Northwestern
Elementary School, along with 6 other ES, MS, and HS buildings across Ohio were
unconditionally approved as STEM schools yesterday by OSLN (the Ohio STEM
Learning Network). The State of Ohio through the Ohio Dept. of Education
and OSLN Annually the approves excellent, proven high-quality STEM Schools
across the state. This was the first year elementary schools were
considered. Prior to yesterday only 30
schools were so honored across the state.
Northwestern Middle School and Northwestern High School each earned this honor three years ago.
Northwestern is now the FIRST “K-12 STEM District” in the great state of Ohio!
Northwestern named first K-12 STEM district in Ohio
From The Daily Record
By EMILY MORGAN Staff Writer Published: April 9, 2017 4:00 AM
·NNORTHWESTERN SCHOOL DISTRICT -- The Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) recently approved Northwestern Local Schools as the first K-12 STEM district in Ohio.
Northwestern Elementary School is one of the few elementary schools in the state to earn the designation from OSLN. The network also unconditionally approved six other elementary, middle and high schools in the state. Northwestern schools are now three of the 47 total STEM schools in Ohio.
"I am so very proud of principal Julie McCumber, Scott Smith, and our elementary school teachers who have moved our elementary school STEM curriculum and instruction forward," superintendent Jeffrey Layton said. "For us, it is confirming that we are providing high quality, rigorous, project-based instruction."
STEM learning, which incorporates science, technology, engineering and math, extends all the way down to the youngest students at the elementary. Amber Tiano and Northwestern's other kindergarten teachers are integrating STEM lessons into their classrooms every day.
"It's all about cooperative learning and teamwork, which is something they really need to work on," Tiano said about her kindergarteners. "It's been really fun and everything is at their level. We just did The Three Little Pigs where they built a house then the Big Bad Wolf blows the house down."
Kindergarten focuses on the structure and function of items, such as the purpose of a clock -- to tell time -- and the purpose of a shoe -- to protect the foot. They also explore how the human body works and Tiano has her students act like real doctors to figure out how they would help a kid who broke his arm on the playground.
"They go through the process and can really relate to it like, 'Oh my goodness, I know people who have broken bones at recess.' They really get into it," the kindergarten teacher said. "I also make my kiddos doctors. So that whole day they are 'Doctor' and their name and they get into that role. They're zoned in and it's like real life because they're being a doctor."
Cindy Boreman is laying a foundation for the higher level robotics classes with her talented and gifted students in third through fifth grade. The fifth-graders build the robots in their science class and she teaches her enrichment students basic coding and programming.
"We're taking the robots and instead of using a controller we're using an app on the iPads to program them to move without the controllers. So they're sending codes within a program to get the robots to move," Boreman said.
"Eventually they'll have a maze at the end where they have to get the robot through a hospital setting. They'll have to move waste based on color using the robots' color sensors."
Northwestern Elementary has a classroom designated for STEM projects and across the district, the schools are working to evolve their libraries into "innovation makerspace media centers," according to Layton. These spaces will engage students in collaboration and further extend learning as well as foster a love of reading, researching and sharing.
The district also wants to reach preschool age children and is discussing the possibility of creating a STEM preschool. The school would provide a hands-on, kinesthetic and problem-solving environment to better prepare preschool students for all-day kindergarten.
Layton hopes to provide an example for other area schools that want to provide a districtwide STEM experience.
"District STEM designation provides us greater legitimacy and awareness that will lead to other schools and districts to visit and learn from us," Layton said. "Our current collaboration with Black River, Mapleton, Loudonville-Perrysville, Hillsdale is an example of how expanding quality STEM education through collaborative problem-based learning across our region is possible."
Reporter Emily Morgan can be reached at 330-287-1632 or [email protected]