The Bellevue School District will integrate its STEM curriculum into the last seven elementary schools to adopt the district initiative next fall, incorporating engineering and design challenges expected to increase student interest in technology-based careers in the future.
K-5 STEM Curriculum Developer Greg Bianchi said the district started with three pilot schools last year — Ardmore, Medina and Newport Heights — adding seven this year. The seven remaining elementary schools for the K-5 STEM initiative are Bennett, Clyde Hill, Eastgate, Enatai, Lake Hills, Puesta del Sol and Stevenson.
The goal is to get students interested in science, technology, engineering and math early, since many students are expected to have a career trajectory by the time they reach middle school, when many girls have been found to opt out of STEM education.
“We want to use the STEM initiative as an opportunity to revise our curriculum and provide professional development to our teachers to support students in developing 21st century skill,” Bianchi said. “I think what’s really important is we’re doing it in all schools. We’re not creating a magnet school.”
For example, second-grade students tackle engineering challenges like designing bridges to learn about force while fourth-graders learn about magnetism through a levitating train project. Families are also brought in for coding and engineering nights to see how the STEM curriculum is being blended into their children’s education.
A 5-year initiative, the Bellevue Schools Foundation spent two years fundraising before K-5 STEM was initiated, investing another $200,000 this school year for curriculum enrichment and to provide teachers with professional development. The foundation uses several fundraising strategies throughout the year, receiving some support from local tech companies, said Marian McDermott, BFS institutional giving and program manager.
“We’re still working on that,” she said, “to expand that group of tech companies.”
Bianchi and other mentors provide professional development to district educators, only 35 percent of whom claimed confidence in their STEM abilities when the pilot program started in the 2013-14 school year, he said, adding that number jumped to 90 percent by the end of the year. While there will be training in August, Bianchi said teachers undergo mandatory professional development throughout the school year.
The curriculum developer said it’s important to be thoughtful about how technology is integrated into the classroom, complementing certain subjects rather than replacing or diminishing their instruction. Rather than just learning how to use a 3-D printer, Bianchi said students learn 3-D modeling as an art project.
“We all really want to embed (STEM) in the context of other learning,” he said. “We don’t want a subject to suffer. We don’t want to take something off the plate.”
“It doesn’t have to be a separate thing, like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is STEM now.’ It’s how you incorporate it in your daily assignments and work,” said Manisha Chainani, whose youngest son has experienced the STEM curriculum in his fifth-grade class at Cherry Crest Elementary. “It’s all about asking questions. I think STEM sort of activated that within the students.”
Chainani, who volunteers at the school, said one day focused solely on what life was like during colonial times, with candle and butter making, games from that time period and dancing. STEM came into play in the end, with students being asked to submit an electronic-based report on what they learned. Chainani said she appreciates the creative ways STEM has been introduced, and is thankful Odell Middle School has a digital lab for her son to use next year.
The Bellevue School Foundation will hold its annual Spring for Schools benefit luncheon 11 a.m. to noon Friday, April 24 at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue.
