Brass bound bulletin #4: What kids really learn in STEM class

A lot of people hear the term STEM and automatically think they have a good handle on what it is. This is partially the fault of STEM teachers and the popular media. They give the idea that STEM is just Computer Science, maybe engineering. However STEM is much more than that and kids who learn STEM skills are learning so much more. Here are some of the skills kids learn in STEM classes.

• Confidence

Last year, a fellow teacher and I began helping students participate in an event called the Invention Convention. One of the students was this quiet little girl. Seeming very shy but with a wicked sense of humor and VERY smart. She already loved to tinker but never really let anyone see that. She joined me and other students in participating in the Invention Convention and over time she came out of her shell a bit more. By the time the competition was over she had a confidence that wasn't there before. She could express her ideas, talked about her invention and passion for making. She returned for this year's competition determined to make her entry from last year better with the confidence to make it happen.

• Teamwork

I start pairing students up in Kindergarten. Even if I have enough materials to allow them to work independently I still pair them up. Students learn how to work with someone else, put aside their ego and compromise. They learn they either succeed together or fail together. (These are difficult concepts for five year olds to grasp but they have to start somewhere. I don't accept any blaming either. If your group fails, the GROUP fails.) As a teacher it also shows me who the leaders are. And when I do they get paired with students who need a little more help. Those students become unofficial teacher assistants, bringing them up to their "level." A rising tide lifts all ships.

• Communication

You can't have teamwork without communication. Students in my class learn to express their ideas. Not just to me but to each other. They learn to express those ideas to guests who enter my classroom and talk about their interests with excitement. When paired with another student they learn to express themselves respectfully and they learn to listen.

• Curiosity

Over the last few years I've noticed curiosity being snuffed out in kids. They don't want to know how, they don't want to know why. They just want to do... and consume. You can't be in a STEM class (in my opinion) without sparking curiosity. If you are a STEM teacher and your students are not wondering about the world around them by the end of it you're failing. Curiosity is the basis of making whether it's for fun or work. And curiosity is ideally stoked in a STEM class.

• Resilience

"Failure is always an option." Adam Savage

We are shaped more by failure than success. Too many students these days are protected from failure by well meaning parents. But students NEED failure because they need to learn how to move past it. One of the biggest challenges I face as a teacher every day is the student who wants to quit if they don't succeed on the first try. I have to walk the line between helping the students succeed without giving them the answer to their problem. At the beginning of a STEM challenge I tell my students up I expect them to fail. Then I celebrate it when they do! Not in a mean way but in a "Meet the Robinsons" way. They failed which means they get a chance to try again. That resilience lasts a lifetime.

So the next time you hear someone talk about a STEM class like it's just coding you'll know it's so much more than the tangible skills.