by: Michael Esparza
Posted: Aug 21, 2019 / 10:41 PM UTC Updated: Aug 22, 2019 / 12:01 AM UTC
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – If you’re a parent you’ve probably heard more talk this year about “STEM classes” being offered in your child’s school than ever before.
However, for Forest Heights STEM Academy this isn’t new.
In fact, it’s the first in the state and only to offer K-8 blended STEM programs and it’s growing.
Whitney Bordelon teachers at Forest Heights STEM Academy and has been the pioneer and model for Little Rock School District’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics blended programs for K-8 grade.
She’s been working to develop the blended programs with the school for the last five years and says getting kids to learn cause and effect sooner will benefit them long-term.
“If they can see how things affect each other then they can make wise choices all the way growing up and they can become citizen scientists and then we have excellent and informed voters,” explains Bordelon.
STEM refers to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math and is used as an umbrella term for 21st-century jobs – jobs that are getting harder to fill for lack of qualified candidates, according to a study.
The study shows the U.S. lost approximately 5.6 million jobs in the automotive and manufacturing industry with nearly 85% of those jobs affected by technological change