STEM-Inspired Classroom Management Tips

Does your classroom management style prioritize fun and academic achievement? By integrating more STEM and hands-on learning, educators are unlocking effective classroom management strategies that promote positive behavior, student engagement and empowered, choice-based learning. Read on to find helpful tips to enhance your classroom management with a twist of STEM fun!

Implement Consistent Classroom Routines

Routines don’t have to be monotonous — they can become joyful classroom traditions! Whether it’s creating a “set up for success” morning routine, establishing cleanup expectations or implementing rules that minimize distractions, children thrive when they have structure. With consistent experiences, students have better learning outcomes.

To reinforce shared values and classroom rules, consider crafting a cheerful call-and-response chant that emphasizes a class theme, borrows a famous line from a kid-favorite movie or integrates a clapping pattern that adds rhythm to your classroom management. By adding subtle movement, from jazz hands to 30 seconds of silly faces, educators like you can drive authentic connections in the classroom. The key is repetition!

Increase STEM and Hands-On Learning

Inspired by the innovative world of STEM, increasing more opportunities for hands-on learning can enhance classroom management. Self-led, autonomous learning not only promotes positive behavior, but also engages students with a choice to pursue interests that fall under the umbrella of STEM education. The result? A celebration of their persistence, creativity and growing confidence.

Invention education invites students to be active participants in their own learning experiences by designing, prototyping and inventing solutions. By integrating STEM enrichment into your curriculum, you can guide your students to learn about real-world challenges and inspire them to develop problem-solving skills out of necessity. From career exploration to hands-on engineering and design activities, these impactful experiences help children think more broadly about making their mark on the world. They’ll also be more likely to share their bright ideas!

From discovering the science of osmosis to creating a one-of-a-kind structure with upcycled materials, hands-on STEM experiences benefit students through a combination of fun and learning. Here are a few STEM-inspired approaches you might try in your classroom:

1. Imagination Stations
   Consider gathering safe, miscellaneous materials, making them available in communal classroom spaces, and periodically providing time for students to experiment and create. Whether you place materials at the center of tables or in a designated area of the classroom, your students will cherish 20 minutes of uninterrupted, creative time. This integration of hands-on learning creates opportunities for students to collaborate and sparks new ways of thinking.
    
2. Shape-Shifting Gummy Bears
   Invite students to observe the power of osmosis with this sweet and salty shape-shifting experiment!
    
3. Crafting Corals for Reef Awareness
   Introduce vibrant underwater structures to your students to boost engagement and teach them why environmental conservation requires thoughtful innovation.

Create Pockets of Classroom Joy

Looking to inspire your students? First, think of your classroom as a landscape of possibility. As an alternative to using a behavior chart, consider assigning each student a role that is closely tied to their skills and interests.

From “collaboration leader” to “designated high-fiver,”  these roles carry more than optimism — they encourage students to take ownership of contributions to their classroom community. Responsible students are more than just rule followers, they sit up a little straighter, carry themselves with confidence and start to think of themselves as leaders.

Keep the Learning Going

Want to find more strategies for inspired learning? Join us next summer at Camp Invention^®, the flagship program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame^®, where hands-on exploration powers meaningful skill development and STEM discoveries spark new levels of student engagement.

Teachers love to see students transform into confident creators through this summer enrichment program, and they even find ways to keep the learning going by applying camp-inspired strategies and even reusing extra materials from camp throughout the school year!

Unlock your students’ potential with STEM and invention education programs that drive engagement and create new possibilities — and keep exploring our blog for more classroom insights, trends and resources.