CLEORA, OK – Superintendent Kenny
Guthrie shakes his head knowingly and tries in
vain to make sense of an education system that
instills a fear of failure in students, which is the
opposite of what business and industry leaders
want in their employees.
Guthrie isn’t sitting by idly though. Instead of
focusing only on state-mandated and standardized
testing where students grow anxious not knowing
whether their selection of A, B, C, or D was correct,
Guthrie and others at Cleora Public School have
been interspersing hands-on STEM experiences.
The new approach began five years ago with what
has become a vibrant robotics program, and it
continues this school year with engaging STEM
Units from Pitsco Education.
The MidAmerica STEM Alliance in nearby
Pryor, Oklahoma, awarded a $25,000 grant for
Pitsco materials to Cleora and each of seven
other single-school K-8 districts throughout the
MidAmerica Industrial Park labor shed. The plan is
to educate a curious and technically astute future
workforce of lifelong learners who welcome the
opportunity to fail and grow from their mistakes.
Guthrie leads by example and points out his
own shortcomings. “I think we all probably in
some aspect of our life fear failing. The more
you can get kids to realize and deal with that
positively at a younger age, it might help them
to be more successful later on,” he said. “Even
as I consider myself successful and blessed,
there are still times I find myself questioning
my decisions. I think we all face that on a daily
basis. And the more you get kids comfortable
with that, the better off they’ll be.”
STEM UNITS EMPOWER TEACHERS
It’s no surprise that Cleora teachers fall in
line behind Guthrie and echo his message
to students, who then realize it’s OK – even
preferable – to fail early and often in formal
education. Teachers Angie Bacon and Marty
Matzenbacher hear their superintendent’s
message loud and clear, giving students
more freedom to explore, work together, and
experience STEM activities – without fear of a
failing grade if they happen to steer off course
yet work diligently to reach the finish line.
“I’ve learned that at about a fourth-grade
age, you’re either liking science or you’re losing
it, girls in particular. I mean they don’t want to
do it,” said Matzenbacher, a science teacher. “So
by adding these interesting STEM projects that
we can do, it just keeps them more interested. . . . Some of them, they’re going to go to
college and that’s fine. College is amazing, but
it’s not for everybody. Some people are more
technical, and learning a career through a
technical school, it’s just so much better. And
being able to get their hands on things. It’s not
just ‘I wish we could do this.’ We are doing this
stuff, and that makes a big difference.”
While Matzenbacher’s students were working
recently on AP bottle racers, 3-D printing, and
CAD design, Bacon’s students were getting
charged up building circuits in a STEM Unit
about electricity. “Before, I mean honestly the
only thing that I had were textbooks. That’s the
cool thing about this grant. It has allowed these
kids to be exposed to so much more that we
just couldn’t expose them to.
“And it’s highly motivating because they
love it,” Bacon added. “They love to work with
their hands. They love to build things. It’s just
the excitement of doing something fun and
interesting. I mean, how many kids get to work
with electricity? When’s the last time I got to
work with electricity and do things like that?”
A ripple effect has occurred, much to Bacon’s
delight, as students eagerly finish their other
assignments to earn the privilege of doing
STEM on Fridays. “Let me just tell you, our
work production has gone up as well. Some
of us that were not getting our stuff done are
suddenly getting it all done, and we’re good to
go on Friday. So, it’s win-win-win for everyone.”
STUDENTS GAIN CONFIDENCE
Katelin, an eighth grader at Cleora, prefers working
with her hands and having a partner over the
traditional lecture/book approach she knew from
previous years. “I love this so much more because
we have a lot of hands on. It’s just a lot of fun,” she
said. “It’s much better than class. It’s hands on and
you can figure it out yourself instead of just reading
about it and not being able to experience it.”
Plus, Katelin added, “If you make mistakes, then
you’ll learn better. So, if you do that, then you
have more chances to learn about the topic.”
Another eighth grader, Raven, was using
Tinkercad® to create a personalized 3-D printing
design – a signature smiley face that he draws
on everything. “It takes a lot of time and
mistakes and redoing to get it right.”
Fortunately, Raven has the freedom to
start over and improve his design, learning
more options in Tinkercad and mastering the
nuances of the 3-D printer – and considering
career options as he goes. “I feel like it’s helping
us sort out our future because it makes us
involved with more things and gets us used to
more things that we’re going to be exposed to.”
Guthrie, other educators, and employers across
the northeast Oklahoma region are excited
to see today’s students taking chances and
experimenting. “With this, they can try something.
If it doesn’t work, they can come back, reevaluate it,
maybe even partner with somebody and get some
ideas, change something, try it again,” Guthrie said.
“Because they can instantly see the results, they’re
not as afraid of failure because they know they can
immediately do something about it.”