On a thread some time ago, @Mrs. Lemon Lime, @Blackbird, and @Temperance Brennan suggested that I share how we introduced science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) into our home.

As I was reflecting on how to tackle this challenging topic, I realized that we do have a bit of a leg up in our house considering that I’m a physician and Mr. Jacks is an engineer.  One might say that it’s in the air and water around here!  Actually, I mean that kind of literally, as it isn’t unusual to hear us talking about the chemical make-up of either air or water.  But how did we get to the place where we can talk about these things and have it make sense to our little ones?

I thought back to what we have done with our girls from their earliest moments.  The groundwork for being able to talk science at home has really consisted of giving them a great vocabulary with which to communicate all things, and to expose them to the wonders of science from an early age. In order to do this, we started reading to the girls right away. I remember when I first brought Little Jacks home and how awkward it was to talk to this newborn infant.  A friend had given us “On The Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman and so I picked it up and read it to LJ.  It was amazing to see such a small infant responding to the book and the sweet words made me cry… so together she and I became hooked on reading.  I was able to read several books to her each day and noticed how much that influenced her babbling and attention. At first we “talked” a lot about what the characters were thinking and doing and what they might do, but it eventually became a real conversation.

ADVERTISEMENT
 
The other thing we’ve done with the girls is the use of “Mother-ese.”  We made sure we used this type of speech for its beneficial effect on learning language, especially in the first few months of life.  But, we didn’t limit ourselves to that.  We made the assumption that our girls could understand bigger words and we didn’t shy away from complex sentence structure or bigger vocabulary words.  We made sure that we defined the big words we were using. Of course this does result in some unusual conversation patterns, like an 18 month old talking about “attention” or “the plains of Africa.” Jack Jack was a little slower than her sister on language uptake and so we have focused on the mother-ese for longer, but not to the exclusion of more complexity.  She’s finally started her language explosion and it’s so fun to see “bigger” words creeping into her lexicon along with the early toddler language.

But it isn’t all about language, we also let the girls experience their environment in a physical way (as safely as possible).  This means playing with a funnel or a strainer and different materials (even when it is very messy), digging in the dirt, holding bugs (mama secretly cringing inside while smiling on the outside) and even rocking the rocking horse too hard.  I’d love my girls to be bubble wrapped and safe at all times, but they need to experience the physical environment.  This is especially true for Jack Jack who is a tactile learner.

We have ample access to science in the home, like most people do. Everything can be turned into science, especially when coupled with an explanation. Long before Little Jacks was able to ask why questions, we created the curiosity that would encourage those questions. From pouring water from one cup to another (different sized cups are great for volume), laundry (physics of the spinning clothes), baking (chemistry), bubbles (surface tension), our bodies (biology), and the environment, we can always find something scientific to engage the kids in.  I’m not sure that they understood our explanations early on, but they certainly have come to accept that these conversations are a normal part of our life.

In fact, it wasn’t long until the “why” questions started creeping in to our house.  At around age 2, Little Jacks started asking, “What’s that? What’s that?”  At first I thought she was seeking the definition of the different words we were using, so I would give her a definition.  However, she kept asking even after understanding what the word meant.  I realized that this was her rudimentary way of asking why.  So, instead of just defining the word, we would give her a definition and explanation.  I’ll given an example.  I remember one day she was asking, “What’s that?” about a manhole cover.  She kept asking the same question even though she understood the definition.  I was actually getting frustrated with the persistent questions, so I dove into an explanation of why it was there.  Only then was she satisfied with the information we provided.

This experience taught me that it is really important to capitalize on the child’s strengths.  LJ is a verbal kid and she really needed to explore STEM concepts through language.  On the other hand, her sister is very kinetic and needs to experience science through touch, smell, taste and sound.  As much as we can make things safe, we allow her to explore a concept visually and and through her tactile sense.  For example, today she figured out how to operate a (very nice) Canon camera with the help of a friend who was very patient with her (and trusting!)  By the end of their time together, Jack Jack was scrolling through pictures and able to take a picture.

We also found it important to show the kids the applicability of STEM in their lives.  As soon as LJ figured out that math would get her the number of treats she wanted, she was able to add and subtract easily.  Likewise, pizza night becomes a study of fractions. We always try to make an interesting word problem out of it!  When a friend is sick, we show the girls the importance of medical knowledge and when a cake is baking we can talk about the chemical reactions that are happening to make their yummy treat.  We also talk about our days at work.  All of us interface with STEM at work (even those who work in arts and social sciences) and it’s important to reinforce that STEM is a big part of everyday life. In our family, we make sure that our children know about how important these concepts are to how we earn our livings and the work we do on a daily basis. Real world applicability shows kids that STEM is a tool that betters their lives.

Another thing we’ve found really helpful is to foster critical thinking skills.  Science and technology continue to progress because people ask good questions and systematically study their environment.  So as our girls get older, we’ve found ourselves turning the questions around on them.  So if they ask, “How does an airplane fly?” we’ll ask them “How do you think it works?”  For one, it’s totally a blast to see what they think, but for another, it helps us guide them through the answer.  So we can ask questions like, “Why do you think it has wings?  Or engines?”  It’s great to see them puzzle it out.  I think allowing them to figure things out helps them remember better, and I was pretty proud last February when LJ was explaining the fundamentals of airplane flight to a 6 year old.

Of course I was pretty rusty on lift and fluid mechanics when it came to explaining flight to a toddler.  I expect that other parents might feel the same for many topics.  That’s why it’s important to go to good sources and show your child where to go to answer a question.  I often hear myself saying to the girls, “Let’s go look that up!”  For airplanes, I was able to find a really nice website that had video, diagrams and text to explain the principles we needed.  I know that we’ll need to re-visit some of the more complicated concepts many times, but I feel like we’re giving them the tools to find answers on their own in the future. This process, I have to say, has also encouraged reading interest, because it’s so much more fun to find the answer your own self!

We also spend time testing the hypotheses the girls generate. When LJ noticed that magnets only stick to certain things, we ran all over the house trying to stick magnets to various items. In the end, she got the idea that the magnet would only stick to certain metals.  When she was done figuring that out, we went over the idea of “ferrous” metals.  Now when her magnet sticks, she knows that it’s sticking to a ferrous metal. Hypothesis testing is also great for kids who aren’t very verbal yet.  Jack Jack does a lot of hypothesis testing when we set up the right environment for her.  We might put cups of different sizes on the open dishwasher lid and then allow her to pour and note when the water overflows in a smaller cup or the level is low in a bigger cup.  Even if she can’t express the volume concepts, she’s internalizing them (and improving her motor skills at the same time).


An engineering solution that Little Jacks designed to help Kitty sit up straight.  She tried several things before finding that the straws worked best to prop Kitty up.

When we feel like things are getting stale at home (or I’m exhausted and lacking inspiration!) we’ll head off for a field trip to the Natural History Museum, the Zoo, the planetarium or the Discovery Museum.  Going to these places often generates new questions, a new sense of wonder, and more inspiration.  Often, too, our museums have learning sessions for young children where they can learn about bugs, stars, dinosaur bones all taught by enthusiastic college students.

Finally, provide your children with a sense of mastery.  These are tough concepts and we want our kids to keep pushing further and continuing their interests in the field.  In order to maintain that interest, we have to provide a sense of satisfaction and a job well done.  This doesn’t necessarily mean providing a lot of praise (which is a topic for a whole other blog post), but it does mean providing the child feedback on how hard they are trying and providing a sense that they came up with an answer or solution.  We may do some really challenging work sometimes, but we also often revisit works that have previously been mastered.  It’s been great to see Little Jacks teaching her sister some of the things that she already knows.  Talk about a sense of accomplishment!

 All about how to teach STEM to kids

Engineering activities for kids (best for Kindergarten and above)

Preschool science projects (I love this site!)

Stem in the early years (fairly technical piece for those interested)

Bay Area STEM resources (for those fortunate enough to live in the SF Bay Area)

STEM for girls

Sesame Workshop STEM initiative (I don’t know if you’ve watched Sesame Street recently, but there is a huge focus on STEM and our family loves it!)

So, I’m curious, what kinds of STEM activities are you doing at home? Do you have any good STEM resources to share with the hive?