Teacher changes student attitudes and behavior using STEAM tech

Tina Glymph, who teaches Pre-K through First Grade at Lake Local School District, has found great success in facilitating student learning through the progressive use of STEAM technology in class.

Glymph’s been using technology by award-winning STEAM brand Osmo in her inclusion classroom to help kindergarteners identify numbers, letters, sounds, plus learn math and phonic skills (“inclusion classroom” means she teaches students with disabilities along with general ed students). She also uses them in her enrichment classroom (“enrichment students” refers to those who have mastered phonics skills already but need another challenge).

Over the course of three years, she’s also found that Osmo’s products positively impact student attitude and behavior in two ways:

1. Learning through play helps them stay engaged. Glymph says, “Students are excited to learn and play with games that involve technology; and they also involve manipulatives, objects they can hold in their hands. The kids get to practice skills in a fun and engaging way that also monitors their progress and corrects them. They use graphics that are kid friendly and exciting to them. They are excited to go to the math centers and, little do they know, they are building their number fluency.”
2. The STEAM games help slow down students who struggle with attentional issues, and kids who can’t stay still. She says, “Each game’s feedback allows them to practice the skill correctly and not just complete an activity to get it done. Also, students with attentional issues are more excited and engaged when technology is involved. It seems like less work, and more a game. Also, Osmo games like Coding and Newton might play to an area that is more of a strength for them, than basic academic skills. Their brain might do well with problem solving skills over rote memory activities.”

Glymph’s favorite Osmo products she uses inside the classroom include:

• Osmo Numbers helps students with number identification and fluency. They can quickly identify numbers and how to create the numbers. They see how, counting by 5’s, they can make larger numbers and learn number bonds (“number bonds” are different pairs of numbers that add up to the same number).
• Osmo Words during reading small group time helps students learn letters, sounds, and phonic skills. We download word families and sight words. (“word families” are groups of words that have a common feature or pattern - they have some of the same combinations of letters in them and a similar sound; sight words, often also called high frequency sight words, are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so that they can automatically recognize these words in print without having to use any strategies to decode)
• Osmo Masterpiece, which is really great for fine motor skills. Masterpiece allows kids to transform a photo or gallery image into easy-to-draw lines, while improving skill and dexterity. For Valentine’s Day, she is helping students draw their own Valentine’s Day cards for their parents and loved ones, by using Masterpiece game app from Osmo, which helps develop their fine motor skills. Masterpiece allows kids to transform a photo or gallery image into easy-to-draw lines, while improving skill and dexterity, then share a magical time-lapse video of their creation!

• Osmo Newton for the group of enrichment students. She says, “These students like Newton a lot for problem solving. I think it’s best to let students figure out how to solve a problem and also understand what they did wrong.” Newton up to 60 levels of fun physics puzzles.

Overall, Glymph notes, “Osmo helps kids with problem solving. It checks their work, makes sure they get it right. Plus Osmo engages students a lot. It’s active learning, not passive.”