What is STEM? 

STEM most literally stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, but it is so much more. This term has become quite the buzz word in our society, and rightfully so. STEM activities can be incorporated across any subject in school and in any grade level Kinder through 12^th grade. It involves hands-on learning, collaboration with peers, problem solving, and critical thinking. What more do you need to help create the leaders of tomorrow?  

How is STEM structured? 

Most STEM is structured in the form of giving the audience a challenge. They must think through the design process to come up with a variety of possible solutions to the situation. Creativity is encouraged as they think outside the box to achieve their goal. FAILURE is not a bad thing in the world of STEM, it is often celebrated as the process of learning and building on mistakes and experiences is the star of the STEM show. After the audience attempts their solution, they take note of what occurred and then they think of ways to improve it, whether it worked or not. If time allows, they recreate and implement those improvements to add more experiences into their tool belt. After testing concludes, the audience is encouraged to share their findings with others.  

Why STEM? 

These STEM challenges develop students at all levels. Most importantly, these STEM challenges help develop well rounded individuals like our KISD graduates who have grit and are creative, critical thinkers, goal focused, collaborative and effective communicators.