STEM Skills and Competencies

The goal of our STEM program is to develop two distinct learning pathways. One lane provides a way to develop their STEM thinking. Concurrently, the second lane allows them to develop their ability to use STEM tools. We identified the skills and talents students need to be successful in each grade level, as they move to the next, and as they transition into their careers. Coding is a really good example of these two pathways and how we try to develop cross-cutting competencies. Inherent in the coding progression is the development of students' ability to think, develop problem solving skills, and conceptual thinking. It begins with an emphasis on algebraic thinking through our early unplugged activities. Even in the early stages of coding, it's all about learning how to adjust and adapt your work to problem solve. As the thinking progression increases in complexity, students employ components of the engineering design process to tackle real world scenarios. When students are completing projects with WeDo and MakeyMakey, they are learning how to ask questions, evaluate their work, and make adjustments to solve problems. We can see evidence of this learning progression when we watch pre-K work with rudimentary tools, such as cubetto, as compared to the fifth grade team that just won the Governor’s App Challenge for a fashion app they designed. While coding is heavily reliant on technology, we use coding as a way to develop cross-cutting competencies. Our students have used coding to write poetry, create madlibs, develop apps, and write music. We also understand that the “T” in STEM not only represents the ability to program or utilize a computer or tablet, but it is about developing our students' capacity to use tools that will translate to future college and career endeavors. To develop competency with a myriad of tools, we ensure that most of our projects are hands-on and reliant on application of tools in real world settings. Our students have designed and built water filters while learning about the environmental cleanup process. Legos and K’Nex are also great tools. They teach students about engineering and how to read and follow a blueprint. Real-life application is also evident in the circuit building activities, which are rich in the use and construction of communication tools. Our projects are typically inquiry-based. We look at our students' capacity to do research as both part of their learning pathway and as a necessary tool that will empower and inform them as they mature. Another component of making sure we have workforce readiness as a future outcome for our students is constantly bringing in our stakeholders to support our STEM activities. We brought in scientists, engineers, electricians, zoologists, doctors, managers, and others in an attempt to reinforce the career application of the projects and activities they are working on. We also have an ongoing partnership with Junior Achievement. For example, this year Alabama Power and Phifer Wire sent representatives into our classrooms to talk about the economic and logistical side of STEM careers. We are proud of the fact that our STEM approach is interdisciplinary because we know that it will connect student interest, foundational skill building, and societal needs. We are aware that the requisite skills for our students’ future success have not been clearly defined yet. We also know that many of the career opportunities awaiting them have not even been created, but we realize that our responsibility is to develop a pipeline of students equipped with the skill set and mindset that are conducive to their success in the future, regardless of what jobs are created.