By: Lukas J. Hefty
Hefty discusses how creating the STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) schools have been able to create a deeper understanding to the five process standards: Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof, Communication, Connections, and Representation. STEM is able to make real-world, hands-on lessons for students from Kindergarten through middle school. These are skills, lessons, and traits the students can take on to High School and college. Hefty discusses making cars out of K'Nex and rubber bands and how students can problem solve, use mathematics, and make changes to get different results such as how many times to wrap the rubber band. STEM strongly shows students real-world connections which is important because it make the information more fun to learn and retainable. The students will appreciate the subject matter even more. Also by making the lessons hands-on the students are less likely to get frustrated. They are excited to make their experiments work versus getting bored with the experiment or problem. Teachers act as facilitators to help when needed. Engineering helps the students to think critically when using math. It also provides the students with opportunities to communicate and collaborate. The study found that with this approach, the tie between engineering and math, when students struggle or even fail at making something they are more likely to keep trying until they do it right. The article mentions how STEM can't be implemented in all schools but we can take ideas from STEM and incorporate it in our classrooms.
I really liked this article because I love the STEM program. There is even works of a STEAM program, where art is involved as well. I currently tutor at Peoria Academy, where they use STEM. They have an awesome STEM lab where students can work with projects, build cars, and more. So I have seen STEM in action. I like that the article mentions that schools who aren't STEM can still use the ideas sometimes. Teachers can come up with engineering projects and see how the students understand and take it and then adapt it to the students needs. I love that STEM is so real-world, students can relate to it and it's hands-on! This makes math fun. It's awesome to see that students don't want to give up when they are struggling, they want their projects to succeed so they will put the math into to make it work.
Hefty discusses how creating the STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) schools have been able to create a deeper understanding to the five process standards: Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof, Communication, Connections, and Representation. STEM is able to make real-world, hands-on lessons for students from Kindergarten through middle school. These are skills, lessons, and traits the students can take on to High School and college. Hefty discusses making cars out of K'Nex and rubber bands and how students can problem solve, use mathematics, and make changes to get different results such as how many times to wrap the rubber band. STEM strongly shows students real-world connections which is important because it make the information more fun to learn and retainable. The students will appreciate the subject matter even more. Also by making the lessons hands-on the students are less likely to get frustrated. They are excited to make their experiments work versus getting bored with the experiment or problem. Teachers act as facilitators to help when needed. Engineering helps the students to think critically when using math. It also provides the students with opportunities to communicate and collaborate. The study found that with this approach, the tie between engineering and math, when students struggle or even fail at making something they are more likely to keep trying until they do it right. The article mentions how STEM can't be implemented in all schools but we can take ideas from STEM and incorporate it in our classrooms.
I really liked this article because I love the STEM program. There is even works of a STEAM program, where art is involved as well. I currently tutor at Peoria Academy, where they use STEM. They have an awesome STEM lab where students can work with projects, build cars, and more. So I have seen STEM in action. I like that the article mentions that schools who aren't STEM can still use the ideas sometimes. Teachers can come up with engineering projects and see how the students understand and take it and then adapt it to the students needs. I love that STEM is so real-world, students can relate to it and it's hands-on! This makes math fun. It's awesome to see that students don't want to give up when they are struggling, they want their projects to succeed so they will put the math into to make it work.
Thank you, Sarah:) It is nice to hear that STEM is being incorporated, in a fun way, in our local schools:)
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