STEAM Project Labs
Imagine a science class that works with childhood wonder and curiosity. Our STEAM Project labs begin with inquiry – noticing the world around us, asking questions, and exploring together to find answers and record evidence as well as creating art, projects, and other artifacts of learning.
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Our STEAM Labs
Each project lab begins with questioning. We work together to record our thoughts and then launch into an activity or experiment that helps us investigate further. Our topics align with items on the Menu and can span multiple weeks, drawing on student interest, curiosity, cumulative learning, and new ideas.
Our STEAM activities are always hands-on. Students participate in experiments, research, data collection, and projects that give us opportunities to apply science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematical skills and reasoning.
Project Lab closes with another group gathering where we will share results, observations, and learning with the whole group, recording ideas for the whole group and sharing, and giving feedback on the products that we’ve made.
Next, we launch into a Montessori work cycle. Students may elect to extend their project-based learning, or switch to tasks and activities in any subject area listed in our menu. This is a busy time, filled with productive work throughout the schoolhouse.
All Dandelion Learning Collaborative programs also close with some work in our journal to reflect upon experience and great ideas as well as gathering belongings and working together to clean and set the Schoolhouse for the next group.
Our Project Lab Themes
Our Project Lab Themes are always selected to match our menus, spiraling curriculum, and student interest. Most often, we answer a question developed by the children through experimentation, or we conduct research to learn skills or about the work of a scientist or artist they are interested in. Our results may be bridges that we’ve built, data sets. Activity, or art inspired by an artist or through exploration of a new medium.
A big Lab theme that was a fan favorite always included food. We made homemade ice cream in a bag, butter in a jar, used Skittles to discover how the dye pulls from the candy, and made bread in a bag! Each food-related lab was captivating, hands-on, and edible – a real crowd pleaser!
- Elephant Toothpaste
- Paper Bridges
- Butterfly camouflage
- Ants
- Ice Cream
- Sourdough
- Bubbles
- Ooblek and slime
- Bottle rockets
- Skittles
How It Differs From Regular Science Classes
Conventional school settings present science in ways that avoid inquiry and hands-on approaches. It asks students to receive rather than explore new information. We believe that project labs give children ownership and control of their learning. From this, they develop a deep understanding and lasting memory of the concepts they explore. They also have the opportunity to explore and learn alongside others – some with more questions and some with more understanding – all with something important to share. In doing this, children have opportunities to learn with and from their peers, their environment, and their teachers.
What Ages It Works For
Multi-age groupings create a diversity of perspectives that we can all benefit from. In project labs, we find that younger children often ask the most meaningful questions while older children are equipped to help answer them and extend learning. This creates a place where we are all able to learn together in a meaningful way.
What Kids Leave With
During each session, teachers work to foster application of both process and content learning. Our goals are for children to be able to gain confidence with planning, inquiry, communication, creating, recording, and reflection – as well as gain academic knowledge about the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math content and tools that we explore together.
How Does It Combine With A Montesorri School House?
As a hands-on classroom experience, Project Labs are a launch pad for both community and personal learning. We explore new topics, follow children’s lead, and provide access to meaningful tools and materials. Members often ask us for links so that they can repeat the experiment at home or extend their exploration of new ideas. We find this to be a wonderful compliment for inquiry based learning independently in students homeschool, and a great way to explore ideas and provide experiences that individuals may not have had the opportunity to otherwise.
Yes! We have several members who find STEAM Project Labs to be the best fit for their personal style or schedule. All members of Schoolhouse and Labs have access to Lunch Club and our complete Community Calendar including Events and Family Field Trips.
Bring your water bottle, lunch, and/or snack and wear clothes that are comfortable for play are okay to get messy. We may send out occasional requests for household items such as cardboard and jars to reuse in our projects. Other than that, we’ve got it covered!
We don’t give grades but we do give feedback. All projects result in products such as data tables, writing, or constructions that may be brought home – and we always create and share a photo story-board of our learning together.
We work with groups to select themes and determine next steps and find it rare that an individual is opposed to joining in the work together. If this does occur, the option to work with a selected independent task from our Menu and/or another personal project is always available and supported.
We do not give grades, but we do create a lot of evidence of progress, and we do give feedback. Children record plans and reflections in their journals each day and teacher prepare photo decks and narrative tell the story of each session in our daily SeeSaw posts.
Yes! We love family field trips and host them each month. See the list on our Calendar.
