Cleveland, OH

STEM at The Settlement

It is never too early to introduce students to STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering, and math. At The Cleveland Music School Settlement (TMS), the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) and teachers regularly introduce preschool and kindergarten students to early STEM skills. They wanted to alert family and community partners the importance of age-appropriate STEM activities for young children. With a targeted grant, teachers and community partners developed a series of engaging and playful STEM activities for families and children, aged 3-8.

Grant funds covered teachers’ time and materials for monthly topics such as States of Matter; Building and Construction; Coding; Light; Pitch, Pattern and Play; and others. STEM sessions were scheduled twice a month through the 2019-20 school year.  Each session was offered on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings to allow families to choose when to attend. The planners used fliers, e-mail, and social media to invite families to participate and to remind them to attend.

At each meeting, hands-on activities were set up in two rooms at the school and were monitored by teachers and volunteers who engaged with families to explain concepts and answer questions at each activity station.

The year-long plan was disrupted by COVID-19 closings. The school’s Science Specialist replaced in-person sessions with weekly YouTube experiments for families to do with their children at home on the scheduled topics. TMS leaders agreed that whether activities were conducted at the school or online at home, STEM at the Settlement helped them expand family engagement in STEM and the interests of even the littlest scientists.

See more about STEM at The Settlement in Promising Partnership Practices 2020.