LEAD Arlington returned to ACS this fall by highlighting Donelson Elementary’s STEM program by giving participants an up-close and hands-on experience in various STEM activities. LEAD Arlington is a consortium of school, town government and business leaders who come together twice a year to spotlight some of the latest happenings in the Arlington community. This fall’s session brought visitors inside Donelson Elementary to explore the school’s recent STEM curriculum night.
“We had thousands of parents in our building learning with their children and seeing the amazing opportunities they get here in our STEM class,” Principal Miranda Manley said during LEAD Arlington. “Our STEM curriculum night is our largest event of the year, and it’s a great opportunity for our parents to see how STEM is embedded throughout our entire building, not just in STEM itself.”
STEM, short for Science, Technology, Engineering & Math, has been a major focus for Arlington Community Schools in the past five years. ACS was one of the first districts in the region and state to expand and offer STEM for all students in Grades K-12. Dr. Robyne Batson has been at the helm of the program since it was introduced at DES in 2018. Over the years, she has exposed her students to robotics, 3D modeling and printing, the engineering process and more. Dr. Batson led LEAD Arlington participants through a reenactment of the school's most recent STEM curriculum night, called Catchin’ the Code. “STEM Night is great because we’ve created an environment where parents are working with their children to solve problems and challenges, in this case coding,” Batson explained during LEAD Arlington. “You don’t realize how much learning is actually taking place when you code. The students learn to be creative; they’re learning to communicate with each other, it’s forcing them to solve problems – it really is amazing how beneficial it is for their future.”
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After an introduction to what STEM and coding are and how it’s used at Donelson, participants of Lead Arlington then had their own opportunity to test their coding skills. Dr. Batson and her group of student leaders led them through various challenges, like a life-size coding floor challenge, coding robots and using puzzles to create unique, individual codes.
“I think it really is inspiring, and it makes me wish that I had the same opportunities as they did when I was in elementary school,” said AHS Class of 2024’s Sarah Wang, who plans to major in mechanical engineering in college. “Having STEM at such a young age really opens ups the world to you and makes you realize there’s a lot more out there than just the four core subjects. It makes you realize that you can innovate, and you can be a leader. It was actually really amazing to see they could do so much with STEM even though they are elementary aged kids, and it made me happy that they have this opportunity.”
