School & Family Magazine Newstand Iredell-Statesville Winter 2017 | Page 15

STEM-Ag at
Harmony Elementary
Staff and students are super excited about
year two of the STEM-Ag (Science Technology
Engineering and Math with an Agriculture focus)
program at Harmony Elementary School. Last
year, Mrs. April Smith, STEM teacher, worked with
students to begin this endeavor while also building
a well-supplied STEM-Ag classroom. Teachers
partnered with The Discovery Place – Charlotte
to learn about problem-based learning in order
to challenge students to work as teams to solve
real-life situations. This helps students make
connections between learning at school and using
problem-solving skills in the real world.
Harmony Elementary was fortunate to be
able to install a greenhouse where plants are
grown and students can observe and monitor
the changes of plant growth. Funding for this
initiative was provided by a Lowe’s educational
grant. Students sold many of these items at
the Fall Festival and Heritage Day Take-It-To
Market celebration. The STEM lab also received
many updates, including new tables which are
more conducive to problem-based learning and
exploration.
Staff members in each grade level spent
time this past summer preparing for the second
year of STEM-Ag focus. Teachers learned about
problem-based learning and even used some
fun problem-solving skills themselves at North
Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching.
Teachers have also created an aligned science
grade-level curriculum that allows for integration of
STEM-Ag activities both in the STEM classroom
and in homerooms. These hands-on experiences
support students’ grasps of concepts while using
the school problem-solving model. The Harmony
STEM design problem-solving model is unique to
Harmony and focuses on how students learn.
Currently, a weather station is being installed
thanks to a grant from Farm Bureau. Harmony Elementary School is anxiously awaiting the delivery of
wobble stools for the STEM-Ag lab. All grade levels are implementing problem-based learning strategies
within their classrooms. The staff at Harmony Elementary is thrilled to provide these awesome learning
experiences for the “Owls” of the community!
Iredell-Statesville School & Family 13