WINDING UP THE pullback toy car, fourth-grader Phoebe Kaiser let it go as her family watched it race across the bridge she had constructed with household materials. Her family cheered as the car made it across, completing the challenge. The first time she tried, the car went off the side of the bridge, which led to an important conclusion for the 10-year-old.
“You have to put on a test car before you put real people on it,” Kaiser explained.
FROM LEFT, DALYNA LAM, SEVENTH-GRADE HOMEROOM TEACHER, AND ANGIE NGUYEN, STEM AND MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER, PREPARE FOR STEM NIGHT AT ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN TUSTIN ON FEB. 26. PHOTOS BY ALAN WENDELL/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
St. Cecilia Catholic School recently hosted its annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) night, dubbed “Explore STEM Around the World,” at its Tustin campus. Students, younger siblings and parents all filled the halls as they moved excitedly from classroom to classroom to try their hand at solving different science, engineering and coding experiments.
“We want it to be a team-building process where the children can demonstrate to mom and dad what they are learning every day, and also create a new project with their families,” said Principal Mary Alvarado, adding that STEM is where students can really get creative. “They love the opportunity to build things, to think differently about learning and to work cooperatively.”
RHEA ALLEN AND CRUZ ALLEN SHOW OFF THEIR STRAW-AND-TAPE TOWER DURING STEM NIGHT AT ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC SCHOOL.
This year’s event was themed after geographic locations with experiments to match, including constructing a house of spaghetti noodles and mini marshmallows that could withstand a simulated earthquake for 10 seconds; engineering an aqueduct from cardboard, construction paper, tape and foil that can transport water in Italy; manipulating cardboard, straws, skewers and balloons to create a moving bullet train in China; and using colored markers to code an Ozobot to go through a maze in Egypt.
FROM LEFT, DALY KAISER, BEATRIX KAISER, PHOBEE KAISER, AND MATT KAISER POSE AFTER PHOBEE SUCCESSFULLY BUILDS A BRIDGE DURING STEM NIGHT.
It was in England that Kaiser and her family built bridges like those over the River Thames. In France, Rhea Allen and her kindergarten son Cruz were building the Eiffel Tower out of straws, tape and construction paper. For Allen, she was happy to see that St. Cecilia has such an in-depth program; she believes STEM is the way of the future. St. Cecilia has a dedicated STEM lab and classes for all grades.
“I feel that STEM has such an everyday use no matter what you do,” Allen said.
Eighth-grader Brooke Ngo, 13, said she likes that STEM allows her to be creative and get artsy.
THE GARDNER FAMILY PAUSES FOR A PHOTO DURING STEM NIGHT AT ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC SCHOOL.
“You get to do many projects with items you probably have around your house that you don’t even know what to do with until you come to STEM night,” Ngo said.
Seventh-grade homeroom, religion and math teacher Dalyna Lam said STEM activities are trying to build students’ critical thinking skills through experiments that have more than one solution. Lam, is a Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, which is a three-year, competitive professional development fellowship for middle-grade school teams focusing on enhancing STEM education. Lam said STEM teaches students to think outside the box and not quit when an experiment doesn’t work the first time.
“With STEM they get to enjoy fun activities, explore and think critically,” Lam said, “and at the same time, try to solve various problems through that activity.”