Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Learning
All our STEM Modules are designed for children to work in Teams. Ideally each team will contain a group of three 3 children, thus triangulating the conversation. The students should be grouped based on relationships and skill sets. This empowers students to become leaders. As leaders in a team setting, students are transformed into teachers, and more importantly active learners.
Active learners are the antithesis to passive students who don’t care about the outcomes of their work. Active learners are engaged students who care about the results of their work. Active learners care about their future and see formal education as a central component of their future selves.
The Driving to Success STEM module is designed to engage children’s intrinsic curiosity and sense of wonder. The STEM module is designed to provide complexity, without difficulty thus enabling the students to connect math and science to their everyday lives. The easy-to-do, hands-on activity, of designing and building a car will enable them to make learning 3D. They will design, build, experiment, record, and calculate. They will draw their conclusions and master these complex STEM concepts in a fun collaborative way.
The Driving to Success STEM module is designed to engage children’s intrinsic curiosity and sense of wonder. The STEM module is designed to provide complexity, without difficulty thus enabling the students to connect math and science to their everyday lives. The easy-to-do, hands-on activity, of designing and building a car will enable them to make learning 3D. They will design, build, experiment, record, and calculate. They will draw their conclusions and master these complex STEM concepts in a fun collaborative way.
Our modules focus on providing cognitive complexity not difficult tasks. Difficult questions focus on a correct answer. Cognitive complexity requires higher order thinking, such as steps required to answer a question. Algebra requires steps, it involves several iterations of reworking the problem. To succeed in math and science children need to move beyond recalling facts and information and be able to utilize that information with two or more steps.
Creativity facilitates strategic thinking. Each student will have to develop a plan for the creation of their car. There are questions and challenges that they will have to work through on their own before they can get help from their peers and or instructors. The workbook that comes with the STEM Kit leads the students through a series of hands-on experiments.
Working together in groups enables the students work with one another to share their ideas and ask each other questions. The experiments with the car lead to extended thinking. At each step of the way the students are encouraged to take time and think about exactly what they are doing. They are encouraged discuss their reflections for each task amongst themselves before they document them in the workbook. The peer-to-peer conversation will help them to process multiple aspects of the math and science problems they are encountering. The dialogue will enable them to see the multiple layers that some problems have.
Working together in groups enables the students work with one another to share their ideas and ask each other questions. The experiments with the car lead to extended thinking. At each step of the way the students are encouraged to take time and think about exactly what they are doing. They are encouraged discuss their reflections for each task amongst themselves before they document them in the workbook. The peer-to-peer conversation will help them to process multiple aspects of the math and science problems they are encountering. The dialogue will enable them to see the multiple layers that some problems have.
Working in groups, developing a peer-to-peer, collaborative learning culture is the most important lesson taught by the STEM module. Collaboration leads to joy instead of boredom. Joy ignites a child’s intrinsic curiosity and motivation. The combination of a fun activity, the ability to be creative and challenging concepts are a wonderful recipe for a healthy mind.
Once fostered in the right way, a love for math and science can set a student on a self-motivated path to success. Another word for self-motivation is intrinsic motivation.
Working in teams help to develop social and emotional skills which are required for success beyond academic achievement. We introduce complex concepts by giving the children something fun to do; build a car or grow herbs. Our activities are designed to provide context for learning math and science. By introducing STEM concepts with everyday things that children can experience and relate to we facilitate conversation, and intellectual connections amongst the children.
Monkey see monkey do is an age old saying. Students teaching students in a formal educational setting is our goal.