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Southside brings back SmartLab for STEAM education

by RACHEL SUN
Staff Writer | May 6, 2021 1:00 AM

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The sound of excited conversation is the first thing to meet one’s ears walking into Lynette Leonard’s classroom Wednesday morning at Southside Elementary.

Students, sitting in small groups, work on different STEAM learning projects — science, technology, engineering, art and math.

At some tables, students work on Chromebooks connected to a larger, shared screen where they’ve begun an introduction to coding.

At another station, children learn about circuitry, and at a third, students draw mazes on large sheets of paper, where a robot will run through at varying its speed depending on the color marker used for the lines.

The classroom is a STEAM SmartLab, and the first of its kind in the state of Idaho. Students learn foundational skills in the lab, before being paired off into groups to work collaboratively based on their individual interests.

“We find that kids love the choice,” said Principal Jacquelyn Johnson. “They love the hands-on. And this is the new world, right? This is preparing them for college and careers.”

Some of those skills have included claymation, coding drones and building robots, she said. Currently, some students are working with 3D printers to create board games with customized game pieces.

Students are so engaged, said Leonard, the school’s librarian and technology teacher, that they want to do extra schoolwork.

“Fifth graders missed yesterday because of testing,” Leonard said. “They swear I owe them by two hours.”

The program is coming back after school shutdowns made it impossible last year, Johnson said. The school had been teaching STEAM for years, but they decided to add the SmartLab after she and Leonard got to see one in action while traveling and “fell in love.”

The SmartLab has been particularly engaging for students who struggle with normal classroom activities, Leonard said.

“We have one student that he has taken his project, and he keeps asking me, ‘Can I [go] farther?’” she said.

Out of all the students, Johnson said, that student had hated school the most. But working on the SmartLab made him excited for school.

“He never misses a SmartLab day, ever,” Leonard said. “He's like, ‘I'm there.’ And [if] his mom makes an appointment, he’s like, ‘No, no, not on a SmartLab day.’ Because he wants to do better.”

The way the SmartLab is designed allows for children to learn STEAM curriculum while following their interests, Johnson said. Some students take a special interest in claymation, while others are more interested in coding or electronics.

“Our school upholds priority student choice. And with that comes a wide range of student ability,” she said. “So we were spending a lot of time trying to differentiate and at the same time, meet their interest.”

In addition to the SmartLab, Southside is also STEM certified, Johnson said — the fourth school in Idaho to do so.

“Our science program is not just a program by one person, but it's a school-wide effort,” she said. “We reach out to girls, to students with disabilities, and some of those standards include family events, the standards include connections with the community, the standards hold a high regard for teaching student choice in the curriculum. So you see, it's very rigorous.”

What all of those learning initiatives have in common, Johnson said, is that they’re preparing students for success in the 21st century — proficiency in technology and science, but also collaboration and research.

“Those are the things you can't teach in a textbook,” Johnson said. “They come much easier when they're forced to collaborate around something interesting.”