Wednesday, July 3, 2024
"What is the future of STEM education in the U.S.?" by opensourceway is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
At Gatesville Elementary School, students attend STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Lab as one of their rotation classes. Marla Tatum teaches the class. Tatum has been teaching STEM Lab for six years.
Tatum was asked about what STEM entails at the Elementary level and what important role it plays in the lives of elementary children:
"My number one goal in the STEM Lab at elementary is to spark a love for science and to begin teaching about the many different fields of engineering and the engineering process,” Tatum said. “At the beginning of each school year, I try to get the students curious and excited about science. I often say that science is like magic — except that it is real!"
She explains to her students that science and math go hand in hand, especially as they grow older and begin to take challenging science and engineering classes. She wants them to understand math's importance if they're going to become an engineer or scientist.
Another big focus in the STEM Lab is the introduction to coding. Robotics is introduced in the classroom, and students are taught beginner coding skills. Coding is essential if students want to pursue a degree in engineering.
Tatum uses the first through third grade essential knowledge and skills for science to build her lessons and incorporate technology, engineering and math. An example of this lesson procedure would be the students learning about the weather. They would have a station in the classroom to build a bridge out of Legos to solve the problem of road flooding.
LEGOS are an integral part of the STEM Lab. They aid the students as they develop and create various structures to solve an engineering problem. Another station in the weather unit would be making a tornado in a bottle so that students can visualize and understand the vortex of a tornado.
A third station would be to use the Dash Robots. The students learn basic coding skills in the STEM Lab. They can then code the Dash robot to perform a rescue in a "pretend" emergency weather situation (technology and engineering). One last station in this unit would be to measure and record the temperature in three different locations (math and technology). The STEM Lab is only a 30-minute class, so the lesson would take several weeks to complete.
Tatum said she enjoys teaching STEM at the elementary school level because the students get so excited when they perform a science experiment or they get to do an engineering challenge.Tatum said, "I love to provide that spark for the love of science and see them so eager and excited to learn."
