You’ve probably heard a lot about the importance of learning to code and helping students develop optimal skill sets. While coding certainly is one aspect of STEM education that teachers focus on, it’s not, however, the only one. STEM experiences help students in many ways and educators are always finding new ideas for improving them. And, one of those popular options, of course, is through enrichment programs. The benefits of STEM learning are great but they’re often capped in the classroom, meaning more school leaders are encouraging students to participate in STEM outside of school, which is how these enrichment programs come into play.
Bringing Enrichment to STEM Education
Enrichment programs have been around for years but, these days, they’re a bit different from traditional offerings. Extracurricular activities have also been in schools forever, providing help for parents and helping students pad their resumés. Things like the chess club, drama club, or writing for the school newspaper are some historically popular extracurricular activities. These experiences help students build certain skills and help them feel like part of a community. Now, with extracurricular activities evolving, many have more of a STEM focus. Educators have realized that STEM skills will serve students well in the future and want to capitalize on their desire to feel like part of the community, creating STEM enrichment programs, makerspace environments, or esports initiatives to help accomplish these goals.
Afterschool STEM programs for kids.
Enrichment programs help educators bridge the gap from the school day, week, or year ending. Of course, teachers don’t want students forgetting what they learned, so they often turn to enrichment programs to reinforce classroom lessons with supplementary hands-on experiences. In STEM education, enrichment programs work like traditional enrichment programs—with educators using lessons or activities to focus on a particular STEM subject or concept. Using EdTech or maker tools, they can keep students exploring after school and even help them discover new passions. And, these meetings can happen as often or as little as you and your students like.
How STEM enrichment opportunities help students develop.
Of course, the ultimate goal of STEM enrichment programs is ensuring students learn new, relevant skills and concepts. But, STEM enrichment programs also help them discover their individual interests and experience problem solving in different types of environments. Since educators can incorporate standards-aligned STEM tools, STEM enrichment programs offer more ways to help prepare students for the future. So, while some might argue that enrichment programs mainly help prevent learning loss, they can also help extend learning gains. Also, with more STEM experiences, creative problem solving could start to become second nature for students.
The Importance of Afterschool Enrichment
Besides the chance to collaborate with friends, experiment, or tinker, afterschool enrichment programs can be very important for some children. Every student learns differently and that's especially true in this day and age. So, while educators might use the same instructional methods day in and day out, they might be wasting their efforts if certain students don't learn well in new types of environments. Afterschool and other enrichment programs allow students to try something new, which can make a huge difference. These programs typically enable students to move around and leave the everyday classroom routine behind, which could be very beneficial. And, like we said, this could be more than helpful for some students. It might sometimes be completely necessary.
Bringing STEM enrichment to afterschool programs.
This is a fine example of how STEM enrichment programs can supplement student knowledge and experiences. Since each student absorbs and comprehends information differently, they may not always fully grasp everything the first time around. Having the chance to revisit the material—especially when using hands-on tools after school—can truly make a difference. Of course, afterschool programs are especially beneficial for students who might be struggling to keep up with others or who, for one reason or another, show that they haven’t fully understood what teachers are discussing in class. For them, receiving individual instruction and positive feedback when they successfully work through a problem is crucial.
Feedback and collaboration in enrichment programs.
Afterschool enrichment programs also help students make real progress and catch up when necessary. When students make mistakes, however, this is also an opportunity for constructive feedback—this helps them recognize where they slipped up and what they can do to continue to grow. At the same time, even if students aren’t struggling academically, maybe they’re struggling socially and need the chance to interact more with their peers while working on assignments. Enrichment programs can really help kids like this develop inquiry and collaboration skills in group work and reflection. Then, hopefully, they can harness the progress they make in afterschool environments and translate it to increasing classroom success.
Different Types of Summer STEM Enrichment
We tend to think of summer as a chance for students and teachers to recharge. While educators and everyone in the school system deserves this break, time away from the classroom doesn't always benefit students. We know how summer learning loss can affect students and it sometimes takes up to a month for their brains to catch up upon returning from vacation. That’s partly why so many parents make sure their kids participate in some sort of enrichment program during these months. Though some parents need safe places to send kids, plenty of others might look for this kind of outlet anyway. Plus, with more hands-on problem solving practice, the more likely they'll jump right back in when school resumes.
Looking for STEM enrichment in the community.
Many education officials have also created school-sponsored summer STEM enrichment programs. Also, students can potentially benefit from being around the same teachers in summer programs that they had during the year. These teachers know what they've taught in the classroom and how to use STEM activities to build on what students know while also filling any gaps to prepare them for the next school year. There are tons of STEM camps that parents could look in to but starting with school offerings could work, too. If not, like we said, there are typically options within the community, often including specialized camps and programs. These days, students might try a coding camp, for example, where they can develop relevant STEM skills. Others include programs that focus on STEM areas, like 3D printing, engineering, computers, and even game design.
The many opportunities for enrichment.
In Massachusetts, for example, we have some amazing STEM organizations, including the Museum of Science and some top STEM colleges. Many offer STEM programs for kids to help them learn through group projects or 1-on-1 instruction. Also, if there's a local makerspace in your community, chances are this would be a good option as well. As they try various STEM activities, like inventing with low-tech items, collaborating, and even exploring robotics, students can learn about these areas and build key skills through collaboration with their peers. Enrichment programs—when leaders can truly organize them like they do in the summer—can help students explore STEM disciplines like physics, medical developments, engineering, and a whole lot more, enabling extensive learning opportunities.
STEM Enrichment in Early Childhood Education
We constantly talk about exposing students to STEM in the early grades, including Pre-K kindergarten, first, and second grade. So, it makes sense that, if they could participate in STEM enrichment programs while in these grades (or during the summer), then that would make sense, too. Enrichment initiatives offer the same essential benefits for students no matter how young or old they are. They simply help them build on classroom experiences with hands-on projects to ensure they retain as much as possible. Enrichment experiences could also benefit students before they even enter kindergarten, though educators would have to approach this in a unique way with age-appropriate activities.
Creating the right opportunities in early education.
Innovative thinking is important in career preparation and students don’t always get the chance to practice it in the classroom. Especially for young students who need to learn basic skills, like reading and spelling, there isn’t a ton of time left to explore technology and creative thinking. The problem with that is a lot of educators simply accept this and never address it. One way to address it, however, is offering STEM enrichment programs, which don’t even have to be formal or complex. Using early education technology, teachers can set aside just 30 or 45 minutes per week, once a month, or whenever to give their early elementary students the chance to learn skills they can carry over into other areas of their learning.
STEM enrichment strategies for early learners.
The more practice students have with STEM, the more they can learn about innovation and problem solving. Believe it or not, there is actually quite a bit of STEM involved with early childhood classroom activities. With early exposure to STEM, teachers can help kids boost their overall academic growth, which, as we mentioned, correlates with success in all phases of learning. These days, beneficial technologies are everywhere, so students don't even have to use hands-on STEM tools, specifically. There are plenty of educational apps that do more than just introduce technology—they also slowly incorporate STEM topics and new problem-solving methods. And, with this extra practice, early learners can progress a bit more quickly and develop some worthwhile skills.
Enriching Overall Experiences with STEM
As we sometimes do, we’re taking this final section in a bit of an unexpected direction. So far, we’ve discussed using STEM experiences as enrichment opportunities so students can keep their 21st century skills sharp while away from school or work on adding new ones to their tool belts. This is often the main goal when educators launch STEM enrichment programs but it's not the only way to enrich students' lives with STEM. There are many educators who'd argue that STEM connections belong in every classroom and subject. As such, when educators integrate STEM elements in the everyday curriculum, students often find beneficial opportunities to work on developing their STEM skills and mindsets more frequently.
Creating STEM enrichment experiences.
To teach STEM, educators don’t necessarily need an end-to-end STEM curriculum with specific elements. Today, they can simply integrate STEM tools, concepts, trends, and creative thinking in just about any environment. There are natural connections among many different STEM concepts and highlighting them while teaching standards can help prepare students for the future. Once educators discover these connections, they can design their lessons to cover the requirements while also mixing in some possibly subtle STEM references throughout. By weaving STEM connections into lessons from other parts of the curriculum on a regular basis, students will, at the very least, discover new experiences and insights.
Creating a STEM curriculum without a formal STEM curriculum.
Teachers can use a multidisciplinary approach to incorporating STEM in other subjects by capitalizing on themes that relate to STEM and the content they're discussing. They could also use an interdisciplinary approach and weave that same STEM topic into all other classes. In this case, it doesn’t matter which subject students are studying because they could weave in the STEM points regardless. By integrating STEM throughout the curriculum, students can see the many connections today's world has to science, technology, engineering, and math. It could also perhaps help them answer the age-old question ‘Why do I need to know this?’ STEM is everywhere and, by purposefully sprinkling it in, teachers can do their part to equip students with the skills and mindsets to feel ready for whatever comes next.
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