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Making every lesson a STEM lesson

Legos, toothpicks and toy cars are key to teaching science and math early

by JACKIE MADER
January 23, 2020 ! " # $ %

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The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one

topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this
delivered directly to your inbox.

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
““Just to talk about [STEM education, they’re on to something
concepts] abstractly is by starting early: kids are capable

difficult at that level. But if of learning about STEM at a young

age and early exposure and
they can build something…
understanding of STEM topics can
they’re understanding in a
increase academic achievement,
concrete way.” 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.

For more ideas, check out this 2018 article I wrote that includes ideas for
infants and toddlers.

Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Early Childhood newsletter, which
is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes every other Wednesday with trends
and top stories about early learning. Subscribe today!

This story about STEM in early childhood was produced by The Hechinger
Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality
and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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TAGGED: EARLY CHILDHOOD NEWSLETTER STEM

Jackie Mader
mader@hechingerreport.org

Jackie Mader supervises all photo and multimedia use, covers early
childhood education and writes the early ed newsletter. In her nine
years at Hechinger, she has covered a range of topics including
teacher... More by Jackie Mader

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