I am proud to say I have been selected to present at the AIMS 2022 Conference! If you are a Montessorian and live in Illinois, this is the premier annual conference. This year, it will be held at St. Benedictine University on February 25th and 26th. I will be presenting on the topic of Supercharge Science Fairs by Integrating the Scientific method into PE (physical education). If you have read my blog, or have heard me present, you know that I am trying to spread the good word on the benefits of integration.

Last year was obviously not a normal year. To safely come back to in-person instruction, we had to limit class size, and create more “pods.” I decided to make lemons out of lemonade and I conducted an experiment with my upper elementary students. They were gearing up for a big science fair presentation, which means that the were going to learn about the scientific method, and then conduct their own experiment and present about it. My experiment was to see if my integrated PE lessons helped the students memorize and understand the scientific method.

There were five classroom pods, one of them was the control, and the other four were my experiment groups. The control group was given lessons that did not integrate with the scientific method or the science fair, but still integrated with other areas of the curriculum (so that they still had a somewhat authentic PE experience). The other four classrooms were the experiment groups, which received integrated PE lessons that reinforced concepts of the scientific method. Some of the classrooms were taught by me, some were taught by another adult who used my lessons. In the actual class, the students used the scientific method and conducted experiments that involved exercise. If you are interested in the results, I would highly encourage you to sign-up for the conference!

I look forward to seeing you all in person again!