Project at a Glance :

West Ottawa Elementary Schools will have a new special next year. It will be an Outdoor STEM class. Our goal as fourth graders was to learn how we could help design a learning blueprint for the new special class in the 2025-2026 school year.  We wanted to help create the best learning experience for WO students and show the community how outdoor learning can be beneficial to everyone.

       
 
Driving Question:

How can we create an awesome OUTDOOR STEM class for West Ottawa?    

Standards:
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Team / Culture Building:

• Inner Heroes

• Bug List
• Hopes, Fears, & Norms​​
  

Entry Event:

Stakeholders:

Empathy Building:

• Empathy Maps​

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Conduct Interviews - with the Outdoor Discovery staff and students from every grade level to gain insights.

• Jigsaw - reading research articles.
• Expert visit - Mr. Fields,            , visited the class to show new outdoor learning spaces.

Incubation:

• Rule of Thirds
• 100 Ideas
• Brainwriting

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Solution Building:

• Name Your Idea
• SWOT Analysis
• Storyboarding
• Dot Voting

Critique and Revision: ​

Authentic Audience:

Final Presentation:

• Students discovered a list of books teachers may want to use while teaching the Outdoor STEM class.

• A group of students from our class were able to share our PBL project at the West Coast Leadership Conference with local business people and superintendents.

Reflection and Feedback:

Students presenting at the West Coast Leadership Conference

Click here for the teacher's PBL journey.

Meet the Educator:

Amy VanAllsburg teaches 4th grade at Lakewood Elementary, West Ottawa Public Schools.

     "We are grateful for all of the people who helped support us with our PBL project this year. West Ottawa will have a new outdoor focus at three elementary schools next year and an outdoor special at all elementaries. This project was a memorable experience for all of us."