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Loa Elementary STEAM Fridays

 LES Steam

On the second Friday of every month Loa Elementary changes its routine and has special day in which the students complete a series of STEAM activities. STEAM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in five specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the five disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEAM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications.

Over the past few months the students at Loa Elementary have experienced many fun and exciting activities. By learning about an integrated STEAM topic and then emphasizing the instruction through hands on activities, the students learn the topics and become excited about STEAM careers. Some of the activities during the Loa Elementary STEAM days include:

· Using household chemicals to create reactions that change the state of matter

· Designing and building catapults with spoons and other common items

· Using common items to build structures like towers and bridges

· Building and programming robotic machines

Though the United States has historically been a leader in the STEAM fields, fewer students have been focusing on these topics recently. According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 16 percent of high school students are interested in a STEAM career and have proven a proficiency in mathematics. Currently, nearly 28 percent of high school freshmen declare an interest in a STEAM-related field, but 57 percent of these students will lose interest by the time they graduate from high school. The emphasis of STEAM activities at Loa Elementary is designed to change these numbers and have an increased participation rate in STEAM classes in the middle and high school, which would translate into more students entering STEAM careers.

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