Excited about STEM
<p>Kayla Sedlacek, lab instructor for North Idaho College’s anatomy and physiology department, reacts as third grade student Kaulin Knoll compares a pig heart to a video game Thursday during a Fernan Family STEM Night at the Coeur d’Alene elementary school.</p>
<p>Beth Paragamian, wildlife education specialist for the Idaho Fish and Game and Bureau of Land Management departments, displays a short-eared owl named Barb to London Lynch, a first grader at Fernan Elementary School.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - As a nurse, Amy Ford said she frequently talks with her three children about human anatomy and how the body works.
Thursday night at Fernan Elementary School, Ford was able to witness something click in her second-grade son, Hudson, while he held a cow heart during the school's Family STEM Night event.
"It was so neat to see my son make a connection as he was holding a heart," Ford said. "For him to hold the organ and kind of put two-and-two together meant a lot to me and will mean even more to him."
Ford was one of many parents who brought their children to the elementary school for the event that Principal Bill Rutherford said was a way to get families excited about STEM philosophies.
Fernan Elementary will become a STEM focus school at the start of the next school year. If the program is successful, the school plans on moving toward becoming a magnet school in the 2015-16 school year, complete with a name change to 'Fernan STEM Academy.'
According to Rutherford, the school will implement two-hour blocks of integrated STEM teaching that encourage students to think critically about science, technology, engineering, and math.
"We want our kids to think in many different ways," Rutherford said. "If we can teach them that, they will be really successful when it comes time for them to show us what they know, as well as prepare them for future thinking in high school and college."
Throughout the night, students excitedly ran between eight rooms at the school, where they received hands-on teaching in everything from chemistry to computer game design.
"It's wonderful," Lisa Brooks, whose son is in second grade, said of the event. "It's something they can't learn from just books, and it increases their interest."
Brooks said the Idaho Fish and Game's owl presentation fascinated her son, and during the night eager kids and their parents kept returning to the library for another look at the two live owls.
As for the STEM program itself, Brooks said she was excited for it to be implemented at Fernan.
"It's great to give the kids all these opportunities," Brooks said.