Today’s educational leaders may find that preparing students for the future presents an ill-defined challenge that often feels like a moving target. None of us have a resident crystal ball. However, administrators attending to workforce development needs know that a solid foundation in STEM will be critical for opening the door to lifelong opportunities for students. This linchpin work cannot wait. It must start with innovative leadership at the elementary level. What are the elementary STEM building blocks? Let’s look at a step-by-step approach for educational leaders.
Proper Foundations
Leading a prekindergarten through sixth-grade school district, prioritizing foundations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics should be foundational to our leadership practice. It can be easy to lose sight of this work as the focus in elementary education often leans heavily on literacy instruction. Teaching children to read is a priority goal, particularly in the primary grades. Nonetheless, educational leaders also have a moral obligation to begin preparing our students now for the future they will inherit at the end of their educational journey. That groundwork is incomplete without a robust education in STEM concepts and practices.
How can elementary leaders ensure students are ready for an unpredictable tomorrow, and how do we move forward? With so many competing primacies, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or stuck by inaction. Principals and curriculum experts may not know where to begin when faced with the wide-ranging task of implementing comprehensive STEM education at the elementary level. Teachers need professional learning to support and meaningfully change their practice. However, budgets are often at capacity, making it difficult to align resources to STEM goals. Nevertheless, it is possible and urgent. As a country and public institution, we’re already behind.
A Logical Path Forward
The way forward is through taking a step-by-step approach. Building blocks lead to increasing district-wide capacity for STEM education. Effective implementation strategies utilize an incremental approach to build capacity carefully and intentionally over time. This constructive approach is also budget-friendly. Don’t let the mentality of scarcity stop you from achieving your STEM mission. Find an entry point, and move forward one step at a time.
Wherever you look, STEM can be found. It is everywhere in our world. Taking a step forward, however small, will bring you further than you were before. As educational leaders, the stakes are high to make the best decisions for our children. We can become paralyzed with fear and worry that we won’t get it right for our kids. This fear can stop us in our tracks and prevent us from acting. When this happens, remind yourself that there is more than one way to get it right. Move past the worry and fear, and push forward for your students.
Context Matters
While research-based practice delivers positive results, leaders must also recognize that context matters. Our districts and schools are unique. These strengths enable us to find the approach that works for our students, teachers, and families. We should remind ourselves that when it comes to innovation, we may find ourselves in unchartered waters. Use building blocks to smooth the waters and deliver results. Before you know it, you’ll be graduating students who possess the real-life skills to thrive in a future they helped design for themselves.
The building block approach includes several core areas of focus. First is implementing a guaranteed, viable curriculum paired with comprehensive teacher professional development. With a robust local curriculum and effective instructional practice in place, leaders can begin introducing innovation. Later, they can explore expanded partnerships. Your STEM initiative progress may include these same building blocks. However, leaders should consider performing a needs assessment and subsequently identify building blocks that can meet the unique needs of their individual districts and schools.
Building Block #1 – Curriculum and Instruction
A guaranteed and viable core curriculum in science and mathematics is often overlooked in the pursuit of innovative ideas in STEM education. The myriad of mandated content areas, combined with the emphasis on literacy at the elementary level, can overshadow strong content and pedagogy in mathematics and science in elementary schools. Adding to the challenge are ongoing changes to national and state learning standards. And worse, with limited funding, districts may adopt new programs without a hardy professional development plan. This leaves teachers unprepared and afraid.
Districts should leverage existing systems to carry the implementation load. Internal curriculum committees can review their local science and math programs. The review aims to identify gaps in the local curriculum to ensure that curriculum resources stay aligned with current standards and assessments. New science programs should align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as they include not just Earth, Physical, and Life such as “cause and effect” along with Science and Engineering Practices, all attributes that support a well-rounded STEM initiative. Standards-aligned math programs that support fluency, along with number sense and deep conceptual understanding, will also be supportive. Look for programs that have the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice built in.
Gaps in Teacher Learning
Unlike their secondary school counterparts, elementary teachers do not specialize in specific content areas, leaving gaps in their professional learning. Yet many school leaders and the very nature of their jobs set the expectation for elementary teachers to be experts in every area. Targeted professional learning is significantly impactful in ensuring that elementary teachers are adept at helping students develop deep conceptual understandings of science and math. Ensure the fidelity of any program implementation by providing teachers with multiple opportunities for stable and focused essential learning during the first and second years.
Be sure to include principals and other school leaders to enable their leadership and support effective teacher practice through the observation process. Professional development must not be an afterthought to a program’s adoption. It is imperative that resources are aligned with the STEM goal. That includes investing not just in the program but also in the people who are expected to deliver results.
Building Block #2 – Innovation
Innovation doesn’t need to cost a lot, and it doesn’t have to start all at once. Incrementally building your work in this area can yield excellent results. Five years ago, one of the first things our district started was STEM-related projects that teachers could easily implement in several science periods. At the time, the district had an outdated science program without enough textbooks for every student. Teachers were doing their best to meet the NYS standards for science, but the next curriculum adoption in our budget cycle was allocated for a math program; thereby, an update for science instruction was not on the docket.
The solution started with a summer curriculum project where teachers collaborated to create one STEM project per grade with a simple blackline master copy and a short list of consumable supplies, many of which were already on hand. These hands-on STEM projects included activities such as the marshmallow tower challenge, engineering a mountain rescue, moon lander design, and catapult challenge. The next summer the initiative expanded by adding a second project to each grade. That same year, several teachers who had a passion for this idea introduced the maker space concept to students.
Most of the startup maker spaces began with existing art supplies. In year three, the maker space idea was expanded, and each building housed an Innovation Lab that replaced outdated computer labs. Every building was allocated several hundred dollars to buy STEM-related materials, such as KEVA® Planks, Breakout EDU, and Bee-Bot®. This original concept had teachers bringing students to the Innovation Lab on a first-come first-served basis—a great start, but it still needed much work.
STEM Capacity
To fully build STEM capacity across the district, we had to create a new system intentionally aligned with that goal. The director of instructional technology and innovation, along with district instructional coaches led the way in operationalizing the STEM initiative by creating a local STEM curriculum that leveraged the Innovation Labs in each school as a resource.
The curriculum was based on the Picture-Perfect STEM4 books from the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). These books cleverly pair picture books with STEM concepts. Now, teachers are scheduled to visit the Innovation Labs with their class twice a year for two weeks at a time. This allows teachers to fully immerse students in a STEM environment for hands-on lab activities. Teachers are also encouraged to visit the Innovation Lab at other times throughout the year as availability allows. There are two units each for grades K–6, and they include topics such as Withstanding Weather–Building Robust Structures, Bionic Animals, and Cleaning the Oceans, all using Lego® WeDo.
The Innovation Lab, with its STEM curriculum and resources, is one of the most successful district STEM implementations of the past five years. The concept of the Innovation Lab expanded over time and grew out of a commitment to providing opportunities for innovation to our students. This commitment also saw the creation of a district-wide fourth-grade engineering project, a new NGSS-aligned science program, a district-wide online coding program, after-school STEM clubs, and a new STEM content-driven learning management system. Collectively, resources were aligned to the goal of providing students with multiple opportunities to engage in and build their foundational STEM knowledge.
Building Block #3 – Partnership
One of the valuable building blocks on our STEM journey has been leveraging partnerships with outside organizations. Partnerships are an essential tool to advance opportunities that enrich STEM experiences for students and families. They provide diverse perspectives and divergent complexity that can energize your team and your students.
Being located very close to the biggest metropolitan center in the United States, many of our students have little awareness of where their food comes from. A small farm located close to our community provides an opportunity to give our students access to real-world science close to home. Students participate in a series of farm visits, learn how to prepare soil and plant seeds, care for their plants. Ultimately, they harvest and eat what they have grown. Students have multiple interactions with farm volunteers throughout the growing season and engage in inquiry and writing activities throughout the experience. Families can visit the farm where student plants are growing. They have access to expanding their understanding of the farm-to-table process. This year will be the district’s sixth year on the farm. Over 1,500 students have been impacted through this valuable partner experience.
TechTrep’s Mission
In the continued pursuit of providing students with STEM foundations at the elementary level, we formed a partnership with TechTrepTM. Their mission to future-proof kids for a 21st-century STEM-based workforce aligns with our community’s wish for students to show achievement in STEM. The partnership provides a content-rich online learning system that includes activities on topics ranging from drawing and animation to entrepreneurship to computer programming. There are many online resources with related content. However, the advantage is in customizing the courses to work within our systems. We focus on advancing STEM at the elementary level.
We plan to work with TechTrepTM over the next five years to build a progressive course sequence. This sequence will expand one grade level each year. This model will work within our existing library media program and provide all students with multiple opportunities for STEM enrichment. The TechTrepTM partnership is the next phase of our plan for ongoing STEM initiatives.
In New York, all public school districts have existing partnerships with our local Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). Through our local BOCES, teachers are participating in a state-funded Smart Start Grant whose purpose is to develop, implement, and share innovative programs that provide professional development and support to increase expertise in educational technology among teachers in grades K–8. With BOCES as the grant coordinator and facilitator, multiple districts are working with the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), providing no-cost graduate coursework and regular professional development to small teams of teachers. In addition, one elementary school in the district has an established direct partnership with NYIT that has provided professional development along with on-site visits of their mobile STEAMed Van for hands-on STEM experiences.
Leveraging Partnerships
Our district has also leveraged other partnerships over the past five years. The Valley Stream community has an educational foundation that affords financial and creative support for educational initiatives. District administration partners with the foundation to advance district goals. The foundation has provided resources to the Innovation Labs, such as 3-D printers. The local interschool parent-teacher association provides annual mini-grants of several hundred dollars to teachers. These grants often relate to STEM and include funding for hands-on building and design materials.
Creating a Comprehensive STEM Experience for Elementary Students
There are multiple opportunities to create comprehensive experiences for elementary students in STEM that simultaneously ground your step-by-step approach. You can grow your efforts utilizing the aforementioned building blocks that include highly effective curriculum and instruction, innovative projects, and expansive partnerships. Elementary school leaders must commit to graduating students with real-life skills they need for future success. All of us know that a successful high school graduate is K–12 effort. In 2016, our school community recognized the importance of STEM building blocks. It identified it as one of five goals in its strategic plan. The focused efforts of district leadership, along with effective teaching and learning, have resulted in our elementary students having a well-rounded education that is future-proof. Find your building blocks for STEM foundations and your district will get it right for students.
About the Author
JUDITH A. LAROCCA, ED.D.
Dr. Judith LaRocca is an educational leader known for her work in the areas of inclusive hiring practices and innovative STEM instruction. In Dr. LaRocca’s chapter, she shares practical strategies for implementing solid foundations of STEM that can be built over time to ensure students’ future success. Featured in The Education Trust’s Educator Diversity Playbook (https://seeourtruth-ny.edtrust.org/playbook/), Judith highlights ways to support diverse teacher candidates and eliminate barriers in the hiring process. Over the past fifteen years, she has effectively led this work in two K–6 school districts in New York. Judith lives on Long Island, New York, with her husband Joel and son Eric, and has a passion for making quilts.
