No. 14 Vol. 7
New View Media Group • 1-800-691-7549
April 11, 2018
Wayne PAL STEAMS Ahead With Kids Program
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By Henry M. Holden n March 10 a STEAM event at the Wayne PAL encouraged participants to tap into their imaginations and use their creativity. “STEAM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, is the same as STEM except we added art to the program,” said Elisa Felice, a fifth-grade science educator in Haledon. “It was to engage youth in science, and technology, and create fun, and creative challenges. “In years past, I did events such as birthday parties, bridal showers, and these eventually evolved into me doing bigger events such as women’s night out,” she said. “So, I decided to incorporate my skills from the classroom as well as my events planning for this project. “We had certain schools who offered
camps over the summer where they did science projects and designed projects using some sort of art such as painting or coloring.” She invited vendors such as Little Ivy Academy, Montclair Learning Center and Mad Science to come to the event. “We had kids as young as four years old through six grade” attend, Felice said. One of the projects was the egg drop challenge. The kids had certain materials in front of them and they had to brainstorm for a few minutes, and then get to work on the project. A parent/child event, “every child had a parent or an adult as a teammate and brainstormed the materials in front of them,” she explained. “They had 30 minutes to figure out how they could drop an egg so many feet and not have it crack or break. They put cotton balls around the egg and then put the egg in a toilet paper roll, then wrapped in tissue paper to withstand the drop. “Some parents took the attitude that, ‘I’m going to let my child be in charge and if they start to get frustrated, or they hit a dead end I am going to jump in and give them some advice, enthusiasm, and moral support,’” she said. A few parents tried to have more fun than their child. “We had other teachers who would give the parents a gentle reminder that we want the kids to be in charge of the project,” she added. There was also a memory challenge in which the kids looked at an object made from Legos to see how it was built. Then the object was covered, and they had the challenge of building it without seeing it again, reconstructing it from memory. “These were mental challenges where
they had to draw on their imagination and what they had just seen,” she explained. “It’s all about imagination, creativity, and thinking out of the box, not necessarily using science concepts but using their own imagination, and their own creativity to solve the problem.” Participants were offered a first, second, third, and fourth prize, for each of the three age groups. ALEX Toys donated a magic science kit for every child who participated. For each age category, tickets were given to Liberty Science Center and other places that children would be interested in. Some vendors donated either a free week at summer camp, or money off camp. “The turnout was beyond our expectations,” concluded Felice. “Each child went home with at least two or three prizes and smiles on their faces.” To be a part of the next event, email steamingaheadprogram@gmail.com to be placed on the mailing list.