How to Teach Students to Present a STEM Topic

By Bryan Holmes, former Air Force pilot and award-winning STEM teacher.

As a STEM teacher, you probably have to base your lessons on a set of mandated curriculum standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). But what about life skills that students should be learning? One such skill I taught students was how to give a presentation. I had learned how to present in the Air Force, and I shared with students how to do a professional, factual presentation on any STEM topic.

Here are six ways you can teach your students how to present:

1. Teach students at the start of the school year how to give a clear, professional presentation on a STEM topic, and then have students present on a weekly basis. In most cases, have students prepare slides, but sometimes just let them present orally. Teach students how to format their slides.
2. Instead of lecturing all period, introduce a new topic with a brief lecture, and then allow student groups to pick from among various sub-topics, research those sub-topics, and then present their findings to the class. (Download a research project presentation assignment example and a presentation rubric example).
3. Have students present their engineering design projects and any end of unit projects to the class. Invite in guests, such as the principal or outside mentors from the community, for some of these big presentations.
4. Make students comfortable with presenting. Students feel mutual support when they present with a group, so make most assignments as group presentations. Coach students who are afraid to present and ease them into a presentation role.
5. Emphasize to students that they need to know what they are presenting—in other words, they need to understand every word on their slides and in their oral presentation. Drill them as they present and make them explain any new terms.
6. Insist that students use appropriate sources and cite the information appropriately on their slides. Make students know where their information came from and how reliable it is.

Students often told me later that they had become proficient and even comfortable presenting because of all the practice they got in my class. By preparing for a presentation, they also learned topics more thoroughly than if they had just listened to me present them in a traditional lecture.

You can blend in other, similar learning activities where students use “21st century skills” to reinforce their learning of the content and concepts from the mandated standards. 21st century skills include critical thinking, problem solving, the ability to work with people in a team, and the ability to communicate clearly to a variety of audiences. Giving presentations requires these skills. So do note taking, writing essays on STEM topics, learning how to solve mathematical problems, and doing creative group projects. These are important life skills, and they blend in well with STEM instruction.

Want a practical STEM teaching tip like this each month? Subscribe below. These tips come from my book, The New STEM Teacher’s Essential Guide, available on Amazon. See my author website’s Resources page for more free, downloadable examples and templates.