What is S.T.E.M. education?  S.T.E.M. is our kid’s future.  S.T.E.M.  is science, technology, engineering, and math. In each one of these areas of learning it is imperative that our kids need to be comfortable with and enjoy tackling the challenges that come their way to excel in their adult lives.  S.T.E.M.  makes creators, thinkers, problem solvers, doers, innovators, and inventors.

The focus is on hands-on inquiry and open-ended exploration in many different fields. Students will work collaboratively to discover and design to real world situations for real world problems. S.T.E.M. education employs back door learning.  Your kids do not even realize how much they learn during class.  There will be multiple right answers and failure will be reframed as a positive step on the way to discovering and designing solutions and as a necessary part of learning.

Another huge area learned in S.T.E.M. education is the art of collaboration.  Students will learn to work in groups with others who may challenge them.  They will start learning real world working skills of conflict management, teamwork, team leading, allowing others to take the lead, encouragement, and support of their fellow team members. And have we mentioned the fact that S.T.E.M. is just plain FUN.

Recently I had a mom who laughingly recounted an exchange that happened in her house the previous week.  Her husband was having a very frustrating time with a plumbing issue.  His 4th grade daughter went into the bathroom and said to him, “I got this dad.  I do S.T.E.M.”  I love the confidence this class gives our kids.

Our goal in S.T.E.M. education is activating students’ curiosity, leading them to ask good questions, and transferring the responsibility for learning from the teacher to the student. Guests with different areas of expertise such as science, math, computer technology, air and space, will be brought in as available.  Challenges for the students will cover many disciplines Architecture, solar power, clean water science, hydraulic machines bridge building, electricity and circuitry, simple robotics, team building, and DNA genome creations, there are so many to choose from.

Class Homework Requirements: Some projects will need to be worked on at home no more than 1 hour every few weeks and a few that will need a little more time to complete their projects at home. There will be 1 to 2 projects in the year that will need about 1-2 hours in a week to complete. This is not a graded class.

Thursday

Time:  9:00-10:30
Grades: 4-6
Class Fee: $350
Supply fee: $75
Tutor:  Michelle Stevens