Season Two, Episode 8: Getting Hands-On
About this episode
The episode explores the intersection of explicit instruction and engaging hands-on learning in STEM education.
Summary In this episode of Chalk Dust , Rebecca Birch and Nathaniel Swain are joined by STEM educator Amber Haven to explore what happens when explicit instruction meets genuinely engaging hands-on learning. Using footage from Amber’s middle-school STEM classroom, the discussion follows a lesson on neutral buoyancy, revealing how carefully designed routines allow practical investigations to remain cognitively demanding rather than descending into chaos. Amber demonstrates how retrieval practice, mini-whiteboards, Six Bricks, gesture, choral response and explicit behaviour routines work together to create classrooms where every student is thinking. Throughout the episode, Rebecca, Nathaniel and Amber discuss the importance of background knowledge, continuous checking for understanding, purposeful transitions, differentiation without lowering expectations, and designing practical activities that provide immediate feedback. The conversation highlights how high-quality classroom routines free students to focus on learning rather than logistics, making complex scientific concepts accessible through deliberate instructional design. Mentioned resources and explainers Amber Haven Amber…
More episodes of Chalk Dust
- Season Two, Episode 10: Professor Anna Stokke on Effective and Engaging Math(s) Instruction
- Season Two, Episode 9: Every Class is a Reading Class
- Season Two, Episode 7: Everyone can learn mathematics with John Mighton
- Season Two, Episode 6: The Knowledge Rich Classroom of Laura Stam
- Season Two, Episode 5: The choreography of learning
- Season Two, Episode 4: The power of precision
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