If you teach STEM or Science, you must know the difficulty of managing groups during stem challenges or “group work.” I put it in parenthesis because you know there’s only one of two kids doing all the work. You might see some students with glazed eyes, some chatting with their friends, and others in conflict with their group mates.

When I first started as a STEM teacher, I think I lasted 2 weeks of this and realized I needed a system for my students. I thought of my husband who was a project engineer but is now a project manager of major jobs. He works with inspectors, engineers, architects, and owners.

I wanted to emulate this engineering experience to the ones my students have in the classroom.

Student Job Roles in Stem Groups

As I was building this system for these stem challenge roles to run by itself after a while, I decided to start with 4 students in a group. Each of those students had a different job, and they would rotate their jobs every day.

Now before I lose you on this, I promise I will be going over how I rotate the students in the groups in another blog post. First, it’s important to understand what these roles are and what the students are expected to complete within these engineering jobs in their stem class.

If you’re teaching the Pltw Launch curriculum or any type of curriculum, you’re not usually given directions on how to manage your groups during stem challenges or group activities. I will be sharing the four jobs my students have during the builds.

setting up badges for stem challenge roles

Project Manager

The first job in the stem roles is the project manager the student that is responsible for giving out directions to the builder and the supplier. This student usually has the set of instructions, plans, or sketches that they need to follow to build the group’s design.

They DO NOT: Build, inspect, or get supplies.

Many students do not originally find this job very appealing, but in my classes, I make sure that the plans, sketches, or directions are on the tablet. This technology inclusion makes this job a favorite!

Supplier

The supplier is the student who listens to the instructions from the project manager and gets the materials from the materials box. If you’re using the Pltw curriculum, then this is the Vex Kit. If you’re using any other types of materials, then consider having all of the materials in one area of the room where the supplier would need to go and get materials.

They DO NOT: Build, inspect, or give directions to anybody.

Students enjoy this job because they get to use, touch, and play with the materials.

Inspector

The inspector is a very important job in the group. This was the afterthought as I was creating these jobs but quickly became the most valuable. These students have a clipboard, a special pen, and the inspector’s report. They are observing their teammates and analyze how the communication is in that group.

The students have a report with a key to rate their peers with ‘Excellent communication,’ ‘Great communication,’ ‘Communication Needs Help,’ and more. After explicit modeling and explaining the purpose of the report, students are able to manage themselves in their groups with this group-managing report.

They DO NOT: Build, touch materials, or give directions to anybody.

Students learn how to communicate better in STEM classes, and this tool gives productive feedback for students to be able to get better at communicating with peers in STEM classes.

Builder

Many students love to be the builder but find it a difficult job to complete. The builder in a stem challenge is to get materials from the supplier and follow the directions of the project manager.

If they struggle with understanding the directions, they have learned to use the sentence frames I provide all of my students according to their jobs. You can get your job posters with sentence frames here.