STEM lessons coming soon
STEM
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math
In STEM, we build students’ understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math concepts through the use of hands-on activities. For example, how do computers get from 0’s and 1’s to videos and social media? How does an electric circuit get work done? Which part of that paper bridge is going to give out first and why? And what do scientists do, anyway? To answer these questions, we might build a program in scratch, try out different circuits, make a model of our bridge design and write predictions, or design and carry out an experiment meant to collect meaningful data.
Language and STEM
Our language doesn't just describe the world—it is how we understand the world.
In our STEM lessons, students share their ideas and creations with others, building a shared experience. Sharing, describing, and expressing are not just byproducts of the STEM lesson. Being able to clearly describe what is happening is integral to the learning process, because our language doesn’t just describe the world—it is how we understand the world.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the bigger picture…
When you look around your community, what do you see? In most developed places around the world, you probably see restaurants, gas stations, playgrounds, malls, schools, and so on—this is the world that children spend most of their time looking at and interacting with. Of course, our communities develop and our society changes in response to larger, invisible forces—data about where potential customers may be located, technology that allows people to communicate more easily, automation that speeds up the flow of goods, and so on.
For most children, their main exposure to these sorts of “backstage” views of our world are through movies, where you can see scientists concocting nefarious schemes, executives making broad-reaching decisions, and engineers hacking together physics-defying machines. The reality may be less fantastical, but it shouldn’t be any less interesting. An understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is an understanding of the rapidly evolving technologies, processes, and data that real societies are based on, but which are largely invisible to the outside observer.