New STEM program implemented at two schools

Courtesy photo/Blessed Sacrament School

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Blessed Sacrament School (shown) and St. Marguerite School now are offering the Woz ED Pathways Science Program.

SALT LAKE CITY — This year Utah Catholic schools began implementing a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program. In the first stage, the Woz ED Pathways Science Program has been introduced at Blessed Sacrament School in Sandy and St. Marguerite School in Tooele.

The two Catholic schools are the first in Utah to implement this program, although it already is being used at 35,000 locations in 33 states, serving more than half a million students in the United States.  

Inspired by Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, “Woz ED provides a personalized approach to integrating career pathways from K–Employment so learners can land high-demand science and technology jobs and start changing the world,” states https://wozed.com/.

The program was presented at the Utah Catholic schools’ principals meeting in July. St. Marguerite and Blessed Sacrament, both of which are PreK-8 schools, have introduced the curriculum into their classrooms, each in a different way.

St. Marguerite started the program in their kindergarten through sixth-grade classes.

 “We are so excited to be partnering with Cobalt Education to offer some fun, engaging, hands-on STEM science opportunities for our students,” said Chris Nielsen, the school’s chief administrator, who also teaches first grade.

 Over a two-day period in July, St. Marguerite teachers were introduced to the first term Woz Ed pathways, which cover engineering science, coding, animation, robotics, drones and artificial intelligence.

“Our teachers learned so much from our Woz ED instructor, Jessica Vensel, and had so much fun experimenting and playing with the equipment,” Nielsen said.

Each of the Woz Ed pathways has five levels, so the teachers will continue to learn more about the curriculum throughout the school year.

“Right now, we’ve reserved Wednesdays to be our designated Woz Ed day, where each class will have roughly one hour each week to explore and learn the curriculum,” Nielsen said, adding that as the program progresses they will evaluate it and, if necessary, expand the training into Thursdays.

The school also will have access to a coach who will join them from time to time to help with support as the program is implemented.    

“By incorporating STEM education into our curriculum, we aim to nurture our students’ curiosity and develop their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities,” Nielsen said.

The hands-on experience will give St. Marguerite students opportunities to work collaboratively and “equip them with the skills necessary to thrive in an increasingly technological world,” Nielsen added.

She also expects that the new curriculum will help grow the school’s enrollment.  

“Currently, we are excited to say we are one of two schools in Utah to offer these top-notch career pathways to our students,” she said. “With additional marketing and by word of mouth, we hope to create some momentum in the community that St. Marguerite Catholic School is the best school in Tooele for not only academics but for strong faith formation and STEM opportunities.”

 Unlike St. Marguerite, Blessed Sacrament has introduced the new program to all their students, from preK to 8th grade, but has chosen not to offer the artificial intelligence pathway, although they are implementing robotics, coding, drones, animation and engineering.

“Blessed Sacrament School feels very fortunate to be partnered with St. Marguerite’s as the first two schools in Utah to have Woz Ed,” said Emmy Darling, advancement director.

The program began at the first of the school year, and “so far it is really captivating all the kids; they are having a blast and the teachers are having lots of fun teaching it,” said Bryan Penn, Blessed Sacrament School principal. “They are doing everything from coding to 3D printing to drones to animation, among other things. As the kids progress through the school we want them to experience all of the pathways.”

The new program enhances what Blessed Sacrament already had been doing, “especially with our middle-school students, who have been immersed in technological learning,” Penn said, referring to the fact that every third week of the month the middle-schoolers go on a field experience and learn outside of the school.

 “In the lower grades it also sets beautifully, too, since every Friday we have had activities related to science learning,” Penn said.

The goal is for students to enhance the world with the knowledge that they are being exposed to, he said.

“The best thing about this program is that it teaches them that this is not just a toy; this can be used to solve some problem in the world and, ideally, this is what we want from the graduates from our school – to be able to go out there in the world and have the passion. This also opens the door for them to try new things and be willing to do so,” Penn said.

Although the program began with the new school year only a few weeks ago, “already our students are programming paths for robots, playing with motion sensors, trying out innovative iPad apps, and exploring what it means to be a scientist,” Darling added.