STEM Education--January 2026
January is the kick-off month for all second trimester modules for Pre K- 6 in LPS. The week of January 5 will be a little fluid as any residual work from Trimester 1 is wrapped up and new modules are being launched. All Trimester 2 modules should be launched and "rolling" during the subsequent weeks in January. Trimester 2 wraps up on or about Friday, March 27.
How you can help your child to succeed in STEM (and any other area of learning):
Ask questions about their learning, such as...
What are you learning in STEM?
What has been most interesting to you?
What challenges have you faced, and how have you been working to overcome the challenge?
Try STEM related experiments at home.
There are lots of resources online for parents and students to do simple activities to grow student curiosity and STEM understanding.
Allow your child the opportunity to struggle with problems.
This may sound horrible, but kids learn through discovery, not by being handed answers. Frustration and struggle can be a good thing, because they help a child to build stamina and grit for solving problems. Support your child, but do not "over help" them to find answers.
Be a listener.
Listen to your child as they talk about experiences. Do not judge their approach to problems, but ask probing questions that forces them to use logic to reason their way an answer.
As always, reach out to your child's STEM teacher if you have questions about the program, or potential resources for use at home.
How the Module Schedule Was Determined
The current K-4 module schedule for STEM education in LPS elementary buildings came about as a result of the pilot year. Prior to the pilot year, a group of administrators gathered together to determine which PLTW module offerings would be the best choice for enhancing science experiences related to the integrated English Language Arts (ELA) units taught in classrooms and grade levels across the district. A prototype module schedule was put into place for the pilot year in 2022-23 which was used to guide planning for the eventual program roll out district-wide in 2023-24.
During April-May of 2023, in preparation for the PLTW program roll out to the entire district, the Director of Elementary Programs and District Services, K-6 Curriculum Coordinator, and pilot teachers met to discuss the module schedule. The goal was to have as close of an alignment as would be possible with the learning occurring in the general education classrooms. As always, there are barriers to realizing all goals. Such barriers include timing of units taught in classrooms with those taught in specials classes, some modules that are better suited for being taught at certain times of the year, teacher passion for the content of modules, etc. We realize that time and conversations about what we are teaching allows us the opportunity to revisit schedules and make adjustments with a better vision. With that sentiment. we entered the 2023-24 school year open-minded to the idea of making changes where required.
The 5-6 module schedule was revised for the 2024-25 school year as a result of the learning that occurred during the inaugural year in 2023-24. No upper elementary was part of the pilot in 2022-23, so in preparation for the inaugural year, modules were selected and a schedule was determined based on what would seem logical for a launch. A part of the professional learning work that occurred in the 2023-24 school year involved the 5-6 team working together to develop an improved module schedule for the future. Some key goals included working toward better alignment, where possible, with the learning in ELA in the general classrooms; and developing a module schedule that maximizes student learning and engagement. The revised upper elementary module schedule for 2024-25 helped teachers better achieve those goals.
As with the K-4, there will always be limitations to exact alignment with the integrated ELA lessons taught in upper elementary classrooms due to multiple factors. Where exact alignment is difficult to achieve anywhere in the pre K-6 program, two schools of thought should be able to prevail. First, if a unit is taught in a classroom that is not taught in a PLTW class until later, then the PLTW classroom is an opportunity to expand and grow learning. Second, if a PLTW module is taught before an integrated ELA/Science unit in grade-level classrooms, then students will have prior experiences to make dialog and the work in classrooms more engaging, as students will have knowledge from which to draw conclusions and make connections.