Editor’s Note: To read our feature on STEM in the classroom, click HERE!
CODING
As a 21st Century skill that’s on the rise, more and more schools and enrichment programs are putting coding at the forefront of their STEM curriculums from the get-go. “Tools that are out there today teach kids as young 4,” says Scott Heifetz, the owner and director of Launch Math & Science, which provides toddlers through tweens with math instruction and STEM-based camps and workshops. “If you expose kids at an early age to this, it can stick.”
Coding and computer science used to be thought of as career-path specific skills, but are now being regarded as essential educational components that prepare students for a variety of future paths. “[Coding and computer science] is coming up in every job in the market… And it’s something that’s going to come up in their high school classes, their APs, and their college courses,” says Noah Berg, the senior director of communications at Pixel Academy, a local enrichment program for ages 6-16 with a project-based approach. Additionally, coding skills lay a foundation for students to deeply understand the technology that is part and parcel of their daily lives. “Through learning to code, students can take an active role in the world of technology that surrounds them,” explains Eli Kariv, founder of the Coding Space, an afterschool program that teaches code and critical thinking and problem-solving skills. “This process of finding problems and creating solutions then gives students a foundational knowledge that can give them a massive step ahead in STEM fields.” –Yasmin Merchant
LANGUAGE IMMERSION
When can your child start learning a second language? According to many educators, the earlier the better, as the young brain is capable of learning several languages at once. “Kids are getting [language immersion] like they would be in a native environment,” says Sharon Huang, the founder of HudsonWay Immersion School.
Monolingual parents, who may feel like they can’t help their children become bilingual, can explore the option of an immersion school—a school with 50 percent or more of the school day, week, or year in a target language—which are becoming increasingly popular. In fact, fluency can be achieved in 3-4 years and proficiency (meaning bilingual, biliterate, and bicognitive) can be achieved in 5-7 years.
“Within a 5-7 year period, children [from English-speaking families] are as fluent, as proficient, and as literate as their native-speaking counterparts in the classroom,” notes Elizabeth Willaum, HudsonWay’s director.
Being in an immersion program can advance your child in other academic areas, as well as teach them greater cultural understanding and empathy. “Students [who have been immersed] will outperform their peers who are not in immersion programs in reading, language arts, and mathematics,” Willaum says. –Yasmin Merchant
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
In addition to being a place of academic learning, school is also where kids pick up on and refine their social skills—which can be vital to a child’s growth in both school and life in general. In fact, many educational programs today stress the importance of including social and emotional skills as part of a school’s curriculum.
According to Faye de Muyshondt, the founder of socialsklz:-)—which teaches skills like how to make a first impression, engage in conversation, and how to identify and express feelings—it is crucial to actively teach children social and emotional skills, especially as technology becomes a bigger piece of daily life.
“Social skills have been called the missing piece in American education. And with the onset of technology, it’s become obvious to teach social skills just because our kids are not getting the same amount of social interaction as they did in the past,” de Muyshondt explains, adding that strong social and emotional skills also are shown to impact academic success. “Social skills have a tremendous impact on how [kids] do academically. How a child interacts with their teacher and his or hers peers impacts their academic performance, as well as how they feel about themselves.” –Julia Malykh
TECH-SAVVY ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS
As classrooms become increasingly grounded in technology, with digitally-based assignments and readings becoming the norm, help your child update their study and organizational habits by using the tech-based strategies outlined here.
Writing: For many students, writing an essay can be a dreaded ordeal. They may have poor handwriting, weak fine motor skills, or simply find the task of writing tedious. With voice recognition programs such as Dragon Dictate, students can dictate their ideas as the computer types them. Once their writing is complete, the program can read it out loud to them.
Study Guides: When it comes to making study guides, PowerPoint can serve as a helpful tool. Students can create a PowerPoint presentation using material they need to learn for an exam. The computer can then read the material out loud as the student listens and absorbs it.
Reading: Rather than reading a print-only version of a book for school, students can listen to books on CD (or digital versions) and read along with the written text. They can also use sites such as Learning Ally, which offers thousands of digital novels, textbooks, reference materials, and newspapers.
Interactive Study Tools: Interactive text-to-speech programs, such as Kurzweil 3000, combine reading with engaging study tools. Users can import text or transfer web pages and learn how to interact with the material. They can use digital highlighters to identify information, take margin notes, and even write electronic “sticky notes.” –Dr. Emily Levy, founder of EBL Coaching
