Wired USA – September 2019

STEAM

“ More and

more schools

are turning

to STEAM...

and doing so

earlier in the

children’s

educational

journey.”

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of STEAM Innovation, Cheryl

Hibbeln, Michael Goodbody,

program manager for STEAM

innovation, and his team in

the San Diego Unified School

district are reinventing the

way STEAM is being taught

starting even before kinder-

garten. “We had this dream of,

what if we could help students

identify their interests early

on and develop their love for

STEM and STEAM as they

go through their K-12 journey

with us?” They partnered with

LEGO® Education to make

A STUDY OF engineering
students found that confi-
dence is a key indicator of
student performance. In fact,
it may influence performance
by as much as 12 percent‚
making it an even greater
determinant than self-esteem.
So then the question that
school administrators face is:
How do we instill confidence
in our students to help their
chances of overall success?
They have found that an
interactive, hands-on curric-
ulum that includes STEAM
(an approach focused on
Science, Technology, Engi-
neering, Arts, and Math) has
helped instill a growth mind-
set in students that is very
much needed for educational
growth and advancement.

More and more schools
are turning to this STEAM
approach of education in an
effort to set their students
up for success—and doing
so earlier and earlier in
the children’s educational
journey. Executive Director

that dream a reality. The team

focused on developing a

high-quality curriculum that

was based around LEGO Edu-

cation early learning solutions,

including LEGO® Education

STEAM Park. “It’s been a very

powerful tool,” Goodbody

says, making it easier for

teachers to assess whether

students are grasping content

while at the same time fostering

conversation and collabora-

tion with their peers.

On the East Coast, one

educator has been leading

the charge in the Philadelphia

schools to adopt a 21st-

century skillset through

hands-on, interactive learning.

“I really believe that for a lot

of our kids LEGO (Education)

is the way to keep them

engaged and allow them to

discover their own gifts,”

says Paula Don, director of

gifted and talented education,

School District of Philadelphia.

“Kids love LEGO; it’s familiar

and that makes it an easy

onramp for learning.”

The trend of STEAM-based

education is here to stay,

with this interactive approach

being supported by both

teachers and students.

Eighty-nine percent of

students say that hands-on

learning helps them learn

new things*—that’s a power-

ful endorsement.

89 %

of students

say that

hands-on

learning

helps them

learn new

things*

12 %

percentage

by which

student

confidence

may play

a role in

performance

* Results from a survey conducted

online by The Harris Poll on behalf

of LEGO® Education from February

6-28, 2019, among 5,002 students,

5,001 parents and 1,152 teachers

from around the world.

To learn more, visit LEGOeducation.com

Brick by Brick:

More and More Schools

Embrace STEAM