Allie Dorsey is a 5th grade teacher at Resurrection Catholic School.
This year at Resurrection Catholic School, one of 21 CEF-supported schools, students have become young scientists through the school’s new STEM Club. STEM Club is a science club designed for 5th and 6th grade age students hosted by faculty members Allie Dorsey (5th Grade), Steve Kucharo (6th Grade), and Liz Gonzales (1st Grade). STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This weekly afterschool event has students discussing STEM topics such as atmosphere, robotics, simple machines, electricity, magnets, chemistry, and more. More than 80% of the students in the club are CEF scholarship recipients.
The club meets once a week after school for about an hour. During the first half of the hour, the students are taught the theory of a new STEM concept. Then after the students have learned about the theory, they are able to put their knowledge into action. Science topics covered include polymers in slime, effects of gravity on different objects, crystallization of liquids, the engineering process through catapult design, density of varying materials, and many others.
One major project that the STEM club has been working on this year is a collaborative project with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Fire Prairie Upper Elementary. The students submitted a proposal to IEEE for a Space Balloon Launch and were chosen along with Fire Prairie to send a weather balloon up into near space with a payload full of sensors and experiments. The students were exposed to many concepts during this project, such as computer programming, gas proprieties, engineering design, and flight predictors. Throughout this project students saw guest speakers discussing different careers in engineering, they wrote computer code, and a few of the students were able to learn about radio broadcasting after being interviewed by KCUR’s Up to Date. It was a great experience for students who would not normally be presented with these opportunities.
The founders of STEM Club at Resurrection believe strongly that every school should develop a program similar to this one. As computers become an important part of our world, more jobs surrounding technology and science are being created. Science is becoming an important subject for everyone, and we should be doing all we can to study it. This club is a great opportunity for anyone who has ever been interested in anything in the science field. Start a STEM Club at your school and learn to love everything about science.
