TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple Independent School District will give the community a chance to get a first-hand look at the district’s STEM programs in action with a special event this weekend. The district will be hosting a Spring Into STEM event at Santa Fe Plaza (301 West Avenue A, Temple, Texas 76501) on Saturday, April 1st from 8:00-10:00 a.m.
The Spring Into STEM event is free and open to the public and will feature nearly 20 booths with a variety of STEM related activities. Those projects will include STEM challenges, hands on activities, robotics and coding, make and take projects and opportunities to engage in interactive STEM activities. There will be challenges geared to different age groups from kindergarten through 12th grade. The challenges will also be based in the engineering design process to align with Texas Education Agency goals.
“We think this event can really be a lens for parents to see what Temple ISD is providing their students in terms of STEM learning,” said Ashley Jones, director of digital learning for Temple ISD. “It will also show how that learning extends to real-world experience and impacts student growth. It helps build that bridge between the district and the opportunities that are available to families and students outside of the core curriculum. We are so excited to have so many people volunteer to participate in this event because they care so much about providing these opportunities for our students and families.”
The booths will be staffed by volunteers from TISD, ranging from 25 student volunteers, to teachers, digital learning staff, librarians and principals. There will also be community partners on hand, including the Region 12 Education Service Center. Free coffee and free kids’ drinks will be available and there will be raffles for STEM kit giveaways during the event.
“We want the families who attend this event to take away a number of different STEM based learning experiences that connect to real-world industries or work experiences,” Hugh Burke, TISD instructional technologist said. “TISD volunteers are going to be running the stations or design challenges, but you will also community partners, like construction companies, there. So, families will come have these learning opportunities with their teachers but will also see how those hands-on activities connect to future experiences in either the workforce or in the community.”