Reflection on the article STEM: It's Elementary

STEM: It’s Elementary, is a great article discussing the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math in the elementary classroom. Integrating these important, real world lessons into the elementary curriculum is what is necessary to prepare our children for a successful future. There has been such a focus on reading and writing in the elementary classroom, as it should be, that, I feel, the other subjects have been somewhat neglected. The article states that just changing the way we look at things, and the questions we ask, getting the community involved, integrating STEM in all subjects, and giving kids more access to technology will all help to accomplish the goal of giving students a STEM education. These subjects do not have to be neglected, or pushed to the back in our elementary classrooms. They are needed to be woven in in a natural way that supports whole child learning. 

What stood out to me in this article was the importance of starting early with the introduction of technology. Technology is the future, and we need to prepare our children. Also, I liked how adding words to your teaching vocabulary like, design, experiment, and model will aid in getting students to start thinking in a more critical way. It is so important to help students make the connections from the classroom to real world concepts.