GSL implementing STEM at elementary level
Glencoe-Silver Lake’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Project Lead the Way program is now being implemented in elementary classes.
Those attending GSL’s first community schools luncheon Thursday, Sept. 30, heard a presentation from teachers Scott Picha and Heather Peirce on how the program is being used in the elementary schools.
Both Picha and Peirce said the the program encourages students to “take on real-life problems and find ways to solve them.”
For example, third graders are taking on a project involving flight.
The “real-life problem” is to find a way for a glider to “bring disaster aid to people in a remote area,” said Picha.
The students have to consider such factors as wind, drag and lift.
“It encourages them to make use of their creativity, imaginations and problem-solving skills,” said Picha.
Picha said the hope is that the problem-solving process “becomes ingrained in them, so that they use this process and become more successful in life.”
For more, see the Oct. 5 print edition of The Chronicle.