Small Motor STEM
What is Small Motor STEM?
We have all of these amazing small motor materials and let students explore them, which totally serves its purpose. I want to take it to the next level, though, and give students STEM challenges to complete with the small motor materials. Voila, Small Motor STEM is born!
Pixel Art is really trendy in edtech right now, so I was racking my brain to come up with a way to take it offline and do it in a way that is independent for students.
Combining Pixel Art with design constraints and small motor materials means that these activities meet so many standards. This list is really just the beginning. If you combine any extra writing activities (planning and/or reflection) you can bring in even more!
STANDARDS
ISTE: 1.b, 1.c, 2.d, 4.b, 4.d
CSTA: CPP.L1:3-04, CPP.L1:6-05,
CT.L1:3-03, CT.L1:6-01, CT.L1:6-02, CT.L2-07
CT.L1:3-03, CT.L1:6-01, CT.L1:6-02, CT.L2-07
NGSS: K-2-PS3-2, 3-5-ETS1-2
CC Math Standards: 2.G.2
CC ELA: SL.1.1, SL.1.2, L.1.6 SL.2.1,
SL.2.2, L.2.6 SL.3.1. SL.3.3, L.3.6
SL.2.2, L.2.6 SL.3.1. SL.3.3, L.3.6
Computational Thinking Practices:
Creativity
Collaboration
Communication
Persistence
Problem Solving
Getting Organized with Small Motor STEM
The cards are color coded for the level.
Level 1- Black outline
Level 2- Blue outline
Level 3- Orange outline
Level 1- Provide students with one of the Small Motor STEM Mats and the full pixel designs. Students will recreate the design using any material they have available.
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Level 2- Give students design constraints by limiting their materials and providing them the pixel designs that require them to finish the image by mirroring the other half.Level 3- Require students to go without the grid and recreate the designs with limited materials.Collaborative Option- Students work in pairs where one holds the design card and dictates to the other student which color(s) to put in which spaces on the grid. Communication is key!
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1.Print,
cut, laminate the cards in the levels of difficulty you want for your students.
cut, laminate the cards in the levels of difficulty you want for your students.
2.Put
the cards on a ring or in a task box.
the cards on a ring or in a task box.
Materials to use for Small Motor STEM
The materials that can be used for these
tasks are nearly limitless. They just need to be relatively small and have the
right color selections.
tasks are nearly limitless. They just need to be relatively small and have the
right color selections.
Materials Ideas:
- Pom-poms
- Blocks of any kind
- Perler beads
- Craft beads and pipe cleaners or ribbon
- Buttons
- Hole punch dots
- Foam balls
- Snap cubes
- Counting bears
- Centimeter cubes
- Counting chips
- Lite-Brite
- Markers/Crayons/Colored Pencils
Anything else you have on hand that has
enough pieces in the right colors
enough pieces in the right colors
1.Have
a place in your classroom where you store these materials for quick access.
a place in your classroom where you store these materials for quick access.
2.Challenge
students to come up with resources to complete the designs.
students to come up with resources to complete the designs.
You can even do a life-size grid! I made this out of plastic cups and counting bears.
Bringing in the Academics to Small Motor STEM
The vocabulary cards and recording sheet give you what you need for a mini-lesson about Pixel Art and following a “program” to complete the designs, as well as a reflection activity that asks students to write about their process.
I recommend printing and laminating all of the vocabulary cards to have on the wall or displayed near your STEM or Makerspace area for students to use as a reference during their activity time.
Here are some other photo examples to show the materials students can use. The possibilities are nearly endless!
Don’t have quite the right colors? No problem, just replace them with what you do have.
The grid isn’t a perfect 10×10? Challenge students to figure out how to still make the design proportional (something like if they choose to skip a space vertically they may or may not also need to skip a space horizontally).
It would mean the world to me if you’d send me some photos (or post them on social media and tag me so I can see them) of your students completing these challenges. I can’t wait to hear what they think!
