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Steckle Elementary students demonstrate expanded after-school STEM program to Whitehall-Coplay board
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Summary
Teachers and students from Steckle Elementary described an expanded after-school STEM program that runs four sessions, serves more than 100 third-graders this year, is free to participants and benefited from funding for buses to transport students.
Teachers Emily Lepore and Kevin Lote told the Whitehall-Coplay School District board on March 24 that Steckle Elementary's after-school STEM program has grown to four sessions and now enrolls more than 100 third-graders this school year.
"We've been running it for about 4 years. This is the largest year we've had," Lepore said, describing a program that received more than 130 applications and that admitted about 100 students this year after securing funding for buses. She said the program is completely free to students and the district-arranged buses deliver participants to their homes.
Two students, Caleb and (identified variously in the record as Vani/Bonnie), described hands-on projects including breakout boxes, BeBot and Kiva Plank mazes, Ozobots and Spheros, Tinkercad 3-D design and 3-D printing of student-designed keychains, and Spike Lego-type kits that were used to prototype a solution to protect a dog in severe weather. The students highlighted teamwork, coding and problem-solving as program benefits.
Why it matters: Board members noted that the after-school STEM activities reinforce classroom skills, build transferable soft skills, and expand access to technology and engineering experiences at the elementary level. One board member thanked the presenters: "What a phenomenal opportunity we have for our students at Steckle," a board member said.
The presentation did not request specific funding changes at the meeting; teachers asked for the board's continued support of programs like this one.
