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Education Dive
CTE program pairs teens, preschoolers for STEM learning
Lauren Barack
June 5, 2019
Dive Brief:
Miami-Dade County Public Schools launched a preschool coding and
robotics program in some of its child care centers, using high school
students to help with the teaching, according to District
Administration. The older students are part of a program that trains
them to become child care professionals.
Older and younger students worked with KinderLab Robotics’ KIBO Blocks
— simplistic coding toys, which, when rearranged, create robotic
movements, and teach the first steps of coding.
The district hopes to push the program into more high schools with on-site child care centers for the 2019-20 school year.
Dive Insight:
Preschool-age children love to have visitors in their classrooms,
especially if they are cool teenagers. Such opportunities can translate
into a powerful, and positive, experience for both. Younger students
are likely going to be more excited, and more engaged, when taught by
high school students. And the teens gain a sense of responsibility by
serving as a mentor and role model for younger children.
When implementing this practice as part of career and technical
educational programs, students also gain early classroom experience in
the field of early-childhood education. Exposure to a preschool setting
may inspire them to pursue teaching as a career.
Finally, these sessions, particularly when they involve coding,
robotics or even virtual and augmented reality, can also meet a
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum
component for both the older and younger students. While makerspaces
are certainly one way that students gain exposure to STEM tools, having
students act as peer mentors is another way that educators can
encourage students to learn how to work together, and gain from what
others have discovered along the way.
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