Just Playing Around: Teaching STEM Through Inquiry, Exploration, and Play, PK – Grade 1 – Engineering Sylvia Kennedy-Godin September 11, 2019

Children are naturally curious, full of questions, creative, and playful. This four-part workshop series uses the concept of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as play; children are engaged in asking questions, making discoveries, experimenting, working with others, and working toward proficiency in the VELS, NGSS and CCSS standards. The format of each workshop reflects this playful approach to STEM. Participants will interact with each other, ask questions, explore materials, and play. Engineering is the application of science and math to solve problems; its aim is to solve the “so what?” question that students often wonder about. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) specifically call for students to engage in the practices of science and engineering that will address major challenges confronting our society today and get them ready to solve societal and environmental challenges they’ll face in the future. Students are expected to define problems, identify and work with criteria and constraints when searching for solutions; build and test prototypes; and generate, evaluate and optimize solutions.