S.T.R.E.A.M. Night gauges curiosity

Students pet Kion the Lee County Sheriff's Department's K9 officer. Handler Jordan Maag oversees the interaction as part of the Fort Madison Elementary School S.T.R.E.A.M. night at Fort Madison Elementary School.

Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

LITTLE SPONGES

I think it's just that curiosity because kids, especially at this age, are just like little sponges that soak things up and so they're getting exposed to different careers that they may not have thought about.”

Wendy Bailey, S.T.R.E.A.M. Night coordinator

FORT MADISON – The Fort Madison S.T.R.E.A.M. event was a hot-bed of activity Thursday night at the district’s PreK-6th grade building.
A line formed prior to the 5 p.m. start time, about 50 yards down the building sidewalk, to get into the event which featured a light supper and about 40 vendors.
Area youth were exposed to a full array of exhibitions and hands-on exposure to career pathways along the Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics model.
Event coordinator Wendy Bailey, an elementary teacher in the system for the past 34 years,  said this is the biggest event to date. The annual night was started as a S.T.E.M. event five years ago, but has grown to include the reading and art models, as well.
“Five years ago, we had about eight and it’s just grown and grown and I think that’s exciting to see that they want to come back,” Bailey said.
The value in the annual event is for the district in being able to gauge the curiosity of the students, but also allow them at a very early age to get excited about things they wouldn’t normally be able to be hands-on with in the classroom.
“I think it's just that curiosity because kids, especially at this age, are just like little sponges that soak things up and so they're getting exposed to different careers that they may not have thought about,” she said.
“And then just that thinking and wondering about how things work, like with electricity, and how does that work. Well, we have IBEW who has set up where you can kind of see behind the scenes with that, so I think just helping to build that curiosity.”
She said it also plays a vital role in letting kids see it’s okay to not get things right the first time. To see that failure is often paramount to success.
“There’s that benefit of learning that it's OK to fail,” she said. “These can show you you're going to try something and, if you're not successful, you're going to try it again. So just getting that mindset - that growth mindset that it didn't work this time, I can try something different.”
She said reaching out to families as a unit also allows parents to not only engage with their children, but also see the excitement that can be created around the engagement.
“I think it's just so awesome to see parents alongside their kids doing these different things. I think it helps them think about when they're doing things at home. I know as a parent myself sometimes it's easier to just do it myself, but just inviting them to see the work that you're doing. When you're curious, you learn all kinds of things.
Several hundred families and their students were able to get hands-on in a new tractor, experience drone usage, electricity, fireworks technology, agriculture trends, among others. The district also treated the families to a meal as the night went on.