Beyond the Classroom: The Significance of Taking Home STEAM Projects
The best STEAM programs feature hands-on, immersive learning experiences. The very best allows students to continue that journey by taking home their STEAM projects afterward. This aspect of STEAM learning is often underestimated. It is a dynamic tool for nurturing comprehensive learning and personal growth that deserves far more attention.
Bridging the Gap Between Classroom and Home: Learning should not stop at the classroom door. Taking home weekly projects brings the curriculum into homes, turning kitchen tables into makeshift laboratories and bedrooms into creative studios. This seamless transition allows students to see the relevance of their education beyond the confines of school walls.
Encouraging Continued Exploration: Projects that are brought home become a catalyst for continued curiosity, encouraging students to delve deeper into the subjects that sparked their interest during class. They will be challenged to maintain their projects, making repairs as needed and potentially improving them as well. Bringing projects home also means collecting a wealth of assets from which inspiration can be had and materials that can be repurposed. The more they explore independently, the more they cultivate a genuine passion for learning.
Fostering a Sense of Ownership: Students work hard on their projects and deserve a chance to enjoy them. These projects become tangible representations of their efforts, creativity, and understanding. This sense of ownership cultivates a feeling of responsibility for their education, instilling the idea that learning is a personal endeavor that goes beyond minimal classroom requirements.
Strengthening Parental Involvement: Bridging the gap between class and home isn’t just for students, it creates an opportunity for parents to be involved in their child’s education. Parents become partners in the learning process, gaining insights into what their children are studying and participating in the joy of discovery. Students will often explain the project, how they made it, the challenges they faced, what they enjoyed, etc. This informs families while also reinforcing what the student has learned.
Symbolizing Personal Advancement: Each project taken home is a visual representation of a student’s academic growth, showcasing the variety of skills and knowledge acquired. It serves as a valuable resource for future reflection and provides a tangible record of their educational journey.
Taking home STEAM projects transforms learning into a dynamic, continuous process that extends beyond the classroom, encouraging students to embrace a lifelong love for exploration and discovery. However many times there are intrinsic problems with the chosen projects that make this impossible. If a child goes to a program and builds with Legos or an expensive robotics system, is it really feasible to have that child take home their creation each time? The cost would be outrageous and the accumulation of these finished pieces at home would be ridiculous.
Brooklyn Robot Foundry has built (pun intended) much of its program around this concept of continuing learning outside of class by avoiding the aforementioned hurdles. The team at the Foundry chooses kid-friendly materials that are not intimidating and those that can be used in a myriad of ways. These materials aren’t always the sturdiest, which is also part of the plan. The children build their robots from scratch and are taught how to fix them. They are also encouraged to add to them, take them apart, combine projects, etc, which is not possible with manufactured robotics and building sets. This empowerment is what the Foundry’s program is all about and the at-home portion is a crucial aspect. It might be said that Brooklyn Robot Foundry’s students aren’t simply bringing a project home, they are bringing the whole learning experience home instead.
Brooklyn Robot Foundry has franchise locations in several parts of the country and continues to expand. Read more about bringing Brooklyn Robot Foundry to your area.