because some teachers will you know fear a state kind of test assessment and some just fear the small little tidbit kind of assessment where they're a little nervous that they're not picking up on it and they have to go back and and what is that going to do to their lesson planning moving forward. So what's your perspective on nurturing scientific curiosity and critical thinking while at the same time getting students ready for assessments whether it is that you know embedded assessment in the investigation or it is an end result you know end of the year state assessment because that is problematic you know in terms of a teacher how do you balance all that and how do you get past it and how much weight do you really put on it you know so what's the approach that brain pop signs takes with that to help them. Yeah assessments are a reality of our our our field and the summit of assessment is it's scary for teachers and learners so the way we approach it from brain pop science we have we want to think about it as we're giving learners an opportunity to get ready in a very low stakes environment. So if we start looking the assessment world is changing in science so this multi-dimensional approach where learners have to have put it all together so the concepts the practices the cross-cutting ideas all that needs to come together and these test questions are asking that. So what we do in brain pop science is we have our stimulus our data manipulative our simulation our movie and we actually ask questions that are very very similar to what a learner might see on a summit of assessment but it's super low stakes and it's also scaffolded so a learner is actually practicing and getting ready for that assessment or getting ready for high school we're really building that foundation in how we structure our investigations how we structure our individual resources it's the same thing and then we also have opportunities we have what we call quizzes which are outside the investigations that are very purposely using the item types that a learner will see on a summit of assessment and we're asking like we've all seen it some of the questions tend to be very lengthy so really it's how does a learner read through the question and decipher what's being asked and we ask those types of questions as well so we are very aware of the fact that students need to be ready at the end of the year specifically end of eighth grade for many areas for this summit of assessment so we do it in an engaging way and I personally think if a learner is a critical thinker if they can write using scientific ideas if they can interact and manipulate models and really engage they'll be totally fine on a summit of assessment because they're learning those practices and those ideas throughout and teachers can also use brain pop science to help reteach and go back and say hey I know you saw this in sixth grade let's let's do a simulation or let's do a quiz that you may not have seen the content in a while but you know the practices in the cross cutting concepts already it's kind of a great segue into my next question with just even the claim evidence reasoning process of brain pop science and you know just the whole writing component that is a huge component of brain pop science why is the art of writing in science so important even even if it's just a standalone but also with regards to stem as a field of study and the ability to be that effective critical thinker and communicator what what puts that weight in that and makes that writing process so critical if you if if you asked me that maybe 20 years ago I would have laughed and said I picked um science as a major because I didn't want to read or write and boy it was I wrong I really the most important skill that I have from the research side from the science side is the ability to write I can communicate my ideas and also we know from from research learners that are learning literacy skills like the writing like reading scientific concepts embedded within context that's actually building their literacy skills as well learning that in context is so important it helps build that prior knowledge it helps build the reading critical reading skills and that's one of the reasons we stress it it's your buy one get one free exactly like situation isn't it yeah exactly and then the other piece is we're going back to the assessment piece so if you look at a lot of our new assessments a lot of the questions maybe give a claim and say we'll pick the evidence that supports it or they might say what is the reasoning behind this or explain so by having the learners do it in a very purposeful way and in an open text response they are really doing the heavy lifting they are the doers there and they're building that so if we've we've seen that if learners really have an opportunity at least four CERs claim evidence and reasoning that they're starting to really develop their reasoning skills and we see a lot of growth in that so it's it's it's building that skill set and in high school if you talk to any high school teacher they want their kids coming in with the ability to write and reason I mean across the board I'm not just saying science teachers so right and it's one thing to think it and and be able to understand it but then to process that out in writing can sometimes be a hurdle that some kids can't get passed absolutely writing is so hard being clear and concise and being able to articulate what you're you're thinking in words it's just so challenging it's just such a great opportunity to practice it right so let's marry everything together now right so with the growing emphasis on even project-based learning using your hands all that hands-on approach good stuff the engineering the computer science how does brain pop science support teachers in implementing engineering projects in the classroom that are going to be hands-on and what benefits does that provide yeah engineering is popping up everywhere you know we see it in the next generation science standards we see it in so many state standards and the question comes up how do you do this how do you do it in a timely manner because if we think about some of the open-ended projects we do in class they could just take a life of their own and really take weeks upon weeks and one thing we also wanted to look at is how do we give learners a problem that they can solve without putting the weight of the world on them so we don't want them to clean up all the plastics in the ocean and their set of great science class it would be amazing if they came up with that but that's not the expectation so the way we've approached our engineering projects is I think I mentioned earlier we pick the the science concept that we really want to be at the forefront and then we start with our problem statements we don't start with solutions yet because we want to see is this a true problem that a learner might encounter so we do things like you want to recycle gray water from your cafeteria and use it in your school garden how can you build this so but you have a limited number you have a limited space for this so in when we do this we come up with problem statements that are engaging and relevant for the learners and then we start to think about are there multiple solutions this if there's a single solution it's not going to be an engineering project for us we want learners to approach it and as I said earlier we don't really the solution itself is not that important but we don't want to learn and think there's a single right answer because that's really not how engineering works in the real world right it's a good point too because you want them to understand there's more than one way to scan a cat that you if you can't figure it out this way there's always another way you can approach it yeah I love thinking about that so we see that learner some time that learners work in a group here so our engineering projects are both online so they do they're brainstorming and their research online and then they will build they'll actually design and prototype a solution and they'll test it so for example one of our problem statements is you dropped your keys when you came off the bus you dropped them down the sewer how can you get them out so they have laundry baskets and they are creating simple machines to try to get them out often they fail to pick them up and that's okay we say okay where did it fail how can you improve your design and what we see during this whole process to the point about project based learning each learner takes on a different role in the project and some of our kids are great with the brainstorm they have these creative ideas it's awesome other kids are coming in with the science knowledge and really can put that in and say hey remember when we learned about simple machines this is how it went another kid might be great at building and they haven't been able to show and shine in their classroom at other points and all of a sudden they're building this incredible hook and fishing rod type set up to get your keys out of the sewer so it's really a great opportunity for students to learn from their peers also to grow with their peers and these take usually about two to three class periods to do we are very purposeful in making sure that the engineering projects take time to think about but it's not this huge idea so they can a learner can really stay focused on the problem solution. I love that example of the sewer that's great that's what a great idea for people to take if they're listening to that you could probably almost see it tomorrow everyone's going to try something along those. Oh please send pictures yeah I want to see the solutions I love it even with the simple machines it's so just it's intriguing you know like wow okay that could happen to me I could come up a bus I could drop something down the sewer how do I get it it's a real world problem absolutely I love that so many people do look at stem as a male dominated subject I think that's been the case for a long time now but as a leader in stem education what advice would you give to educators looking to inspire students as a whole but more specifically foster a passion for stem with girls yeah you know when I look left look right in my in my college classes you know it was there were very few females and you know I look back and I said to myself well how did I get into this it was my eighth grade science teacher and she just made science come to life and it was incredible and she pushed me she asked questions so I know for myself that was a huge factor and then my parents were were very much like hey this seems to be something you like why don't you try it so I was I was really fortunate to have it both at school and at home and I fell in love with geology I didn't even know it existed before I went to college just again it was a teacher who inspired me so for teachers out there I would say build your kids up make it engaging make the aha moments and I know that that ends up as an equal playing field if you do that absolutely absolutely and I know in the middle school space it's a really important time for kids to continue to engage in science often if you talk to kids coming out at elementary school I love experiments I love this I love that and then for whatever reason in middle school it gets serious I don't know any other way to say it but we can be engaging and serious and rigorous all at the same time and still inspire kids to continue on I think also having girls see themselves in the fields also showing kids that like I mentioned earlier it's I think lab scientists are great but that's not the only way to be a scientist it's everywhere so I mean show different careers in STEM in agriculture you know in sports science physiology and baking and all that because personally I didn't know any of that existed when I was growing up and I was I was fortunate enough to be exposed to different things and I fell in love with it and I really I think many learners would benefit from that and teachers now have the ability at the at their fingertips with being able to access internet websites and videos to really bring that to life and show hey look this can happen you can do this look how cool this is you know I think when you know if you go back 10 or 15 years ago that wasn't the case you know you might have had a story or you might have had something written in a textbook and you didn't get the full you know just brunt of what you could possibly do down the line because it just wasn't there you know as a as a three-dimensional something that you could hold in your hand or or something that you could wrap your mind around it was just a story in a book or it was a story that someone was telling now to show video and show what people can do in the real world to bring STEM in I think does make a difference and I think that will help level the playing field a little bit yeah I kind of agree more well listen this has been so informative such an engaging conversation you you had such amazing examples and suggestions I'm really glad we had the chance to learn more about you and in what brain pop science can bring to bring two of science or even a STEM lesson and in a classroom before we go just tell everyone where they can go to find out more about brain pop science yeah absolutely thank you for having me this was so much fun I could talk about this forever so to for brain pop science you could go to science.brainpop.com and take a look we have an investigation up there that you could check out for free and yeah play around if you do the keys in the sewer let me know I'd love to see a picture definitely we'll put it up on our our Twitter and our our Instagram if they do and if anyone's out there listening and you try this one we definitely want to see that we want to put that up well for those of you who have been listening thank you for tuning in today and make sure that you share what you've learned or any takeaways or reflections that you've had and of course tag us on Twitter at class dynamics or Instagram at classroom dynamics podcast we always look forward to hearing your thoughts on our episodes and sharing the different ways in which you're using what you've learned you can also help support classroom dynamics with this little list three dollars a month at classroom dynamics podcast dot buzzsprout dot com once again I'd like to thank michelle new stat from brain pop for joining us today on classroom dynamics it's been such a pleasure having you on with us and I also want to give a special thank you to a lot of koretsky the vice president of communications and social impact at brain pop a lot of has been a big part of the brain pop episodes that we've had on this past year and I just wanted to make sure that I gave both of you a proper thank you so thank you to you guys and of course the whole brain pop team we couldn't have done it without you thank you so much this is wonderful and that brings us to the end of this episode of classroom dynamics where knowledge and inspiration meets innovation I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and founded both insightful and uplifting as always my goal is to provide you with practical strategies engaging stories and powerful insights that can fuel your motivation as an educator I believe that when knowledge and inspiration do come together incredible things can happen in your classroom and for all of you who may feel that it's too late to strengthen your craft I challenge you to make it your mission to do so you've worked hard to get to where you are today and it's never too late to infuse new life into your work so why not make today that day to do so I'm Adam Todd and you've been listening to classroom dynamics a teacher podcast you can follow classroom dynamics on x at class dynamics or on instagram at classroom dynamics podcast if you haven't already go to apple podcast and subscribe rate and review this podcast and if you know a teacher who may benefit from today's show please share it with them we'll be back soon with more captivating conversations inspiring stories and strategies that you can implement into your everyday routines until then keep igniting that spark in your classroom and never stop believing in the incredible impact you have as an educator you are more powerful and inspirational than you think if you like this episode you'll enjoy my episode with Dr. Barbara Hubert the senior director of learning design at brainpop in this engaging conversation we discover how brain pop designs its content to cater to a diversity of learners ensuring that education is accessible and engaging for all Dr. Hubert takes us on a journey through the thought process behind the creation of brain pops beloved characters including Tim and Obi and explores the fascinating history behind these educational personas I often hear subject matter teachers say gosh I need to help my kids with their literacy skills but I'm a social scientist teacher or a technology teacher help how do I do that I can't do both right yeah like I don't have time to teach those literacy skills and then there's another campus is overall literacy teachers and like brain properly holds that ethos and says like we are and we're gonna embed those literacy skills which are just their meaning making comprehension both have acquisition skills into different subjects and sort of help do a little bit of the lift for you