Teacher Experience: “Civil Engineer: Water Treatment” Task for 4th Grade Math & Science Students

A Defined STEM Learning Experience From:
Pamela Hudson
4 th -Grade Math and Science Enrichment Teacher
Endeavor Elementary (OH)

Performance Task:
Civil Engineer: Water Treatment

Here’s What We Did:
For this task, students learned about water treatment facilities and how water in the United States is very different from water in third-world countries. Students discovered the process of treating water, the cost of creating and running a water treatment facility, and the impact they have on human health. Acting as members of the World Health Organization, students researched diseases affecting third-world countries without water treatment plants and created projects to show the government benefits of building a facility.

Why Defined STEM Was the Perfect Fit:
With 10 being the highest, I would say that 98% of my students are at a 10 level of motivation. Before giving students options, I take an inventory of student interests to better shape the lesson to what they desire to learn. Defined STEM offers such a wide variety of lessons aligning with state and district standards, I’m able to give students a choice between four or five projects to complete. Allowing them to take ownership in their learning creates a wonderful teacher/student dynamic, building trust, confidence, and motivation. Defined STEM works because I’m able to align student interests with real-world problems students truly care about. The videos and articles are so helpful, and are exactly the support they need to make them think deeply about the subjects. The rubrics for the individual literacy prompts are very beneficial, as I have seen each student grow and improve over time.