iExploreScience: STEM in Elem
iExploreScience: STEM in Elem is for upper elementary teachers — especially grades 3–5 —who want to make elementary science and math more engaging, without adding more prep or overwhelm to their day. If you’re looking for practical ways to bring STEM and hands-on learning into your classroom while still meeting standards like NGSS, this podcast is for you.
Each week, you’ll get (ideally) short, (always!) actionable episodes (about 15–30 minutes) filled with classroom-tested ideas you can actually use. From simple STEM challenges and low-prep science activities to math routines, lab management, and neurodivergent-friendly strategies, everything is designed to help you keep students thinking, moving, and engaged—especially during the most challenging times of the year.
You’ll also hear honest reflections from real classroom experiences, with a focus on what works (and what doesn’t) in my 5th grade science and math classroom — no perfection required.
I’m Nicole, and I share practical, hands-on science and math ideas designed specifically for upper elementary teachers who want engaging, rigorous lessons without the overwhelm.
iExploreScience: STEM in Elem
110 How to Start Teaching Science in 3D - 2 Simple Strategies
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Teaching science in a three-dimensional learning environment often feels overwhelming. Many teachers ask us where to start. Here's our answer: It depends.
Each teaching situation is unique. There are differences in time constraints, demographics, resources and so much more. Therefore, your strategy for approaching 3D teaching and learning also needs to be unique.
In this episode, Nicole and Erin discuss two main strategies for getting started. And, they list several episodes that you can listen to once you've decided which approach to use. To get a full list of episodes that accompany this episode, check out the FULL Episode recap here.
View Erin and Nicole's resources on their blogs:
- Erin's blog: Sadler Science
- Nicole's blog: iExplore Science
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