Is it STEM? Evaluating STEM Products

There are a lot of great STEM education products available today.  But there are some not so great ones, too.  How do you know the kit you are thinking of buying is going to teach your child real STEM skills and concepts?

STEM is a buzzword.  Companies use it to imply that their product will help your child learn things like problem solving, logical reasoning, and the engineering design process.  However, beyond the fact that STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, there is no single agreed upon definition for what is and isn’t STEM.  Here are some things to consider when evaluating products that claim to be STEM.

Does the product incorporate multiple subject areas?

A key component of STEM is its interdisciplinary nature.  While some feel that a product that touches any one of STEM’s component disciplines qualifies as STEM, many believe that real STEM must include at least two of the subject areas integrated in a meaningful way.

Traditional schooling tends to separate academic areas into silos.  We do math in math and science in science.  Spelling only counts in language arts.  The real-world, though, doesn’t work this way.  We routinely apply skills and knowledge from several content areas to get things done.  STEM education seeks to create authentic learning opportunities that feel more like everyday life.

Consider a product that includes seeds, soil, a special light bulb, and a plastic greenhouse-style enclosure to grow some kind of plant.  Is this STEM?  By the “must include two STEM content areas” definition, the answer would be no.  Instead, this would be a biology or life-science project.  However, if the kit also included an Arduino, an electric pump, and a water level or moisture sensor to create an automatic watering system, the project now incorporates both engineering and technology (and possibly math as well if calculations must be done to determine when and how much to water)!

Is the product open-ended?

An open-ended product is one that allows for more than one outcome.  These projects are also called unstructured.  It might be easier to explain with an example that isn’t open-ended.  There is a kit that includes the parts to turn an empty soda can into a “robot.”  However, there is only one way to build this “robot.”  Further, once built, the “robot” can do only one thing: waddle aimlessly across a flat surface.  

In truth, the result isn’t really a robot.  It’s more of a mechanical toy.  A real robot should be able to perform a useful task with some degree of autonomy.  It should be able to interact with its environment in some meaningful way, perhaps using sensors to collect information so that it can make decisions about how to move or what to do.

This soda can robot kit does include a small electric motor and it requires a battery to operate, but it doesn’t teach anything about electricity or electrical circuits.  In fairness, the instructions for assembling the product are thorough, and there is a complex engineering drawing showing an exploded view for how the parts go together.  In the end, though, the child does not learn anything more than they would by assembling a plastic model car or airplane, and they will likely get bored quickly after the initial satisfaction of completing the build.

Is the product reusable?

With the soda can robot, the parts in the kit can build only one thing.  The child cannot later disassemble the robot and build something else.  Contrast this with your typical plastic construction bricks kit (think LEGO® brand kits).  While these kits are designed to build one thing, there are generally enough parts for a creative child to build something different.  Sometimes, there are multiple sets of instructions.  Additionally, as the child acquires more kits, they acquire more parts and may then build even more things.

A good example of a product that is reusable in an electronics kit.  These generally include basic parts like resistors, LEDs, transistors, and capacitors - things that are used to construct electrical circuits.  Most also include other things like buzzers, buttons, and switches, as well as a breadboard and jumper wires to make it easy to connect everything together.  Some even include an Arduino, a small, single-board computer to power and control the circuits.  Generally, the more expensive the kit, the more components it contains.  However, these kits are surprisingly affordable!  A low-end kit with an Arduino starts at around $25.  A much more expansive kit that includes things like an ultrasonic distance sensor, an RFID card and reader, several motors, and even a 16 character by 2-line LCD display in only about $75.  Considering the soda can robot may cost as much as $15, an electronics kit is a much better option because your child can create a variety of different circuits with the same components.  The breadboard makes it easy to construct and disassemble each circuit since nothing has to be soldered.  Finally, just as with plastic construction block kits, components from multiple kits can be combined and used together.

Is the product programmable?

The soda can robot clearly is not programmable.  Beyond being able to turn it on and off, it isn’t even controllable.  It is important to understand the difference between programmable and controllable.  For example, many robots may be controlled with an app on a smartphone or tablet.  This is not really different from a remote controlled car that uses a hand-held wireless controller.  The user interface on these apps generally resemble their R/C counterparts with virtual joysticks or touchpads.

While a remotely-controlled robot is a step up from the simple soda can version, a robot that can be programmed is even better.  Remember, though, that not all programmable robots are equal!  Some may be programmed only with a limited set of blocks-based instructions similar to those found in the Scratch programming language.  For example, if the robot is a dump truck, there may be an instruction to raise and lower the bed.  This isn’t the same, though, as being able to directly control the motor that raises and lowers the bed.  To raise the bed may require the motor to rotate 60 degrees in one direction, while lowering it may require a 60 degree rotation in the other direction.  Having direct control over the components in the programming language is preferable to only being able to drive the resulting actions.

Other robots may also be programmed using a text-based language like Python or C++.  This generally provides the greatest control over the robot and its components, and it is a great option for older children or those who already have some experience with programming.

Beware of “crafty” STEM

“Crafty” STEM is where the focus of the activity is on doing a craft or creating an art project, and the STEM connection is usually in the theme or context.  For example, a popular “crafty” STEM project is making a rocket out of a water bottle.  Since the context is outer space, this qualifies as STEM, right?  Generally, though, the child uses cardboard, construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers to make the water bottle look like a rocket by adding a nose cone and fins.  If this project is integrated into a unit of study that includes learning about the history of rocketry, space travel and exploration, and the solar system, then it becomes a social studies or science activity, but it still isn’t really STEM.

“Crafty” STEM projects can sometimes be converted into real STEM projects.  With the water bottle rocket, if after building the rocket the child then devises a way to actually launch it and measure how far it travels or creates a small-scale wind tunnel to observe its aerodynamic properties, then the project becomes more than a simple craft.

“Crafty” STEM is most common in projects designed for younger students.  However, there are real STEM products targeting these children, too.  Snap-together circuit kits, circuit kits that use tin foil and even fruits and vegetables to make conductive paths, and robots that are programmed with cards the robot can interpret are all things that are within the the developmental capabilities of early elementary students.  Don’t settle for products that fail to teach real STEM skills and concepts!

How do we measure up?

At the Excalibur Solutions STEM Academy, we offer subscriptions to a collection of self-paced video lessons that teach computer programming, electronics, 3D design, and other facets of technology and engineering - the T&E in STEM.  How do we measure up against these criteria?

Multiple subject areas

All of our projects have an authentic context.  That means the student is learning more than just programming or electronics.  Writing a program to play a game blends technology and math.  Building an electronic circuit combines technology, engineering, and science.  We have projects that incorporate drawing, music, and even social studies!

Open-ended

Our projects teach foundational concepts.  This means that once a student has written a program to do something, they will be able to write other programs to do other things.  Further, the concepts they learn translate directly from one language to another.  The concept of a variable is the same in Scratch, Tinkercad’s block-based code editor, the C++ dialect used with the Arduino, or in general purposes languages like Python or JavaScript.

Reusable

Not only are the skills and concepts reusable, so are the tools and resources we use to complete them.  We show how Scratch can be used to write a story, draw a picture, make music, and play games.  We use Tinkercad for 3D modeling, programming with 3D objects, and for creating virtual electronic circuits.  With the physical kits we recommend, students can build projects from our library, then use the components and their new knowledge to make something else.

Programmable

Programming is at the heart of nearly every project in our library.  Even many of the electronic circuit projects require some programming to control a microcontroller like the Arduino and the components connected to it.

Crafty?

We don’t do “crafty” STEM.  Every project is packed with real skills and concepts.  We want students not only to be able to do, but also to understand why.  For example, in our electronics projects, we teach about voltage, current, resistance, and the relationship that exists between them (Ohm’s Law).  Our programming projects focus on five foundational concepts that exist in nearly all programming languages.  We want students to have fun and be creative, but we want them to learn valuable skills and concepts along the way.