A Philosophy Focused on Families
A leader of the Great Lakes Bay Regional STEM Alliance shares how family engagement has become the driving philosophy of her Michigan-based ecosystem.
A leader of the Great Lakes Bay Regional STEM Alliance shares how family engagement has become the driving philosophy of her Michigan-based ecosystem.
A panel focused on programs that bring STEM directly into the home to engage families. Programs featured include: Math in the Mail and Futuros Radiantes.
This webinar was made possible by introductions from the Queens, NY STEM Ecosystem – NYSCI NEighbors. It was presented on behalf of the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice Early Learning resource group in March 2017. Webinar from the authors of “STEM Starts Early” a study seeking to understand the challenges and opportunities in STEM learning for our youngest learners.
Six times each year, the Great Lakes Bay STEM Ecosystem sends math kits home to the families of 3 year-olds living in families considered to be low-income. Math in the Mail aims to remove anxiety for parents who fear that they aren’t skilled with math. “It’s also seeks to boost engagement between the parent and child,” says Lori Flippin, STEM Initiative leader for the Great Lakes Bay Region STEM Alliance. Flippin says that since the program’s inception the ecosystem is always looking at its effectiveness and areas where it can improve. “We were concerned that there were populations – especially in one particular county – where the parents may not have the abilities to use those kits,” says Flippin, explaining that they are now working with families in rescue missions and homeless shelters.
Great Lakes Bay Region STEM Ecosystem presents a number of initiatives to support STEM learning opportunities for families and young children. Examples will include:
A project to design and develop a curriculum to deepen understanding of how young children between 5 and 8 years-old define, collect, represent, and interpret data and how parents engage with children in data inquiry activities in informal learning environments.
Big Science for Little Hands activities were designed for early childhood educators working with children between 3 and 5 years-old to promote opportunities for hands-on science exploration. Each theme includes small- and large-group activities which can be adapted to any environment.
Why It’s Important to STEM Learning Ecosystems Why is early childhood STEM education significant? What is the importance of adopting a larger-life, ecosystem perspective when looking at early childhood STEM
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