Along the way they also learn valuable life skills, such as how to work cooperatively with a group, how to plan, and how to recover from setbacks. “It’s so fun to watch their little faces,” enthuses Mrs. Murray, “and you can see them learn.” 

 

While the class certainly does have fun with the projects, Mrs. Murray believes the skills they are developing will be crucial in the future, not just for the individual students, but for society as a whole. “The world’s a little scary right now,” she says. “I think this is the time that education is more important, probably than it’s been for a long time.” She thinks that starting kids out in the STEM curriculum as early as kindergarten will give them a leg up throughout their lives. “These kids are up against so much,” she states. “I want them to know that Jasper County teachers are there for them, and we’re not going to give up on them. And they can do whatever they want to do.”

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Fifth grade science teacher Tonya Hall is also a big fan of the way the STEM curriculum boosts the confidence of her students. “My kids who struggle in the traditional science curriculum are sometimes my brightest stars when we do STEM projects,” she relates. She notices that working on the activities brings out the innovative, creative nature of the children, and working together in groups helps them realize the power of collaboration. But, perhaps most importantly, completing the activities brings them a real sense of pride and accomplishment that they may not have experienced before. “They become very proud of themselves, and realize that they can succeed,” Mrs. Hall says. 

 

Mrs. Hall’s students also begin to relate the projects that they are doing with their own lives. For example, one activity has the class creating new surgical instruments, using only a few common household objects. They then are tasked with “operating” on a container of clear gelatin with their instruments to remove a heart (a grape), a bone (a carrot), and a kidney (a raisin). The students make connections between what they are doing, and experiences they may have had with actual surgeries. They realize the importance of instruments that are as minimally invasive as possible, and what was once an abstract concept becomes real and concrete. “Science is everywhere,” Mrs. Hall enthuses, “we just don’t always make those connections.”

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“I love science,” declares high school science teacher Cassy Baker. “My students will tell you that I love it too much.” But that’s just their way of saying that Ms. Baker is extremely passionate about science, and about making others passionate about it as well. “Understanding the way in which our universe works, and being able to think about how complex problems interact to create everything we see around us can benefit everyone,” she explains. “It teaches you how to think, it teaches you how to analyze.”

 

Ms. Baker believes that having a scientific mind and understanding how to solve problems scientifically can help anyone, no matter what they do in life. But she notes that science and the humanities not only can coexist, but that they must. “Science without a humanistic approach can be cold,” she says. She cites the problems our society faced in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis as an example. She believes that a lot of the difficulties stemmed from the scientific community not communicating effectively with the public.

 

“That can be fixed in a lot of ways,” she explains, “not only by the average person being more science-literate, but also by the average scientist being more human-literate.” And as excited about the possibilities of science as Ms. Baker may be, she does bring a decidedly human touch to her teaching of the subject. For example, she points out to her students any mistakes she may make in class.  It took her a long time to shake the yoke of perfectionism that she wore for a large part of her life, but she now realizes the value of making and owning your mistakes. “I think it’s important that our students understand that we are human,” she explains. “It helps them understand that they won’t be the same person tomorrow that they are today. I certainly am not – I continually grow and continually learn. If I can impart at least a little bit of that to my students, I will think that a job well done.”

 

This trio of professional educators bring the world beyond common understanding a little closer for Jasper County students, but they also imbue these young people with an intellectual toolset and a spirit of confidence to explore. That’s a good thing, too, because, most assuredly, they will be at the vanguard for solving the problems facing not only present, but future generations.