If we know one thing about STEM learning, it’s that it can happen at any time and in any place. Focusing on STEM skills and concepts in the classroom is great but there are many more opportunities outside the school’s walls that students might miss if they aren’t actively participating. Afterschool STEM programs and summer camp opportunities have been around forever but they're sometimes mainly for child care purposes. Now, we’re seeing shifts in kids wanting to participate in enrichment programs outside of school to continue developing STEM skills. The good news is that many will jump at these opportunities because they actually enjoy STEM experiences.
The Impact of Afterschool STEM Learning
There are certain lessons that teachers must cover each day, which sometimes results in less focus on STEM. If an educator in third grade, for example, wants students to try robotics or engineering in the classroom, that might come at the expense of spelling or vocabulary lessons, which are obviously also important. That's why afterschool time is popular for providing these opportunities, which are also key in educational development. Even though grades aren't involved with afterschool programs, these experiences still positively impact long-term student development. Afterschool STEM experiences help students build greater interest in STEM education, which boosts engagement and helps them develop STEM skills.
Why afterschool STEM programs are popular.
Research shows that when educators carefully design STEM programs, students benefit in the short and long term. In the last few years, we've noticed this impact on students consistently grow from year to year. Since students often associate STEM learning with science classes, exciting them about afterschool STEM also increases excitement for science classes. This, then, can lead to increased engagement, enjoyment, and success academically. Also, kids and their parents now actively seek out afterschool STEM opportunities, an indication that they're getting what they need. This could be partly because STEM experiences allow children to learn in different ways—with a greater focus on active inquiry rather than passive lectures.
Gauging success of these programs.
Some indicators of afterschool STEM success include students actively participating in hands-on problem solving and exploration. Further, if these experiences help them become more curious about STEM topics or concepts, that's also a win. Other indicators include students developing the ability to engage in investigative problem solving, the ability to understand the relevance of STEM in future careers, the awareness of different STEM professions, and understanding the value STEM plays in our society. As students access more opportunities to participate in STEM learning, they should start developing certain skills. They'll also start to learn more about STEM in general, including all the things we just mentioned. Perhaps as important as the skills they learn, this knowledge can help them pursue STEM in the future thanks to the inspiration they get from STEM opportunities after school.
Tips for Great Afterschool STEM Programs
The case for encouraging students to participate in afterschool STEM programs is now more common and warranted. Not only are teachers pushing to get as many students participating in afterschool STEM as possible, parents are also taking steps to ensure that kids are able to develop these key skills whenever they can. In creating new afterschool STEM experiences for students, however, school leaders should strive to give them what they need. This starts with committing to regularity and moving away from the few-and-far-between approach in which students are only taking part in STEM when educators have time and resources to provide them. A consistent and cohesive STEM program is the best way to ensure that students’ STEM experiences matter.
Potential barriers to afterschool STEM programs.
One way to create top afterschool STEM programs is to research factors that typically prevent students from participating in them. First, educators often don't understand how to create STEM curricula that's age-appropriate and hands-on. Other factors include limited time, money, and equipment to give students worthwhile experiences. Next is a lack of educator expertise for teaching STEM skills and concepts using today’s educational tools. To combat these challenges, educators could learn about the key STEM concepts students should know, like coding and engineering, for example, and create informal curriculum around these ideas. As for funds, you don’t need a whole bunch of equipment for afterschool STEM initiatives. Low-tech and low-cost materials work well for stimulating creativity and a lot of it is also affordable. Finally, a lack of STEM expertise can helps students and teachers to begin on the same level and learn together.
Considering the curriculum and teacher training.
Creating great afterschool STEM starts with creating a great plan, which means educators need a bunch of information to design activities or challenges that align with the curriculum. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, however, by creating your own curriculum since there are many examples to follow. Curriculum should include hands-on activities, inquiry-based learning, and budget-friendly options. More importantly, it should be comfortable for students and teachers. Also, a great curriculum and cutting-edge equipment won’t amount to much without a well-trained and enthusiastic staff. Training teachers on using STEM tools should be a fun experience rather than a headache. And, while preparing, remember to also take some time to evaluate how everything is going. If you need to revise some elements, don’t be afraid to take time to ensure you do things right.
Mistake Making in Afterschool Activities
Afterschool clubs and activities are perfect for kids to experiment and learn freely. With few restrictions and pressures, students can try new problem-solving strategies and embrace mistake-filled learning. In hands-on education, students may try many different approaches to solving a problem before they actually create a solution. This is not unlike the real world and an excellent opportunity for educators to teach them that failure is okay and they can even celebrate it as long as they're failing up. Afterschool STEM clubs also help students collaborate with each other—another skill that's very important for their futures. They might begin to absorb and comprehend information in a non-traditional way when they’re not in a classroom all day. And, many educators believe that these students greatly benefit from hands-on, afterschool experiences that help them learn in new ways, especially when they're free from the pressures of failing.
Meeting mistakes with positive reinforcement.
Many students who struggle in the classroom believe they're not smart—something they might carry with them for a while. To help reverse this, educators can use certain language to ensure students understand that they have simply found a way that does not work rather than one that does. Even when they don’t find a solution, positive reinforcement from teachers can help keep their morale high. Though young kids probably don’t realize it, mistakes help their minds grow. If they regularly found easy solutions, they’d stop putting in the effort and have no way to develop their creativity. Mistake making, which everyone can celebrate in afterschool environments, helps students realize the importance of working towards creative solutions and that, once they arrive there, it's very rewarding. Plus, hands-on learning is perfect for this because kids can use their creativity to develop ideas and their persistence while working towards solutions.
Sharpening soft skills in afterschool learning.
Making mistakes and revising approaches are big parts of afterschool STEM learning and so is collaborating with others. Collaboration is an essential soft skill and active afterschool experiences can help kids learn how to work as a team. It also helps if they have extra eyes to catch any mistakes and working together to ask questions and solve challenges before they become a problem helps sharpen their inquiry skills. If students see afterschool experiences as creative opportunities, they could become more comfortable with failing. As this happens, they'll also become more comfortable with taking risks and exploring new ways of solving problems. As educators, it's important to instill the belief that making mistakes is okay and something we can celebrate. With more freedom to explore without fear, children will gain increased independence while simultaneously building key skills.
Learning a lot with Afterschool Experiences
The fact is that a lot of students complete high school and never give STEM another thought. While this, unfortunately, does happen, it's also something educators could prevent by offering STEM experiences and renewing some excitement. Many students lose interest in STEM because they're not actively participating in it—something that afterschool experiences can help eliminate as students see what STEM has to offer. Opening afterschool STEM clubs to all students is one way to help ensure that everybody has at least some STEM experiences and takes part in community-based learning. During afterschool STEM meetings, students can design experiments, explore 21st century problem solving, and work together on custom solutions.
Adding the right technology.
Personally, when we discuss STEM learning, we tend to be more geared towards robotics, engineering, and coding. Of course, there are hundreds of other ways students can participate in STEM, including when using low-tech tools and others that we think of as more traditional. Conducting science experiments with beakers and gases, for example, is still a great way for them to get hands-on and solve problems with a well-thought-out approach. If you're looking to add technology to afterschool STEM, it depends on teacher goals and your ideal learning outcomes. Plus, with the STEM tools you’ll find on our store, students can combine multiple components of STEM learning to cover many different concepts, like coding, physics, engineering, and architecture to name just a few. They can learn about things like foundations, slope, angles, program construction and everything in between with a few simple tools.
Creating a plan for afterschool STEM experiences.
Like with all afterschool clubs, STEM clubs are only as good as the activities that leaders plan. As long as educators have a plan for meetings, students can often fill the gaps with new discoveries and exploration. Educators could even scale down and mirror many of the experiments, studies, and challenges professionals do in real-world STEM jobs with students after school. Naturally, this is a great opportunity for them to get a small taste of the future. Since STEM jobs make up such a large portion of the economy, it could be very important that they get to try STEM challenges from an early age. At the same time, however, it’s important to keep afterschool STEM light and educational so that kids want to try more and ultimately develop some new skills.
Afterschool is a Good Time for Robotics and Coding
Whether it’s during school hours or after school, students need STEM and problem solving opportunities to flex their creativity. In many schools, students use makerspaces during the day and as part of afterschool STEM programs to access opportunities for creativity and preparing for the future. The goal is simply to prepare students more effectively for an uncertain future—something they don't always get with classroom instruction alone. Plus, with so many options for hands-on, afterschool learning, STEM clubs and programs are popular among both students and parents. These opportunities provide deeper, interactive learning for kids, which helps better prepare them for the real world.
Looking to proven programs for inspiration.
Recently, the importance of afterschool activity has spurred educators to create different clubs to carry educational experiences into afterschool time. Before STEM became popular, the focus in many of these clubs was simply on science but, as STEM came on strong, many shifted to a greater focus on the STEM disciplines, like robotics. With national and international robotics programs and competitions, like FIRST and VEX being so popular, educators have tried to emulate them in their own afterschool activities when possible. After school, students can work with simple or advanced robotics kits to build bots, program them, and develop engineering skills. And, with these kinds of experiences, educators can transform what we once considered playtime into enrichment time.
Designing afterschool programs for kids.
Creating programs like this helps allow all kids to experience STEM activities rather than just those in certain situations. Student enjoyment is also pretty evident, which helps reinforce how hands-on learning can be fun. Since young students tend to love technology and have grown up around it, they typically jump at the chance to program a robot, for example, and many of them can try this with their own devices at home, too. They also start to see how technology fluency can help them pick up coding very quickly as they create programs that robots can run before their eyes. Whether it’s indoors, outdoors, with a few kids, or a huge group, afterschool STEM is something that many kids love. And, at the same time, it's becoming more necessary in preparing them for the future.
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