SEARCY — Capt. Nichols was in trouble earlier this week. Her pirate ship was confronted by ghost pirates, and she knew there was only one kind of matey who could help her: elementary-school engineers.
Nichols — more commonly known as Nanette Nichols, science instructional specialist with the Wilbur D. Mills Education Service Cooperative — was one of several educators who visited McRae Elementary School in Searcy for Pirate STEM Day. Throughout the day, students participated in pirate-themed STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — activities.
“I need cannon blasters that will hit the ghost pirates and scare them away from me,” Nichols told a second-grade class disguised as pirates, complete with fake moustaches, eye patches and bandanas.
In order to complete the task handed down by the captain, the young pirates had to put on their engineering thinking caps and find a way to protect the ship from the ghosts.
Nichols went over the engineering cycle to help students get ready for the task. The children were reminded to ask a question, imagine a solution, plan the execution of the solution, create and test it out, then improve it after testing.
The second-graders dove into the box of supplies, eager to keep the ghost pirates at bay. Using plastic bags, paper cups, tape and other materials, the students worked in groups of two or three to construct cannon blasters that would launch pompoms at their targets. Following the engineering cycle, the students asked what needed to be done, imagined their solutions, planned them out, created and tested prototypes, then improved their cannon blasters before the real showdown began.
Across the elementary school, similar activities were taking place to encourage students to find the fun in STEM-related subjects. The goal was less about students finding viable solutions to every task and more about learning how to solve problems in real-life — or pirate-themed — situations.
“We need to be developing thinkers, problem-solvers,” Nichols said. “Children often don’t have the opportunity to problem-solve like they need to. A lot of things are already put together for them these days, so they don’t have the opportunity to play around with it, put things together and solve problems.”
Pirate STEM Day was conceived by some of the staff at McRae Elementary School, and several educational leaders, such as Harding University professors and Nichols, visited the school to make it a successful day.
“If they don’t get that problem-solving skill instilled in them now, when they get to junior high where there’s more laboratory instruction that needs problem solving, they don’t know where to begin,” Nichols said. “This process is very important.”
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.