STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Peer Learning Community (PLC) has successfully been implemented throughout various Missouri school districts. Testimonials from participants prove the Missouri AfterSchool Network (MASN) STEM PLC program has made STEM activities more accessible to staff and more engaging for children.
Brad Lademann, Associate Director of Quality Initiatives at MASN, witnessed how the STEM PLC shifted the confidence of staff.
“…STEM PLC raised their comfort level in how to teach STEM activities and took away some of the ‘scariness’ in teaching STEM.”
The program acknowledges STEM as an intimidating field for many staff and is built to be beginner-friendly. The STEM PLC considers various STEM background levels– ranging from those with limited knowledge to those looking to expand their STEM programs.
Janelle Stanek, Care Day/Summer School Coordinator for the Warren County R-III District, took the STEM PLC to the next level. She earned the Afterschool Success Grant and bought Hydroponic Tower Gardens to teach students not only STEM topics, but also entrepreneurial skills. Today, her students are selling the fresh produce they have planted using these towers at the town’s local farmer’s market.
“If it wasn’t for the collaboration between the Missouri AfterSchool Network in the chamber, and with the possibility of this grant, none of this would have been possible for students. It’s just been an amazing experience, and my students have benefited from it.”
Rachele Johnson-Bell, the site coordinator at Unleashing Potential, is one of the staff who actively participates in the STEM PLC. She joined to further her knowledge on how to best incorporate STEM activities with children who may show initial disinterest.
To Bell, the STEM PLC is crucial because, “I feel like in the field of youth work, we just do the activity. We don’t think about the different learning styles or the different age groups and the mindsets of the children that we work with.”
The STEM Playlists incorporated into this program account for the various learning styles Bell mentions and can be easily adaptable to any age group. For the Program Director at Clayton Kid Zone, Tyler Kearns, these playlists were the “base foundation” for engaging children with STEM.
Kearns fondly recalls STEM Playlists which allowed children to creatively build their own theme park and answer questions relating to the science behind this real-life, engaging scenario. Afterward, the children were encouraged to show their parents their accomplishment in what Kearns describes as an “exciting” event filled with students who were seeking to be challenged.
Although STEM can be a challenging field to incorporate into the education field, Bell has found the STEM PLC to seed fruitful rewards in the children she cares for.
“To see them engaged and ask questions and not me so much asking them questions, I think that’s a big step. I think that’s a big jump up.”
Make sure to visit our information page at https://moafterschool.org/peer-learning-communities/ for more insight.
To learn more about how you can participate with the STEM PLC contact Brad Lademann at lademannb@missouri.edu.
