RIVERVIEW, Fla. — It’s never too early to expose students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM.
Especially with the demand for engineers growing faster than a toddler. That’s why a local group of educators is teaching some of the youngest and brightest minds the fundamentals of STEM.
In a small classroom at The Learning Experience Academy Riverview, the two-year-olds can barely count to five. But that hasn’t stopped them from learning the meaning of meticulous measuring.
“It’s teaching them how to pour, and they’re working and using their fine motor skills and to do things on their own,” said teacher Natalie O’Donell.
This type of independent thinking is what’s going to set them apart in the world of engineering — especially with girls and women who only make up 13% of engineers, according to the Society of Women Engineers.
“Our girls are really into engineering. They love this activity. Our boys are mostly, we ask, we give them a choice of whether they want to do it or go play on the carpet. We do try to get everybody to at least try it once a week,” O’Donell said.
If you’re thinking what could a two-year-old possibly know about the world of engineering, there’s an answer for that.
The Learning Experience Academy Curriculum Director, Ally Kulbeda, says just think about how children are always reaching for a phone or asking the question we’ve all heard, “Do you have games on your phone?”
“We’re just taking up on the fundamentals of hand manipulation of moving things, pouring,” Kulbeda said. “So, things they’re doing with their tablets at home, we’re just doing it more in a play based environment where they’re actually working with these kits that we have.”
That’s the approach Kulbeda says they’re taking for the entire month of March with their Little Engineers program.
Infants playing with colorful stacking and nesting cups, textured balls, and rings to develop their curiosity and hand-eye coordination. Toddlers creating dropper art, interacting with toy clocks, and participating in experiments to develop their problem solving and fine motor skills. Preschoolers utilizing magnet kits, toy cars, and toolboxes with hammers and screwdrivers to build their cooperative skills and cognitive development. Kindergarteners using a small robot and learning rudimentary coding skills to enhance their creativity, perseverance and logical thinking.
“It’s a 17-week-long program that we introduce to our little learners where the children will experience problem solving, working with science and math skills, talking about different ways to push a car up a ramp and then also in our preppers classroom they’re working on doing pouring, measuring,” said Kulbeda.
The vigorous training program is centered around play, problem solving and cognitive development and it’s teaching the teachers, too.
“I think it definitely draws out a lot more of their open-ended questions because it’s activities that they can really incorporate and get to have fun with themselves. And I think it brings out the little engineer in us,” said Kulbeda.
If they have it their way, in the next 25 years, the children at their daycare will be the next generation of engineers. They’ll be equipped with training they’ve had under their belts since they were in diapers.