STEM mentoring builds relationships more powerful than technology

Nov 01, 2023

While a mentoring program between Savanna Oaks Middle School and Stoner Prairie Elementary School focuses on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), the connections made between elementary and middle school students have proved far more powerful than the technology itself.

Savanna Oaks design thinking and technology teacher Karie Huttner said the idea for mentoring came to fruition because she couldn't let go of her elementary friends. Previously a teacher at Stoner Prairie, she wanted to keep STEM education going after leaving the elementary school for a teaching position at Savanna Oaks.

Huttner reached out to teachers at Stoner Prairie, including third-grade teachers Jodi Moll and Amanda Minter, with the idea of having her middle school students collaborate and mentor students in kindergarten, third or fifth-grade at Stoner Prairie.

Together, teachers at both schools collaborated on a plan to make the STEM mentoring possible. The Verona Area Education Foundation helped fund the project through donations so it didn't fall on class budgets, Huttner said.

In the spring of 2021, the mentoring began by making bubble wands with kindergarten students during COVID-19. Students were socially distanced outside on yoga mats, but they quickly saw the value in the collaboration, Huttner said.

Then, in the spring of 2022, Huttner discovered and applied for an InfyMakers grant to keep the program growing. The grants are available for K-12 teachers leveraging maker education to create equitable pathways for students to engage in computer science, according to the website.

She won the $10,000 grant in August 2022 before the start of the school year.

With this grant, Huttner was able to purchase a Glowforge laser cutter to provide more opportunities and tools for students to use while collaborating. Throughout the 2022-2023 school year, seventh- and eighth-graders at Savanna Oaks have taught Stoner Prairie kindergarteners, third- and fifth-graders these new skills.

And while STEM is historically a field that lacks diversity, Minter said providing experiences for students at a young age will open the door for all students to know that in the future, they can pursue jobs related to technology.

"The more that our students have that exposure at a younger age, the more that they can believe that they can do it," Huttner said. "It's not what we’ve seen in the past, and that's what we’re sort of trying to actively change – the future by focusing (on) the present."

Learning life lessons through collaboration

In the end, Huttner said it's not really about the technology, but the students’ willingness to try something new, fail and pick themselves back up.

The first week middle schoolers went over to Stoner Prairie, they couldn't get there slow enough. Huttner said they were afraid of working with younger people.

"Then they get there, and they meet their partner and they’re just like, ‘This is the nicest – the most amazing person I’ve ever worked with,’" she said.

By the next week, the middle schoolers can't get to their elementary mentees fast enough. Huttner described it as the best day of the week.

"It means so much more to them because they realize that what they’re learning matters to someone else," she said.

During the mentoring process, Moll said the younger students really look up to the middle schoolers. When they first found out about the project, they were very excited to work with "the big kids."

"The younger kids feel important, they feel noticed and that they can do these things too if given a chance," she said.

"They’re so proud of the things they make and create," she added.

In teaching elementary students, a lot of responsibility is placed on the middle schoolers, Moll said, which lends for a lot of valuable life lessons. While there's been times where middle schoolers haven't come prepared or held up to their end of the deal, it teaches an important lesson on collaboration – and Huttner holds the students accountable, she said.

"I just think there's a lot of life lessons with working with different people, and just like real life, you’re not gonna get to pick always who you get to work with – but you make it worth it, you make do and you make the best out of the situation and end up having fun," Moll said.

Minter said her class has loved working with Huttner's students and look forward to future projects. The mentoring experience has also fostered an excitement for learning about technology in the classroom.

Even though Minter's class isn't currently working with Huttner's, the students are still trying new skills and utilizing things they’ve learned through mentoring. In an email to the Press, the fifth-grade team at Stoner Prairie said they’ve seen students use technology from the program for projects in other classes.

Minter said a lot of middle school mentors are also previous Stoner Prairie students, and she's enjoyed seeing how much they’ve grown throughout the process and how they can lead students who were in their spots at one point.

She noted the students demonstrate a lot of patience explaining lessons to students.

"It's so beautiful when you get to see your old students and how excited they are now that they can connect with your current students," Minter said.

Something that Huttner said excites her the most has been seeing some of her students in a different light. She has witnessed students who are really quiet in the classroom step up to become role models and leaders for their elementary "buddies."

"They can go over and show them how to do bubble wands, but it's that connection of a student who is so specific in what they do being patient with someone younger than them and being like, ‘Oh, that's a nice heart,’ even though in their head you can see they are trying to make it perfect," she said.

"Those moments – that's not STEM," she added. "It's a life skill, but it's being seen by someone else – younger, older – and mattering."

Contact reporter Maddie Bergstrom at [email protected]

Savanna Oaks Middle School mentors:

About 50 mentors in seventh and eighth grade shared lessons about circuitry, coding and 3D design with over 50 third-graders over the course of two months

Forty-five eighth-grade mentors built circuits, coded Micro: Bits and mentored in 3D design and laser cutting over the course of three months for over 60 fifth-graders

Most recently, 50 mentors in seventh and eighth grade will mentor over 60 kindergartners in 3D bubble wand design through the Design Thinking Process, as well as designing SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics) for infusible ink bags

For more information, pictures and videos about the STEM mentoring program, visit Huttner's online blog.

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