The Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is partnering with the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering to find ways to make science, technology, engineering and math more engaging for young students.
The Engineers Serving Education project introduces education majors in the teachers college to STEM subjects and activities they can immediately integrate into the classroom.
The project is used at the ASU Preparatory Academy on the Polytechnic campus as well as in six Valley school districts, according to an Oct. 26 University press release.
The program will expand to include 300 teacher candidates to reach nearly 7,500 additional students, according to the release.
Education professor Ronald Zambo participates in the program by allowing faculty at the schools of engineering to teach his education students how to incorporate the engineering part of STEM into childhood education.
“I think that it helps them see that there is more to teaching than just telling kids what they’re supposed to know,” Zambo said.
Early childhood education senior Rachel Wade, who is a student teacher in the Balsz School District in Phoenix, gave her second grade class a mission Monday to build a windmill with a milk carton base and a Styrofoam ball attached to a dowel rod.
“They got super excited because they knew they were going to be able to work in their groups,” Wade said.
Jan Synder, coordinator for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Educational Outreach Program, instructed Wade and other student teachers how to incorporate engineering-focused activities into their curriculum.
Snyder said he believes the activities he teaches are more than simply hands-on because it is all about getting students mentally engaged in engineering activities.
“I have seen ‘hands-on activities’ in places around the world where their hands are on but their brains are not,” Snyder said.
He said the activities he teaches get students moving and thinking, causing them to be more engaged.
The Engineers Serving Education project currently focuses on teachers at the elementary school level, such as Wade.
This is Wade’s second time incorporating an activity she has learned from Snyder into her classroom.
“The students were very receptive,” she said. “They wanted to help each other and show each other and then they were really excited when they got to the point when they had the materials and worked with them.”
These are common results Snyder has seen from the student teachers.
“The reports suggest that the kids are really mentally engaged,” Snyder said.
Wade said she noticed the students were also learning other skills such as literacy and writing because they had to list the materials they were using.
Reach the reporter at shurst2@asu.edu
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