On the move

Young children are naturally curious and ask tons of questions. I can remember wondering if my son would ever tire of asking, "Why?" As students enter school the balance of who asks the questions shifts. Students do the bulk of the answering and ask very few questions. This presents a problem when we want students to explore open ended topics and invent and reiterate their creations. All of this starts with a question that is student centered. As I have watched students in our summer program and in STEM lessons, some of them struggle to engage because they have trouble forming a question. Their curiosity is no longer natural. To help students develop their questioning skills and to recognize the need for a questions, we focused on questions. Here's a sample our efforts. I've edited some for clarity. How do you make an experiment? How to you make stuff with Legos? Can we build 3 houses out of cardboard? How many blocks are in the Lego apartment? How big can

It feels impressive to be able to give a blog entry this title. When I started this program, I did not know if it would exist beyond the first year. I am excited to say that it has not only continued but it has grown larger every year. In our first two weeks this summer we averaged 45 students each day! This year I wasn't even there to start the program. Another staff member from our school launched this year's program. It had a smooth start with lots of eager students.They documented the time with pictures and kept me updated. The group of students this year are a mixture of students who have attended every year and new students. The age range is from 1st grade to 8th grade The greatest sign of success for me was when a student came to me with suggestions of design projects. She has attended the program every year. She asked to do some of the projects we have done in previous years. I took it as a sign that we are on the right track with our program. Balloon Rockets and