By Stacy Edland

Family and Community Liaison at IJ Holton Intermediate School

On Monday, April 29, IJ Holton Intermediate School will be hosting our annual Family STEAM Night. STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

Family STEAM Night is for families with students in grades 4-6.  It is from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 29 and students must be accompanied by a parent.

Our goal is to develop students who take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process. A quick Google search for “skills for the future” shows that STEAM skills such as those listed above will be crucial for our student’s success in the world of work. Family STEAM Night is an opportunity for families to engage in activities that help develop these skills.

Your family will get to conduct experiments, work as a team, get creative, and have a lot of fun. You’ll be able to build a marble maze and race an opponent, create a structure and test it against various wind speeds, discover how fun simple computer programming can be, and watch robots in action. Families will get to choose which activities they would like to participate in and move through the stations at their own pace.

New this year to Family STEAM Night are the Exploradome and the Hormel Institute’s Science Art display.  The Exploradome is an inflatable traveling planetarium from the Bell Museum.  This activity does have limited seating, so it is first come, serve.  If your family really wants to see the planetarium show, make sure to come as close to 5:00 as possible to reserve your show time.  The Hormel Institute’s art display is art they’ve created from images taken under the microscope.  They are stunning and a perfect example of combining science and art.

Other area organizations will also be present at the event.  The Austin ArtWorks Center will be sharing information regarding their classes and the arts here in Austin and APAC Austin will be providing information regarding vaping and other substance abuse.

APAC Austin’s mission is to work together to reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug use by empowering and supporting each other to make healthy choices. There will be pizza and ice cream served as well. All of this is at no cost to families.  Family STEAM Night is funded by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education. As Einstein said, “Play is the highest form of learning.”

We hope your family join us for a fun night of educational play.