- [Announcer] iQ: smartparent is made possible in part by the McCune Foundation, and the Grable Foundation.

- If you think science, technology, engineering, and math education are only for the classroom, think again.

Today, we're uncovering unique STEM activities in some very unexpected places.

We'll take you from the of a stream bank to a typical toy room transformed into one fantastic maker space.

And we'll show you how technology is changing your child's phys ed class at school.

That's all coming up on this episode of iQ: smartparent and it starts right now.

(piano music) Welcome to iQ: smartparent.

I'm your host Darieth Chisolm.

We know parents are always looking for that perfect teachable moment and that's what this episode is all about.

Finding STEM in strange places.

We will reveal activities that build invaluable skills and they're so much fun your kids will be begging you to do them daily.

Lets kick things off by heading outside to meet a group of Girl Scouts.

They're learning how to be citizen scientists.

And, as you'll see, they leave no stone unturned in their efforts.

(piano music) Dip your toes into the wet and wonderful world of a STREAM Girl.

- There's a bunch of em so.

- There you go.

- Look at that one, and there's one more.

- Look at him go.

- Its so fast.

- [Darieth] But this program title is more than just a clever mash up to talk about learning STEM concepts in a stream.

- STREAM stands for science, technology, recreation, engineering, arts and math.

The caddis will make a tiny little house - [Darieth] STREAM Girls exist thanks to a unique partnership between Girl Scouts USA and Trout Unlimited.

That's a national nonprofit dedicated to conserving cold water fisheries.

- There's two - Okay, pick em up.

Cause what we're gonna do is kinda look in here, you never know what's in here till you start inspecting.

- [Darieth] This is the first ever STREAM Girl program and it's being held in north eastern Pennsylvanian.

Hopes are high for many more to come because these educators believe the best way to make the learning real is to make the learning real hands on.

- No, wait I did.

Oh my gosh, it's big, it's big (squeals) - A textbook is so one dimensional it's words, its pictures on paper, it doesn't give you the smells, the touch, the feel, the look, the sense of the air around you.

- I got one.

Oh I got two - Oh I see it - Oh, oh get it.

- [Darieth] Multiple scientific studies show hands-on activities stimulate different parts of kids' brains.

The more parts of the brain that you use, the more likely you are to retain information.

(upbeat music) - It's way more fun than a book, that's for sure.

- [Darieth] Wild trout thrives in only the coldest, cleanest waters.

The girls are assessing this tributary of the Susquehanna river to see if it's healthy enough to support trout and it's food source.

- I got it all.

- You did?

- Yeah.

I don't know where it went.

- What's it look like - It's one of those really tiny bugs.

- The three indicators that we're looking for in a stream for good health are mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies.

And, their scientific names spell EPT and that's what you're gonna look at for stream health.

Is there anything in the green bucket?

The white bucket?

Can we just scoop some clear water?

Just for some extra?

When you tell a child to pick up a rock and really look at it you normally get they look at the rock and they toss the rock and they look at a rock and they toss the rock.

But, what I really love is when they look at the rock and they stare at it because they're really intent.

They want to find something and that search for knowledge is a really great thing to see.

- The real thing is so much better.

You get to touch it and see it and hold it in your hand.

It's just a whole different experience.

You learn so much.

Get outside and experience as much as you can.

- [Darieth] According to the mission statement on the Girl Scouts USA website, they strive to offer fun with purpose.

Activities like this inspire girls to embrace scientific discovery in their lives.

(water flows) - You guys are finding some nice small things.

That's really good.

- What is that?

- I'm not gonna tell you, you've got to figure it out.

You've got to figure it out.

- [Darieth] For Trout Unlimited, the goal is to get girls to appreciate that every person is a citizen of her watershed.

(water flows) Watersheds support wildlife and human activity but they are threatened by development, pollution, and climate change.

If the water is unhealthy for wildlife, odds are, it's not healthy for humans either.

- We're a small part of a much bigger picture.

Opening them up to more and more ideas about how to incorporate the conservation message with their life and that just builds a much more rounded individual.

- Look at his eyes, he's got the larger eyes in the front and that helps him with his vision to hunt.

Now look, he's taking up a stance, look at that.

Trying to make himself look big.

Get away from me.

The learning skills, the education side of the fun that we did today, was they were doing scientific method.

They took a guess on whether this was a good quality stream.

They went out, they observed, they collected the data, they analyzed the data by counting the species and then they made their assumption based on that.

- [Darieth] At the end of the two day program they'll earn a STREAM Girls badge for completing eight core activities exploring the watershed as scientists, anglers, and artists.

- If you don't have the value range correct in the beginning, then it's all just gonna be medium.

I think incorporating the arts really helps kids as they're learning the science.

You can take snapshots and that's good, but if you can slow down enough to immerse yourself and really look and really observe and try to capture what you see that makes the experience much more memorable.

(rhythmic music) - Stoneflies kind of look like mayflies that have been working out at the gym.

That's kind of what they look like.

- [Darieth] Those skills come in handy once the Scouts exit the stream and identify the macro invertebrates they collected - We never shy away from using scientific terminology with the girls.

We break the word down to words that they would understand.

Macro being bigger, invertebrate, non backboned.

This big chart is called a dichotomous key.

Dichotomous key.

And then we identify the critters using that dichotomous key and then we use that identification and counting of the species to look at the stream health.

So, it's a step by step process.

- Three pairs of legs or - Ten plus legs.

- We made the connection between the scientific terminology that we're teaching them and what we want them to learn by the hands on activity.

- Isn't it cool how it looks like a mini lobster?

- [Jessica] These are the three critters that are gonna tell us really good water quality.

And we found two of the three.

So, do you think we have good water quality, eh, or really bad water quality?

We actually have pretty good water quality because not only did we find two of three different species, we found a lot of them.

- [Darieth] Afterwards, the critters are released unharmed and the STREAM Girls record their findings in science journals.

- [Jessica] We want to tell them theses are important areas and we need to conserve them.

But, then, at the end of what they do we want it to be their own discovery and knowledge that says there is a reason I want to conserve this.

Cause if you just tell them that they have to conserve it you're not gonna make a conservationist you're not gonna make a steward of the environment.

You need them to want to do that.

I want them to form a memory of nature that they're going to cherish.

- A great, big room filled with building block.

That might be every kid's dream right?

Now imagine that room is actually at their school and those toys are being used right alongside the textbooks.

That's what's happening at Montour Elememtary School in western Pennsylvania, home to the nation's very first brick maker space powered by Lego Education.

And here to talk about it are Amanda McDermott, Justin Aglio, and Jason Burik.

Thank you so much for being here on the show today.

- Thank you for having us.

- So, Amanda let's start with you.

So, certainly as a STEAM teacher and Lego master teacher, you're busy with all of your kids, but they're using these Legos not as a toy but more in educational purposes.

How's it working out?

- [Amanda] It's great, I mean, our students and teachers in our building have really embraced the whole playful learning idea.

I mean, what kid doesn't want to come to school where their getting to have fun learning.

And, I think that's the most important piece to it is we want to spark our kids' interest and keep them excited and engaged and what better way to do it than with some Lego bricks.

- You call it playful learning, that's a great phrase.

- Well I can't take credit for it.

Lego Education, that's their whole idea and that's why they do what they do.

- So Justin, when we look at this it's very interesting because it's getting kids away from typical textbooks, right?

And, so, in this case, how is this really helping students with learning?

- Well, we want schools to be relevant we want it to be engaging, but we also want students to love and get excited about learning and learning comes in so many different forms and it's really a life long skill, learning.

So, with Lego we try to do a lot of innovative best practices with it using Legos.

For example, I have this Lego brick right here.

Just this four by two Lego brick.

If you take six of them, you can do over nine hundred million combinations, with just six of these bricks.

So imagine - Nine hundred million?

- Nine hundred million.

- Wow.

- So, imagine a room, like the brick makers space powered by Lego Education Solutions at Montour, where you have thousands of these Lego bricks and you have an animation studio where students make movies, you have a test track where students design and build cars to go down to, you have an engineering station and a collaboration station in the middle where students learn math, art, science, so many different activities.

And the cool thing is, right in the middle of this space, our students at STEAM camp built a replica model of our school using Legos.

So, it's an exciting process.

- It has to be exciting and Jason you've watched it unfold there at the school.

I mean, in this case, how are the kids responding to learning in this maker space.

- They love it, they love it.

I mean, that's what gets me exciting.

To see their passion and excitement.

They don't even realize they're learning while in that room.

And that's one reason we designed that room.

It's a big part of the school.

- Great, so, let's dive in and talk about some of the projects that you've brought.

Amanda, you want to share what we have here?

- Sure, part of our building, in our room, we have an architecture station.

So, there we have made some of the world's iconic builidngs and they have kits, and the kids can follow the directions through the book or online and build some of, we have an Eiffel Tower.

- So, their using that to follow the guide there.

- Yeah, in that guide there's hundreds of pages of directions and it really teaches kids a, that there is a process to do things, and they have to be mindful when their putting things together and, kind of, just really collaboration and we focus on the communication.

If you're working in a team and trying to put a piece like that together it's gonna take a lot of communication.

- Now there's a car that's sitting there and it's not just, obviously, designed from Legos but it moves.

- Right, that's our friend Milo, our friendly robot Milo.

That's actually a WeDo 2.0 kit.

In that kit, again, there are plenty of directions that the students can follow and they can go ahead and build on to that.

So, they're not limited with just the parts that they have in front of them.

And then we can bring in the computer piece and they can actually code the robot to do things.

So, if you look here we have our Milo here.

I just wrote some simple code for him and we can have him move, there's sensors that go along with it.

- Milo found a flower.

Let's investigate further.

- He can talk to you and then the kids can go ahead and change that code as they get used to it they can make it their own.

- This is very fascinating.

You have a few other items that are here.

So, let's move through those.

- Sure, let's talk about Heinz Field for a second.

I built this piece a few years ago.

It took about a month.

There's 3500 pieces in the Lego Heinz Field.

I also have the smaller version and I like teaching kids at our summer camp about building scale, understanding the different sized models, and the purpose of models.

Use pictures, of course I went down to Heinz Field, took a lot of pictures.

- [Darieth] It's fascinating, you did a really, really nice job and you said about a month?

- It took about a month.

I didn't count the hours though.

(laughs) - So it really could have been a lot more than that right, - Oh yeah - But, you've been handling Legos most of your life, right?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- So this comes very natural to you.

And, so, when you see the change, in terms of it's not just playing but when we're incorporating coding and it really has taken this to another level - You could pretty much build anything your imagination allows.

That's what I always loved about Legos.

- So, you built shoes for your wife?

Do I understand?

(laughs) - I don't know how happy she was about that to be honest.

- Were they comfortable?

- [Jason] Well, that's the problem, that is the problem.

They were comfortable until I put the Lego blocks on.

But I gave them to her as a Christmas gift.

But then, when we had the grand opening, for the brick makers space, I said, now is the perfect time to wear them and she came through, she wore them.

And the president of Lego Education was very impressed.

- Well that was very nice of you, I'm sure (laughs) though she may have been a little uncomfortable (laughs).

So, when we really think about children, this is all fascinating and it looks like there's a lot of time and commitment, but, for kids that are maybe just starting and they don't, they see this and they think, I can't do that, what would be some beginner steps that you might recommend?

- One thing I always recommend is start with the kids, like Amanda talked about.

But, then to progress you can build a replica of your house.

That's a fun family project, go outside, take measurements of the house, take some pictures of the house and you can build that as a family.

That's a nice way to start.

I love sports, that's why I got into the stadium building.

Just give it a try, don't be scared to fail.

We have a growth mindset at Montour, so, we try and encourage that thinking in kids.

That they may not always get it right the first time but that doesn't mean you give up.

- And what 21st century skills do you think the kids are really gaining from this?

- I think Amanda said, I think collaboration, also creativity, a lot of design thinking skills go into this.

I wanna talk about what Jason said in getting the parents involved.

Legos been around for 60 years and it's really intergenerational.

- Well, it's interesting because we took advantage of the Legos and actually created a little dolly for our camera.

Which I thought was so cool to come in here.

I think James is gonna come in and help us out here so we can actually see this in action and as we can see it was well built but the cameras on there and we're going to make it go for us.

And the cool thing about this is this was something that we made for a specific use.

It's functional, it works, we can use this and it goes to show that you can really create some functional prototypes.

- [Amanda] We can use them to build prototypes we can use the design process and work through.

And, we know that using a design process, they're never done.

So, even if you end up with a functional tool you can always make it better and always add to it.

- Most students learn about circuits, for instance, now we take it to the next level.

They'll build a house and then they actually put the circuit in the house and light it up.

So, now you have lights in your rooms.

Saw another fantastic lesson on the solar system.

The students built models of the solar system out of Legos.

So, just a natural fit.

- Whatever you can imagine - [ Jason] Yes.

- Well, thank you so much for being here.

This is fascinating and we're really glad that you were able to bring some of the examples.

So, thank you so much.

Need a little more inspiration to build STEAM education into family activities?

We've got you covered with these great tips.

(piano music) - [Narrator] Raise independent thinkers by turning everyday activities into STEM challenges.

Provide different sized containers during bath time so kids can measure water and experiment with volume.

Build observation and estimation skills by asking kids to guess how many pasta noodles ar in a bag, or haw many candies fit in a jar.

On the road, let kids chart the route to your destination.

Provide materials so kids can plan and build an obstacle course in the backyard.

And, finally, encourage kids to create their own board game and play it at the next family game night.

- No doubt about it, technology is changing the way kids learn in the classroom.

But, it's also changing the way they stay fit in phys ed classes.

Welcome, to our next guest, Joanne Leight, the chair of the physical and health education department at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.

Thanks so much for being here.

- Thank you.

- Now, I can remember phys ed classes being running outside, playing dodge ball, being very physical, but, of course with technology it's changed the way the kids are experiencing phys ed.

How so?

- Oh, most definitely.

Technology has energized physical education.

It's made it exciting, and accessible for children of all ages.

It allows the teacher of the 21st century to combine the whole body and mind concept into total wellness and technology helps us to do that.

- Some parents may think, but wait a second, that means kids are sitting down and they're looking at their cell phones or on a laptop, that's not being physical.

How is it still encouraging physical activity?

- It's encouraging physical activity because there's so many ways that we can get up and move even though we might be looking at a device or looking at a screen.

We might be able to do some type of competition like a Wii event like exer-gaming.

We might be able to use an app on a smart device to learn new exercises or new activities.

So, technology doesn't have to be either technology or movement, it can be a synergistic relationship between a physical activity and movement.

- Even making their own exercise videos.

- Exactly, students now, kids know how to use all those devices, they have a smartphone they just make a video of them exercising, make a video of them doing some type of athletic skill is a great way to use technology.

- And, I would imagine there's a generation that really got this.

I mean obviously there was a time when kids were primarily playing with their devices but now with this encouragement to be more physical it has become second nature to them perhaps.

- [Joanne] It has, for sure.

As I train future teachers, they all come in with this technology background.

So, it makes it a lot easier to train the future teachers how to teach using technology because all the children have devices.

- How do you see this growing into the future and are their other ways or things that we just haven't begun to implement?

- There's always new technology being explored the gymnasium is not always the first place people think to use it.

But, we find ways to use devices, we find ways to use all sorts of technology.

Our goal as physical educators is to move more.

And we've found that technology that help us to do that, and in the future, whatever the new technology might be, we'll find a way to encourage movement and use it in our classrooms.

- And this is something that we're seeing teachers and educators do nationwide.

- Most definitely.

All across the country physical educators are using their smart devices to take attendance, to record videos, to show videos, to do assessments, to flip the classroom, to use heart rate monitors, fit bits, anything to track movement and get kids active.

So, yes, definitely.

- And is this tied into national education standards?

- Most definitely, we have standards, as any other discipline does, and if we can use technology to help address those national standards to meet the needs of our students, we definitely are doing that.

- Now, let's go back to this moment that we talked about in terms of making videos - Sure.

- But, beyond that it seems that kids can really get creative and to even market those videos.

I mean, this really brings in - Oh yes.

- a great deal of future involvement and interdisciplinary things .

- Interdisciplinary is huge in what we do in physical education.

So, they do the media in the lower ages even the elementary kids know how to create videos and we do interdisciplinary lessons with technology and spelling, and counting, and math, and letters, and colors, but yes, definitely.

The kids all know how to use technology so we use it in our classrooms.

- And that's called action based learning?

- Exactly.

We discovered that kids learn better through movement.

So, not only are we doing interdisciplinary lessons in our gymnasium, which helps the classroom teachers with test scores, and they love that, but we also teach the classroom teachers how to incorporate what are called brain breaks.

We like to call them brain boosts because when the kids sit for a long time period they can't learn.

The research shows that if the kids get up every 30 minutes, every hour, you have some type of activity with a partner or by themselves, two, three minutes, they get up, they more, they sit back down, they concentrate better, they focus better, they learn better, they recall.

And, so, brain breaks are a great thing that we can teach our elementary school teachers, even the high school teachers to do.

Get kids up and moving when they're outside of physical education class.

- So, how do you teach phys ed teachers and educators to use QR codes?

- QR codes are wonderful.

If we have any type of device, some schools are bring your own device, BYOD, and even if you don't, if you just have a few in the classroom, you scan the QR code, it can take you to a video that you can view of an activity that you might need to perform in class.

It could be a clue for a scavenger hunt.

So, you're moving to get to the next clue.

There's a lot of ways you can use QR codes in our classrooms.

- Does technology level the playing field for kids that maybe aren't naturally physically gifted or might even been challenged in some way?

- Technology is a great tool to engage every child.

Because when we went to school we played volleyball, basketball, and softball and not everybody likes that and we missed all the kids who needed to move or who wanted to move in a different way.

So, the technology allows us to incorporate individualized instruction.

It could be an app, it could be exer-gaming, it could just be a video of Zumba or yoga that a child wants to perform.

So, know what the kid likes, find their passion and then find the technology that complements it.

- And I understand that you've also incorporated the use of heart monitors?

- Heart rate monitors are wonderful because you teach the children how to exercise in their target zone so they know that it's beneficial.

And, usually the kids who dislike the hear rate monitors are the really good athletes cause now they actually have to work to get into that zone.

And the kid that you thought might not be working so hard is really working pretty hard.

- How do parents really take this where their kids are learning in school, in their phys ed classes around technology and encourage more movement at home?

- That's a great question.

You could, as they do their homework, do a brain break.

Set a timer on the device and do a brain break, a brain boost, some type of activity.

You could Google new activities if you're watching the Olympics and you see something that your child might be interested in you could Google it, find out where you could maybe do that in the community.

If your child likes to be outside you can find apps that where they could do Geocaching, or hiking in the community, or find a disk golf course.

Lots of different ways that you could incorporate it.

As a family you could do a Google calender where each person will add something to the calender that involves physical activity that you can do as a family.

Whether it's walk the dog around the block, use your app to route your bicycle ride, things like that.

- Get creative and have fun doing it - Get creative and have fun doing it.

Just move and the technology can be a nice complement to that.

- Great, great.

Well thank you so much Joanne.

- [Joanne] Thank you.

- We appreciate you being here and we're here to help you raise curious and capable kids and we hope today's guests have inspired you to look for STEM activities in unexpected places in your own home and in your community.

Get moving, have fun, and join us again next time for more iQ: smartparent.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Want to learn more about iQ: smartparent?

Visit us online at iQsmartparent.org for more episodes and additional tools and resources.

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(upbeat music) iQ: smartparent is made possible in part by the McCune Foundation and The Grable Foundation.

(instrumental music)