OBU Teacher Ed Majors Host Christmas-Themed STEM Day for Local 4th Graders

Teacher education students at OBU who are part of this semester’s science and math methods course hosted a special Christmas-themed STEM day Nov. 21 for local students. The STEM day (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) was themed, “Santa’s Workshop: A Merry STEM Study.” The event took place in the Geiger Center on the OBU campus in Shawnee.

Fourth grade students from Grove Elementary in Shawnee attended the STEM Day. Teacher education students taught at six different stations, exploring topics in several areas of science and math. OBU students were able to practice their art in teaching, while Grove students were delighted to engage in an interactive way of learning.

The premise of the Santa’s Workshop theme was that Santa’s elves have fallen behind in creating Christmas toys and doing other duties related to making Christmas the joyful event that it is. The Grove fourth graders traveled from station to station, training at the Research and Design Workshop area at the North Pole with the special science and math elves. Once they succeeded in their training, they were qualified to work with the elves in duties such as making fake snow for warm temperatures, helping Grinch’s heart to stay full so he won’t destroy Christmas and creating wrapping paper from tessellations.

STEM is an initiative by the U.S. Department of Education that seeks to prepare students by giving them the knowledge and skills they need to solve problems, make sense of information and know how to gather and evaluate evidence to make decisions.