Supporting STEM in the SLLC and Beyond

 This past week was another busy one. I'm composing today's blog post just a few hours before it's scheduled to go live. 

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) was a common theme in last week's adventures.

Dreamer Day

On Tuesday, October 22, my dear friend Farah Wadia arranged a trip to Dreamer Day 2024 down at the Enercare Centre. The goal was to expose young women and girls to opportunities for careers in STEM fields. Every Grade 6, 7, and 8 female student in my school went, along with Ms. Wadia, Ms. Berwick, and me.

At first, the girls were shy. We encouraged them to ask questions and check out all the displays. They enjoyed collecting all the fun swag and by the end of the day were much more confident in setting their own agendas and exploring on their own. Farah learned about this opportunity by thoroughly reading TDSB guidance department emails and the whole experience was free for our students! Thank you Farah (and the sponsors of Dreamer Day) for making it possible.

First Lego League

My lunch hours have been full with supporting our school's First Lego League robotics team. I'm one of the coaches. Matthew Malisani is the other, more experienced, coach. Our team consists of about 8 students from Grades 4-6. We finally (FINALLY) got our confirmation that our team is officially registered and received our mat and parts a few weeks ago, although we've been working since late September to develop coding and building skills. Matthew built our FLL table and the team has amped up their efforts to prepare for our upcoming competition in December. I may not have the skills to program the robot to complete the "Submerged" missions, but the students do! 

STEM Classes in our STEM Lab

I see two classes for STEM instruction. Both of them are Grade 1-2s. We have been learning about the Engineering Design Process and our challenge was to find a way to connect two pieces of cardboard together without the use of anything sticky - no glue, no tape. The students would rather skip the plan and design portion and jump immediately to building, but it's important to have ideas in mind. We are close to completing these experiments.

The school library learning commons and the teacher-librarian are positioned perfectly to help make STEM / STEAM education possible, practical, and pedagogically appropriate. The library space is large enough to house equipment (and the tops of shelves have become important storage spaces for projects, not just the ones I help coordinate, but for Ms. Gomez and the Grade 2-3s she sees for STEM time as well). Going to see experts or bringing in experts enriches the experience; I didn't arrange that trip to meet women in construction, the military, or other industries but Farah did and she has her TL Part 1 AQ. 😉 Extra curricular clubs and teams that relate to STEM (and less formal gatherings like Maker Spaces) can be run in the library. One of the aspects of a FLL competition involves research, so I'm getting to flex my teacher-librarian inquiry skills muscles as I show the students how to take notes from reliable online sources, send emails to gather information from people who know things, and ask good questions.

Now I just need to use my STEM skills to design a cloning machine for myself, or at least an external battery so I don't get exhausted keeping up with all the demands that late October brings!