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The Hechinger Report
Early Childhood: Making every lesson a STEM lesson
By Jackie Mader
Walk into any K-5 classroom in Illinois’ Rockford Public Schools and
there’s one thing you’re guaranteed to see: kids playing with Legos.
While it may look like unstructured free time, kids in Rockford are
actually hard at work when the Legos are out—building historical homes,
constructing ramps and designing amusement park rides.
Lego play is a critical part of the district’s efforts to introduce
science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts early, and in
an engaging way. In 2018, the district began training educators on how
to use special kits from Lego Education to teach STEM skills—and, in
the process, concepts like cause and effect and problem solving. This
school year, teachers are using Legos to help kids learn concepts from
all subject areas, including literacy, history and science. “Just to
talk about [STEM concepts] abstractly is difficult at that level,” said
Susan Uram, educational technology coordinator for Rockford Public
Schools. “But if they can build something…they’re understanding in a
concrete way.”
In recent years while reporting on early ed, I’ve seen an influx of
districts and communities incorporating STEM learning into the early
years. Usually, that’s in response to growing encouragement from early
childhood experts and a push for more hands-on forms of learning. Some
schools, like the Goddard School, a nationwide network of more than 500
private schools for children ages six weeks to 6-years-old, have
created their own STEM curriculum. The network’s science, technology,
engineering, arts and math curriculum, The F.L.E.X. Learning Program,
emphasizes projects, play and hands-on activities like using recycled
materials to build, creating bridges with toothpicks and gumdrops and
taking walks to observe the speed of cars as they drive past the
school. Other schools are trying to make STEM concepts as common as
literacy by talking about a STEM concept in every single lesson, like
F.E. Burleson Elementary, which serves students in pre-K through fourth
grade, in Alabama.
Research shows no matter how schools are approaching STEM education,
they’re on to something by starting early: kids are capable of learning
about STEM at a young age and early exposure and understanding of STEM
topics can increase academic achievement, persistence and critical
thinking. Many schools also see STEM lessons as a way to prepare
students for STEM-heavy jobs that will most likely continue to be in
demand when today’s preschoolers enter the workforce. The federal
government has also taken notice of the importance of starting early
with STEM: A bill signed into law in December by President Trump
directs the National Science Foundation to create and expand research
and STEM initiatives aimed at young children, as well as to ensure
comparable funding for these initiatives.
So what are some of the best ways to introduce STEM early on? Here’s what research says:
Let young children work on STEM tasks as part of a group. Some research
has found children are more motivated and persist longer on activities
when there is a social component.
Use children’s interests to choose STEM topics. If children are
particularly curious about something they have observed, like the wind,
seize on that curiosity to conduct experiments and teach STEM concepts.
Ask a lot of questions, like “why,” “what,” and “how” to push students to explain their thinking and search for answers.
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