Bringing STEAM to Life

Tiffany has seen so many applications of Strawbees in her classrooms, which has made her passionate about utilizing Strawbees in multiple lessons. Once, she challenged all of her students to make different types of hats for hot weather.

“The kids went wild with that. Some of them actually built a hat that would have something for me to drink if I got hot. Another student made one so that it looked like there were little fans on the top – and this was first grade. Another one had a hat with bug spray that could squirt out.”

Because of the success of the implementation, Tiffany is ready to kick it up a notch for the next year.

“They’re going to research more animals and build more animals using Strawbees and incorporate movement so that you can touch it and make the animal make noise with the touch. Students can just go wild with it and insert their own unique talents and interests in it.”

As a result, Tiffany has seen a change in some of the students that might normally struggle in traditional classroom environments and it’s had an impact on her.

“It’s just absolutely wonderful to see the kids who feel anxious and when they come into the STEAM Lab, they get curious. And I think that’s important because then they see that they are amazing at something. And I can’t even tell you how many times I tear up when we’re doing projects.”

She even got the chance to take Strawbees to West Virginia’s state capital to Country Roads Codes where her student did a magic eightball and bioluminescent flower featured on Strawbees Classroom, showing lawmakers how you can code and incorporate STEM into the curriculum.

And Tiffany wants to expand Strawbees beyond the US into her sister classroom in Uruguay, South America.

“I did international field experience for two weeks when I was in Uruguay. I don’t speak Spanish but I speak STEAM. When I came back, their government contacted me and asked if we would like to do a STEAM Team and now we do a Zoom call once a month with students there. My goal is to find a way to get Strawbees into those schools. It’s the first United States and Uruguay STEAM Team.”

This year, Tiffany has expanded the US and Uruguay STEAM Team to six more schools in another region, honoring her name as the winner of the Global Teacher Prize. 

“I try to bring every opportunity to our students so that all the doors open for them. That’s my goal, to just expose them to as much as I can. So when I see a great product like Strawbees, I can bring it and they can just go wild with it. Every student would be engaged because we’re taking the classwork off the paper and the students can build and try new things with that. It’s an affordable way to bring science alive in the classroom.”