STEM in the Classroom
To address the need stated above, we can begin to appropriately address the topics that students encounter in the science classroom to implement STEM learning. One topic that students in K–5 classrooms are presented with year after year (if the school has made science a part of the school day) is the Solar System. This topic is incredibly vast in what we can teach students, but alas the topic is typically constrained to a textbook lesson about the order and sizes of the planets, the phases of the Moon, and typically a catchy video to round out the subject. There is, however, so much more we can share with our students about the Solar System, and we can share it in a much more engaging and meaningful way through STEM. Teaching students through STEM learning is vitally important for the future of our planet. In an article by the American Educational Research Association on the effect sizes of science instruction (effect sizes meaning the research based data averages on the effectiveness of a particular teaching strategy or teaching method), it was found that the overall mean effect size of science instruction on achievement was 0.486, and therefore, above the effective mark of 0.4.5 Not only is science instruction effective in the learning environment, but it can help our students prepare for the future. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the number of STEM related jobs has increased by 24.4% over the previous ten years.6 As this was in 2017, school districts that have not begun implementing STEM as a normal part of the school day and curriculum, have fallen drastically behind in the journey to provide students adequate education to prepare them for the world. This has put their students behind in the learning journey. This issue must be addressed, so that this does not continue to happen to our students. STEM can be used as the vehicle to address the science content in a unit-based and interactive way.
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