STEM is Bubblin’ HOT!
A hot topic in education right now is STEM. Schools across the country are adopting the blending of science, technology, engineering and math into topic-based units and projects. Many educators take it further by adding art, turning STEM into STEAM. Growing Green Hearts has been teaching STEM/STEAM for years and works with your classroom site and strengths to make this effective teaching strategy easy, fun, and user-friendly for teachers. Where to start? Schedule a Growing Green Hearts workshop for teachers at your school, host a Growing Green Hearts in-school class field trip, or check out the Growing Green Hearts offerings at teacher conferences like MnAEYC in January or “Our Children Our Our Future” in October.
STEM is not just a trend. Jim, a veteran science teacher and mentor, warned me years ago to watch out for the newest trend and be ready for the “latest in education” to cycle every ten years. He’s right in that the most effective teaching strategies don’t disappear- they stick around or resurface under a new name. Over a decade ago middle schools were restructuring into the research-backed teaming model which allowed science, math, social studies, and English teachers to create interdisciplinary units of study. STEM does exactly that…then takes it further by including multiple effective teaching strategies. Teachers are working hard and doing wonderful things for kids- make STEM one of them!
The enthusiasm kids bring to the classroom around a theme or interdisciplinary unit is fun to see. Imagine that excitement bubbling over when the STEM/STEAM approach builds up the knowledge, comprehension, and application then puts kids in charge working in teams to build an item or a system that meets constraints, budget, and passes a test run. A short list of examples is an energy-saver thermal cup, garden design, and even a Martian landing system. Art and environment are always a part of the STEM experiences with Growing Green Hearts. Especially in recent teaching with the Creativity Festival as well as the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth, I’ve noticed the student engagement and fun-factor for STEAM kids to be explosive- in a good way of course. STEM goes beyond an assignment or product and coaches kids in learning science processes, teamwork, communication intermingled with their art, language arts, math, and social studies content and skills.
Are you wanted to learn more about STEM and STEAM for your child, your classroom, a school, your church or other community group? Growing Green Hearts weaves together character-building and effective science education strategies with today’s environmental concerns and can do so for all ages. Call Heidi, 763.516.3513 to find out more.
Play. Learn. Love.
June 2014
