Why STEM Matters in Elementary School

Why STEM Matters in Elementary School

Young children are naturally curious.

They ask questions constantly. They want to know how things work, why things happen, and what would happen if. Elementary school is the perfect time to build on that curiosity—not shut it down.

That’s why STEM matters so much in the early grades.

Curiosity Is Highest When Kids Are Young

In the elementary years, students are eager to explore. They learn best by doing, building, testing, and asking questions. While reading and writing are essential, students need more than sitting at a desk with a pencil and paper.

They need hands-on learning and authentic experiences that help them make sense of the world around them.

STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—meets students right where their curiosity already lives.

Science Should Be a Core Subject

In many schools, science is treated like an add-on.

I’ve worked in schools where lower elementary grades didn’t have science at all. In one school, science was offered only as an elective for a quarter of the year. In another, science happened once or twice a week and was viewed as a class that could easily be skipped if schedules got tight.

Sometimes science is placed in the same category as music or art—important, but optional.

Music and art are important. But science is different.

Science helps students understand the natural world. It teaches them how to observe, question, test ideas, and think critically. Those skills aren’t optional. They are foundational.

Science belongs alongside reading, writing, and math—not pushed to the margins.

Hands-On Learning Brings STEM to Life

STEM instruction works best when students can touch, build, test, and revise.

Hands-on science gives students opportunities to:

• Explore real-world problems

• Work through trial and error

• Collaborate with peers

• Learn from mistakes

These experiences help students see learning as active and meaningful, not something that only happens on a worksheet.

Collaboration Is a Core STEM Skill

One of the most powerful STEM experiences I’ve seen happened while I was teaching second grade in Hawaii.

We did a lot of hands-on science and introduced basic block-based programming with robots. Our school had students who spoke many different first languages. In one group of four students, each child had a different home language, and two barely spoke English at all.

Despite the language barrier, they worked together to solve the task.

They used trial and error. They pointed, demonstrated, adjusted, and tried again. Through block-based programming, they were able to problem-solve collaboratively—even without a shared spoken language.

That moment stuck with me.

STEM gave those students a shared way to think, communicate, and solve problems together. It showed me how powerful hands-on learning and collaboration can be.

More Than Content Knowledge

STEM in elementary school isn’t just about learning facts or coding skills.

It’s about teaching students how to:

• Ask good questions

• Work through challenges

• Collaborate with others

• Persist when something doesn’t work

These are life skills. And they’re best developed early.

Building Strong Foundations Early

At Provo Mountain Academy, we believe STEM belongs in the core of the elementary school experience.

By integrating science, technology, engineering, and math into regular learning—not treating them as occasional electives—we help students build confidence, curiosity, and problem-solving skills from a young age.

Elementary school is the time to nurture curiosity, not limit it.

When students are given meaningful STEM experiences early on, they don’t just learn science—they learn how to think.

Written by Scott Long, M.Ed., Co-Founder of Provo Mountain Academy