- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/gifted-and-talented-education/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Wed, 24 Jul 2019 13:30:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Students travel far and wide to learn new robotics skills at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/2019/07/24/robotics-camp-2/ Wed, 24 Jul 2019 13:30:57 +0000 /news/?p=74786 ... Students travel far and wide to learn new robotics skills at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock]]> Cody Gay, a soon-to-be seventh grader from Red Cross, Georgia, was determined to learn more about robotic sensors this summer to improve his skills.听 After not finding any summer camps near his home, Gay鈥檚 father searched online and found the VEX IQ Advanced Robotics Camp at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, which focuses on advanced building and programming strategies and the use of sensors. 鈥淚 liked that I learned how to program sensors,鈥 Gay said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I came here to do and for the experience.鈥 As part of their summer vacation, the Gay family camped in Burns Park in North Little Rock, giving Cody, now entering his fourth year of competitions, the chance to advance his understanding of robotics. It鈥檚 a move that seems to be paying off as Gay鈥檚 team, 鈥淭echnobros,鈥 took first place in the camp鈥檚 competition on July 12. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited and proud of my team for winning. Robotics is different, and you can make a good career out of it,鈥 Gay said. 鈥淚鈥檓 thinking about going into engineering or something that involves STEM.鈥 Sandra Leiterman, math specialist in the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, said the robotics summer camp program, now in its third year, is teaching students the skills they need to enter STEM careers that are in high demand. Last year, an estimated 2.4 million STEM jobs went unfulfilled, according to the 鈥淭his camp went quite well. We are really impressed with how well the students focused on sensors,鈥 Leiterman said. 鈥淩obotics automation and computer programing is the wave of the future. These kids are primed to learn so many transferable skills – hard work, teamwork, and communication – that they will use in their future careers.鈥
Teams of students in grades 3-8 prepare their robots to compete in the filed challenge in the VEX IQ Advanced Robotics Camp. Photo by Ben Krain.

Teams of students in grades 3-8 prepare their robots to compete in the filed challenge in the VEX IQ Advanced Robotics Camp. Photo by Ben Krain.

A third of the camp鈥檚 students traveled more than two hours from the Lakeside School District in Lake Village. Jennifer Armstrong, a gifted and talented teacher, and Christine Davenport, a computer technology teacher, brought 12 fourth-through-eighth-grade students from the school district鈥檚 robotics program to learn some new skills at the camp. 鈥淥ur robotics program has about 35 students, and each team member will take back what they learn to teach to our program鈥檚 eight competitive teams,鈥 Armstrong said. 鈥淭he world is heading toward STEM careers,鈥 Davenport added. 鈥淗aving this background will be immensely important to them in the future. So many careers will require coding skills.鈥 Jaiden Rutan, a rising eighth-grader on a team called 鈥淩obonados,鈥 said he was looking forward to putting his new skills to work in the upcoming school year. 鈥淚 like how we are able to get used to the game before the competition began,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 learned how to use new sensors in my robots, which will be great in upcoming competitions.鈥 Jimmy Skaletski, a rising ninth-grader, traveled from Germany to attend the camp. 鈥淢y dad is related to one of the robotics teachers, and I wanted to learn how to build robots using a new program,鈥 Skaletski said. 鈥淚n my school, we have an extracurricular robotic program, but it鈥檚 different than VEX IQ. I enjoyed learning new programming skills, and driving the robots is fun.鈥 ]]>
SLUFY celebrates 40th anniversary听 /news-archive/2019/07/18/slufy-is-40/ Thu, 18 Jul 2019 13:10:17 +0000 /news/?p=74762 ... SLUFY celebrates 40th anniversary听]]> The gifted and talented kids attending 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Summer Laureate University for Youth (SLUFY) are doing the cool things they don鈥檛 get to do in a typical school classroom. They鈥檝e designed roller coasters and mixed potions. They鈥檝e built caves, launched rockets, solved mysteries, broken codes, created art, and even cracked a few eggs in their quest to design a safe car. And while they鈥檙e having lots of fun, they鈥檝e also learned a thing or two.听听 Analyzing the aerodynamics of flying brooms? That requires physics. Mixing potions? That’s chemistry. This is the 40th anniversary for SLUFY, the state鈥檚 longest continuously running summer program for gifted and talented youth in the state. It started in 1979 as a master’s project and has continued to grow. 鈥淭he individuals who envisioned Summer Laureate 40 years ago continue to inspire us,鈥 said听 Dr. Ann Robinson, director of the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education, which hosts SLUFY. 鈥淭he dedicated teachers and staff who have maintained the program鈥檚 innovation and excellence deserve a victory lap this year. It is a story of creative collaboration between 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and the community.鈥澨 Most of the courses are built around science, technology, engineering, and math – the STEM disciplines – or STEAM, which is STEM with art added into the mix. The two-week program ends July 19, when parents come to campus to see what their kids have been learning. SLUFY classes are taught by professionals who are masters-level graduates, master teachers, and National Board certified teachers. Teachers receive training and ongoing support from the staff and 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Gifted Education professors to meet the needs of high-ability students. More than 300 K-8 students are taking part in this year鈥檚 20-plus course offerings. Young Harry Potter fans were especially happy about two new offerings: 鈥Advanced Charms, Potions, and Other Amazements鈥 for third- and fourth-graders and 鈥Mystical Magical World鈥 for fifth- and sixth-graders.听 Brigette Pullet, who teaches K-4 students in Malvern鈥檚 Gifted and Talented program, is leading this year鈥檚 geology-based 鈥淐ave鈥 class. Her students have learned how caves are formed, how to identify types or rocks, and how acids and bases react. Across the hall, an all-boys class experimented with stomp rockets in Lift-Off, taught by Reyes Lovins, who teaches gifted and talented students in the North Little Rock School District.听听 The week started with team-building exercise in which groups competed to build the tallest marshmallow tower using dry spaghetti noodles, tape, string, and one marshmallow. The tallest tower measured 19.5 inches tall.听 鈥淭hey learn to work in teams to brainstorm better ways to construct and stabilize their tower,鈥 Lovins said. Later in the week, the children built rockets out of various materials and launched them down the hallway. Lovins taught the students how to change a single variable – such as the width or length of the rocket or type of material used – to propel their rockets farther down the hall. Little Rock student Lois Hockstra said she doesn鈥檛 much like real roller coasters, but she loves designing them in Roller Coaster Mania, taught by Nicole Rose, a teacher at Jefferson Elementary in Little Rock. The third- and fourth-graders in Rose鈥檚 class learned about stored energy and momentum before they designed roller coaster tracks using foam pool noodles cut in half lengthwise. Lois, along with Emery Considine from Baker Elementary and Ashlee Scruggins, an eStem student, tested their design using a marble as the coaster. In Karen Newburn鈥檚 鈥淏e a Scientist鈥 class, students had to apply scientific principles they learned to design and build egg cars. The egg represents a human passenger, and at the end of the week they will test their vehicles. The condition of their egg will determine the success of their design. Legos are always a favorite among students. Roberts Elementary School teacher Holly Jenkins incorporates construction and math principles into her Legos class to teach students how to solve practical problems. For example, students use area and perimeter to figure out how much fencing is needed to enclose a yard. An architect with Cromwell Architects Engineers of Little Rock also visited the class this week. The kids also have time each day to free build. In a matter of minutes, Daniel Whitsell, 10, of Little Rock had assembled a four-wheeled dune buggy, complete with lasers. 鈥淚 can create almost anything with them,鈥 he said. 听Photos: (top right) Third- and fourth-grade boys attending Summer Laureate University for Youth (SLUFY) launch stomp rockets in Ross Hall. (Above center) Students in Roller Coaster Mania at Summer Laureate University for Youth (SLUFY) use pool noodles to design a roller coaster track.听 (Above right) Elementary school students mix acids and bases while learning about caves at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Summer Laureate University for Youth. Photos by Benjamin Krain]]> 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Jodie Mahony Center receives $55k grant to provide workshops for Arkansas teachers /news-archive/2019/04/15/teacher-certification-grant/ Mon, 15 Apr 2019 13:13:42 +0000 /news/?p=73987 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Jodie Mahony Center receives $55k grant to provide workshops for Arkansas teachers]]> The Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received a $55,241 grant from the Arkansas Department of Education to provide workshops and training to candidates seeking National Board Teacher Certification.听 The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving effectiveness in education and teaching. Offering 25 areas of certification, NBPTS is the most respected professional certification available to teachers serving in K-12 education. 鈥淭his is the highest level of professional development a teacher can attain,鈥 said Dr. Christine Deitz, associate director of the Jodie Mahony Center. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like passing the bar for a lawyer, and is the most meaningful professional development a classroom teacher can go through. What the process does for learning is no less than remarkable! The proof is in the students.鈥 Earning the National Board Teacher Certification is a vigorous process that can take 1-3 years. Teachers complete a comprehensive exam of content knowledge and a portfolio emphasizing three classroom components. 听 鈥淭he National Board Teacher Certification site at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, which Christine Deitz leads, works with teachers across all 25 areas of certification,鈥 said Dr. Ann Robinson, director of the Jodie Mahony Center. 鈥淪he works with a team of 16 expert teachers.鈥 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock currently serves more than 130 teachers annually and is the largest support site in the state. 鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock is the reason we are able to achieve this,鈥 Deitz said. 鈥淲e receive amazing support from the School of Education. Dean Ann Bain and Bruce Smith of the School of Education have continued to support this program by making sure that facilities and personnel, are available. That level of support is critical 听if you want to have the largest and best National Board Teacher Certification site in the state. It takes all hands on deck.鈥 The grant will cover expenses related to the support and training of candidates working toward National Board Teacher Certification. These workshops, which are held twice a month until May, will provide essential knowledge and skills associated with accomplished and effective teaching. 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock facilitators will also offer two one-day Saturday workshops in May and June to help candidates complete their application for the Arkansas Department of Education鈥檚 National Board Candidate funding. 鈥淲e are here to support teachers very passionately, very sincerely in their efforts to achieve National Board Certification,鈥 Deitz said. 鈥淭he state recognizes certification as a very important professional process that has a direct and positive impact on student learning. 听The process also develops teacher leaders. The state offers a yearly bonus to National Board teachers, and some districts offer an extra salary incentive.鈥 Teachers interested in taking National Board Certification for up to nine hours of graduate credit can contact the Jodie Mahony Center at 501-569-3410 for more information.]]> Innovative Collaboration equals success for Award-winning STEM Starters+ Program /news-archive/2018/12/13/innovative-collaboration-stem-starters-program/ Thu, 13 Dec 2018 19:30:31 +0000 /news/?p=72960 ... Innovative Collaboration equals success for Award-winning STEM Starters+ Program]]> Researchers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Museum of Science, Boston, are being recognized for the success of their collaborative project to bring engineering curricula coupled with biographies of famous scientists and engineers to elementary school students in Arkansas.听 STEM Starters+ is a five-year, $2.5 million research and demonstration funded by the U.S. Department of Education. It began with researchers introducing talent spotting, engineering curricula, and engaging biographies into four Arkansas school districts with high rates of culturally diverse and low-income children. Those school districts included Cabot, El Dorado, Little Rock, and the Pulaski County Special School District. Dr. Ann Robinson, director of the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, led the project as principal investigator in collaboration with Dr. Christine Cunningham of the Museum of Science, Boston. She was joined by project director Kristy Kidd of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and external evaluator Dr. Jill Adelson of the Talent Identification Program (TIP) at Duke University. Studies conducted by the collaborators have shown that students who participate in the STEM Starters+ not only develop a greater understanding of engineering, but they also learn more science and are more highly engaged in learning. Teachers learn to spot academic talents in increased numbers of primary-grade students. 鈥淚n K-12 education, we often measure success by achievement, but we should also measure our effectiveness by how engaged children are,鈥 Robinson said. 鈥淭his project has engaged children and teachers profoundly. That is how you know you have hit the sweet spot, when learning is fun, collaborative, and creative and improves science scores and engineering knowledge. It is wonderful when classroom experiences increase engagement for teachers and students.鈥 Robinson, Adelson, and Cunningham recently learned they received the Senior Investigator Research Paper Award from the Mensa Foundation. The foundation鈥檚 Awards for Excellence in Research are given internationally for outstanding research on intelligence, intellectual giftedness, and related fields. In April, the researchers received the Michael Pyryt Collaboration Award at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New York City for their paper, 鈥淎 Talent for Tinkering: Developing Talents in Children From Low-Income Households Through Engineering Curriculum.鈥 The award recognizes the work of a scholar who researches giftedness and an influential collaborator who has no previously published scholarship associated with giftedness, creativity, or talent.
Dr. Christine Cunningham

Dr. Christine Cunningham

Additionally, the Jodie Mahony Center and the STEM Starters+ program were featured in a produced last year by the National Science Teachers Association. The Cabot School District, one of four districts in Arkansas to collaborate with 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, has seen tremendous success with the STEM Starters+ program. First-grade and gifted and talented education specialists at Westside Elementary, Southside Elementary, Magness Creek Elementary, and Cabot Middle School South were trained to implement the STEM Starters+ Project. 鈥淭he level of engagement from our students while using these units has been remarkable,鈥 said Aaron Randolph, director of Gifted and Advanced Placement Programs at Cabot Public Schools. 鈥淒ue to the success we鈥檝e had implementing this curricula into our five targeted schools, our G/T program will be implementing one EiE unit per grade level for the 2018-19 school year.鈥 STEM Starters+ teachers receive a biography of an engineer, inventor, or scientist whose ideas are linked to the EiE units. Additionally, teachers receive a curriculum guide, 鈥淏lueprints for Biography,鈥 which includes complex discussion questions, enrichment activities, and a science investigation or engineering design challenge. 鈥淚f young children can 鈥榮ee鈥 the scientist or engineer, they respond so much better to the research behind the life,鈥 Robinson said. 鈥淲e took interesting trade biographies and then created teacher curriculum guides. 鈥楤lueprints for Biography鈥 shows kids the life behind the invention or the life behind the discovery and makes engineering and science very personal for children.鈥 Some examples of the Engineering is Elementary units included in the STEM Starters+ project are 鈥淪ounds Like Fun: Seeing Animal Sounds,鈥 which focuses on the design of a visual representation for various bird sounds, as well as 鈥淟ighten Up: Designing Lighting Systems,鈥 which culminates with the design and creation of a lighting system for a tomb of hieroglyphs. 鈥淚 love the structure and flow of the lessons,鈥 said Joyce Dalton, a gifted and talented education specialist at Southside Elementary. 鈥淢y students love the content and hands-on experiences. From discovering how real scientists look, to learning about what engineers do and don鈥檛 do, to meeting a real engineer, I see my students making progress in so many ways. They come to think of themselves as engineers because they are thinking like engineers. I see excitement as they build the projects and test them, and I see impressive science scores on the state test.鈥
Aaron Randolph

Aaron Randolph

Kristy Kidd, Dr. Christine Deitz, and other staff members from the Jodie Mahony Center hosted trainings and workshops for Cabot educators focusing on the curricular components of STEM Starters+ as well as the use of the components to identify and develop talent in young students. The Museum of Science, Boston developed the engineering units used in the STEM Starters+ project. The EiE units use a cross disciplinary and hands-on approach to introduce the engineering design process to elementary students. Robinson attributes the success of STEM Starters+ to the development of an effective collaboration among teachers, researchers, educational specialists, school districts, and agencies to establish effective STEM opportunities in schools. 鈥淭his collaboration was a perfect match of enthusiasm, expertise, and commitment. It just shows how powerful collaboration can be when it works,鈥 Robinson said. 鈥淒r. Cunningham brought her wealth of knowledge in engineering education. The Mahony Center brought its developed curriculum and teacher training knowledge. Our research methodologist, Dr. Jill Adelson, brought an understanding of early childhood education and a really powerful skill set for the analysis of classroom data in rigorously designed field studies. The final collaborators are our very effective school administrators who go above and beyond what a research and demonstration project requires. Leadership is what makes this collaboration work.鈥 The program is currently in the fifth year of its research and development cycle, but two of the participating school districts have already expanded the program to additional schools. 鈥淎t this phase of the project, we have worked with four school districts, and two school districts took the project district wide rather than in experimental schools only,鈥 Robinson said. 鈥淵ou want projects like this to have a life beyond federal funding. Collaboration with school partners allows STEM Starters+ to be sustainable. I have no doubt that our partnership will continue to collaborate long beyond the life of the current grant. With universities, schools, and a museum working together, kids and teachers benefit from educational innovation.鈥]]>
Gifted education, STEM equals winning combination for 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock teacher /news-archive/2018/05/30/gifted-education-stem-research/ Wed, 30 May 2018 13:56:30 +0000 /news/?p=70667 ... Gifted education, STEM equals winning combination for 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock teacher]]> As a gifted education professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with more than a decade of experience, Dr. Bronwyn MacFarlane is always looking for ways to share the gift of education.听 In the past 15 years, MacFarlane has taken note of the increased demand for more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. She believes that combining the lessons of gifted education is the way to make a winning formula for providing great STEM education. 鈥淪TEM education has been a hot topic for 12 to 15 years now,鈥 she said. 鈥淪ome teachers may find themselves tasked with starting a STEM program. There is a lot to think about. How do I begin? What are the materials to use? To offer STEM programs is important, but you want to deliver high-quality STEM programs that will offer students an advanced understanding in STEM topics. That is what we can learn from the field of gifted education – ways to deliver curriculum and instruction in powerful, quality, and best-practice strategies.鈥 MacFarlane recently explored this topic by serving as a guest editor of the Roeper Review, an academic journal. The special issue explored integrating STEM education with gifted curriculum. The refereed articles in the special issue explored curriculum planning in STEM education, robotics programs, how to integrate the arts into STEM education, measurement of the success of academic programs, and international STEM education programs. Serving as guest editor is an important scholarly task as the guest editor identifies a specific topic that needs to be further addressed in a special publication. Before this special issue came out, I led the creation of a 2016 book titled It has been well received as a guidebook for educators and also translated into Arabic,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his special spring journal issue of Roeper Review takes it a step further with the latest research that has focused on integrating STEM and gifted education practices, so it moves us forward in understanding what works and how educators can offer programs that are really high-quality and powerful learning experiences.鈥 MacFarlane pointed to the Girls in STEM Leadership Conference on campus as an example of a high-quality and powerful learning experience that promotes STEM education. The 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock STEM Education Center hosted three conferences during the spring 2018 semester for hundreds of girls in the seventh and eighth grades. MacFarlane served as a guest speaker on a panel discussion led by women working in STEM fields. 鈥淚 spoke to the girls about my work as an educator and a scholar. I described research findings about characteristics of successful achievers and how we can learn from patterns of success,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e had a really enthusiastic response from all the students in attendance. They wanted to know how we successfully achieved our goals so they could do that for their own personal journeys.鈥 MacFarlane also serves as the nationally elected chair of the with more than 1,000 members in the National Association for Gifted Children. She is continuing to add to the body of research for gifted education with a new book coming out this summer, The new 2018 book focuses on how to serve high-ability learners in specialized schools and deliver school-wide educational change. ]]> Grant brings beloved musical theatre program to life /news-archive/2017/07/14/hamilton-experience/ Fri, 14 Jul 2017 13:10:32 +0000 /news/?p=67484 ... Grant brings beloved musical theatre program to life]]> Hosted by the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education, 鈥淢T Stage: The Hamilton Experience鈥 provided a unique opportunity for high-ability and gifted students to learn about musical theater, stagecraft, and civics June 26-30 at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. It was funded by an Academic Enrichment for the Gifted and Talented in the Summer grant. 鈥淭o us, this program was an exciting opportunity to bring a very missed student enrichment program back to campus,鈥 said Dr. Christine Deitz, program director. 鈥淭he Jodie Mahony Center was beyond thrilled to offer this program again to Arkansas students.鈥 Program participant Margaret Rood, a rising ninth-grader at Malvern High School, spent much of her life dreaming of becoming an actor. Growing up in the small town of Malvern, Rood didn鈥檛 know other aspiring actors. When 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock hosted a musical theatre program for seventh- and eighth-graders in Arkansas, Rood jumped at the chance to get a taste of acting life during 鈥淢T Stage: The Hamilton Experience.鈥 鈥淭his was my favorite thing to do all summer,鈥 Rood said. 鈥淢usical people are a very small niche in my hometown. It was great to be surrounded by like-minded people.鈥 After participating in the camp, Rood plans to pursue acting and theater opportunities in Little Rock to give her more experience before college. During the program, students attended civics and musical theatre history classes to learn about the history behind the Broadway play. Students studied aspects of Greek theater, Shakespeare, and modern theater. In civics class, participants discussed immigration, citizenship, and the Bill of Rights. 鈥淵ou could see the talent, passion, and commitment of these children in their eyes from the moment they came to campus,鈥 Deitz said. 鈥淚t reminded me of why I came into teaching.鈥 At the end of the week, participants performed music and choreography inspired by the Broadway hit, 鈥淗amilton: An American Musical,鈥 during a June 30 student showcase in University Theatre on the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock campus. Gabbie Stokes, a rising ninth-grader from Ozark, was thrilled to play the characters of Thomas Jefferson and Lafayette. 鈥淚 have never done theatre or drama before,鈥 Stokes said. 鈥淭his camp was the highlight of my summer.鈥 Participating students include:
  • 听听听听听Emma Barrett of Jonesboro
  • 听听听听听Trinity Bell of Little Rock
  • 听听听听听Tyler Childers of DeWitt
  • 听听听听听Taryn Oitker of Cabot
  • 听听听听听Grayson Siebert of Blytheville
  • 听听听听听Makiya Stuffs of Little Rock
  • 听听听听听Kennedy Arnold of Little Rock
  • 听听听听听Eva Grace Barrett of Jonesboro
  • 听听听听听Lucy Box of Jonesboro
  • 听听听听听Taylor Chandler of Huntsville
  • 听听听听听Rachel Estep of Springdale
  • 听听听听听JahLayae Freeman of Jacksonville
  • 听听听听听Mia Hartley of Texarkana
  • 听听听听听Alexandra Lanier of Alexander
  • 听听听听听Zaria Montgomery of North Little Rock 听
  • 听听听听听Margaret Rood of Malvern
  • 听听听听听Gabriella Stokes of Ozark
  • 听听听听听Emily Wheat of Sheridan
  • 听听听听听Benjamin Wilson of Texarkana
  • 听听听听听Alexandria Wright of Jonesboro
Students and staff involved in 鈥淢T Stage: The Hamilton Experience鈥 include: Front row (L to R): Dr. Christine Deitz, Sara Cooke, Dorothy Gantz, Dr. I. J. Routen, and Laura Dowling. Second row: TeLeah Allen, Alexandra Lanier, Trinity Bell, Makiya Stubbs, Gabriella Stokes, Blair King, Tyler Childers, Eva Grace Barrett, and Alexandra Wright. Third row: Tyler Chandler, Emily Wheat, Kennedy Arnold, Mia Hartley, JahLeah Freeman, Lucy Box, and Taryn Oitker. Fourth row: Rachel Estep, Zaria Montgomery, Tripp Wilson, Grayson Seibert, Margaret Rood, and Emma Barrett.

Students and staff involved in 鈥淢T Stage: The Hamilton Experience鈥 include: Front row (L to R): Dr. Christine Deitz, Sara Cooke, Dorothy Gantz, Dr. I. J. Routen, and Laura Dowling. Second row: TeLeah Allen, Alexandra Lanier, Trinity Bell, Makiya Stubbs, Gabriella Stokes, Blair King, Tyler Childers, Eva Grace Barrett, and Alexandra Wright. Third row: Tyler Chandler, Emily Wheat, Kennedy Arnold, Mia Hartley, JahLeah Freeman, Lucy Box, and Taryn Oitker. Fourth row: Rachel Estep, Zaria Montgomery, Tripp Wilson, Grayson Seibert, Margaret Rood, and Emma Barrett.

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STEM Starters+ finds engineering lessons help first-graders /news-archive/2016/11/23/ualr-research-team-finds-benefits-of-engineering-lessons-for-first-graders/ Wed, 23 Nov 2016 20:26:49 +0000 /news/?p=65831 ... STEM Starters+ finds engineering lessons help first-graders]]> After extensive investigation through the STEM Starters+ program, researchers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock found that even at the first-grade level, students can benefit from engineering lessons. Students who participated in the STEM Starters+ lessons not only developed a greater understanding of engineering, but they also learned more science and were more highly engaged in learning. 鈥淲e have some really spectacular results from this study,鈥 said Dr. Ann Robinson, professor of educational psychology and 糖心Vlog传媒LR Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education. 鈥淏efore these students can even spell engineer, they can learn about it.鈥 Robinson led the project as principal investigator in collaboration with the Museum of Science in Boston. She was joined by project director Kristy Kidd of 糖心Vlog传媒LR and external evaluator Dr. Jill Adelson of the University of Louisville. STEM Starters+ is a five-year, $2.5 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. It began with researchers introducing engineering curricula into four Arkansas school districts with high rates of culturally diverse and low-income children. Those school districts included Cabot, El Dorado, Little Rock, and the Pulaski County Special School District. 鈥淭o put the increases of engineering knowledge results from this study in context, we found that STEM Starters+ produced effects approximately 50 percent greater than many other STEM curriculum interventions in education,鈥 Robinson said. Prior to STEM Starters+, the school districts included in the study did not provide first-graders with engineering lessons. Researchers investigated whether students could be exposed to and engage in engineering programs at a much earlier age than is typical in elementary school education. 鈥淲e have uncovered academic talents in young children through exposure to curriculum focused on the engineering design process and innovative thinking,鈥 Robinson said. 鈥淥ur approach is particularly important for low-income children who have had to develop talents for tinkering and improvising at an early age.鈥 Researchers analyzed data for more than 1,300 students in 62 first-grade classrooms in 18 schools. They investigated the effects of the program by comparing students participating in STEM Starters+ and those learning science and math as usual. Both groups were assessed using a science content test constructed using resources from the and the . Students who participated in the STEM Starters+ curricula also completed an emotional and behavioral engineering engagement test following the program. 鈥淭he new study of STEM Starters+ clearly shows that primary school children can increase their science achievement and engineering knowledge when provided with this exceptional learning opportunity,鈥 said Ann Bain, dean of the 糖心Vlog传媒LR College of Education and Health Professions. 鈥淭he participating teachers utilized the knowledge and skills gained through our professional development in order to make a positive difference in the lives of these children,鈥 Bain said. 鈥淭he research and project implementation have had amazing results that will hopefully result in future engineers and scientists.鈥 In the future, the project will include further studies of children ranging from second to fifth grade. 鈥淥ur collaboration with the Museum of Science, in charge of developing the engineering curricula implemented as part of STEM Starters+, provides us with the opportunity to learn a great deal more about how young children learn engineering, what engages them, and how schools can incorporate engineering design and innovation into classrooms,鈥 Robinson said. For more information, contact Robinson at aerobinson@ualr.edu or visit the project鈥檚 website. Pictured above, Researchers involved in the STEM Starters+ project. From left: Dr. Jill L. Adelson, external evaluator, University of Louisville, Kristy Kidd, project director, Jodie Mahony Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Dr. Ann Robinson, principal investigator, Jodie Mahony Center, School of Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Contributed photo.听]]>