PHOENIX — Schools are trying to find creative ways to engage students in learning and one Valley district is combining brains and brawn to boost understanding of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
On a Tuesday morning at Choice Learning Academy, Amy Rosengren’s sixth-grade science class did not learn in a lab or in the classroom. They were outside on the basketball court.
Rosengren is usually on the sidelines when it comes to sports, but not in her own class.
“I love the idea of finding ways to keep it interesting for kids. I would do anything I can to keep them focused and engaged,” Rosengren said.
She’s using the STEM Sports curriculum to help her students learn about science. On Tuesday, the children were bouncing basketballs on the court and on the grass to test Newton’s law of action versus reaction.
“When you bounce a basketball in grass, it bounces lower because it can be bumpier than cement,” said sixth-grader Jaylynn Herrera.
STEM Sports is a curriculum more districts in Arizona and across the country are taking on, according to Jeff Golner, the President and CEO of the company.
The curriculum uses about 15 different sports and incorporates all types of STEM material.
“Let’s say a teacher said, ‘Today, we're going to do division.’ There'd probably be some dread, right? But if it was positioned rather, 'hey, let's take the bag of basketballs and we're going to go outside and today, we're going to figure out our field goal percentage,'” Golner continued. “So, they’re going to shoot hoops, play, and then work on a worksheet and discover their own field goal percentage. That’s called division. But if you position it as we do, then I think the buy-in and the take, if you will, from the students is even better.”
The curriculum is just another way to get the students out of their desks, get active, and still learn.
“You get the athlete who loves to play the sport and now you’ve got the kid, ‘Now, did you know that if you bounce the ball like this, it’ll change the trajectory?’ It’s a great way to get both of those worlds together,” Rosengren said.