Lifestyle

Five Activities That Will Get Your Kids Interested in STEM

Five Activities that Will Get Your Kids Interested in STEMAs the society becomes more complex, more people skilled in a variety of subjects are needed to fill critical positions in education, industry, medicine and scientific research. Academic emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM subjects, will help to provide leaders in these important areas that are so important for the nation’s global leadership. Kids will become interested in these areas of study if they are presented with interesting, engaging activities that utilize these specific skills.

Plant Biology

A kid’s interest in science is natural because they always want to know the reason why and how things world in their worlds. Learning scientific principles is a “hands-on” endeavor that requires physical and mental engagement. Gardening is one of the easier ways to get kids interested in biology and ecology. Germinating their own seeds, providing water and nutrition and watching their plants reach for the sun teach important lessons in basic principles of biology. Getting kids interested in the world of biology that is all around them can be facilitated with the use of compound light microscopes for school to investigate the biological structures of plants and animals.

The Inside Story of Technology

The children of today’s world have grown up with technology since their earliest days. Getting kids interested in how their computers work and how to create their own apps and computer programs is a natural fit. In fact, a number of educational video games encourage kids to write their own programs to learn more about the games they play and the capabilities of their computers.

Building Sets for Learning Engineering

Although engineering was once considered a field for males, girls and young women are now being encouraged to think about how things are constructed and how they are held together using a variety of methods. Building sets that incorporate basic principles of force, leverage, stress and electricity are available that can make learning fun and enjoyable. A wide range of building sets with varying complexity are available that can help to teach a variety of engineering principles.

Cooking for Everyday Mathematics

Math doesn’t have to be an intimidating subject. You can find numerous ways to incorporate math exercises into daily activity without even noticing. Enlist children’s help in cooking and have them work out the mathematics of splitting recipes. They will have hands-on experience in working with whole numbers and fractions in everyday life.

The Chemistry around Us

Chemistry permeates every part of our world. Children will be interested in learning how the common chemicals we have around the house. Common salt, vinegar and baking soda can demonstrate some basic principles of chemistry. The Internet can offer a number of these experiments using common household products.

 

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